Amos – The Last Call To Personal Holiness – Part 3: Obedience – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl
Good morning. In our quest for personal holiness from the Book of Amos, we learned in part one that we should treat everyone the same: we are all sinners. You may look down your nose at those who have not reached your level of holiness, but look up: there are others looking down at you: you haven’t reached their level yet. And if you look past them, you will see a level that you will never reach until you’re transported those pearly gates. God is looking down at you, but with love. That is the way we should be looking at others.
In part two, we learned to be truthful. And since Jesus is The Truth, and also told us that, God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth, we should be truthful.
In part three we will look at being obedient to God. In Amos chapter 7, the priest Amaziah trying to get Amos to leave Israel…
“Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s court. Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD…” (Amos 7:12-16).
Amos was obeying God’s appointment, by warning Israel of the coming judgment. When we do our own thing, rather than the things which the Lord has commanded us to do, it is sin. That’s what happened with king Saul in 1Samuel 15…
“And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” (1Samuel 15:13-23).
Two contrasts: Saul being disobedient to the Word of God, and Samuel obeying the Word of God by telling Saul where he stood. And what about our model, our example, the Lord Jesus Christ? Philippians tells us that He was obedient unto death…
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11).
God wants only the best for us. We can trust Him with our lives. Our lives may not go in the direction that we wish them to go, but God will use our lives for His glory. Are you obeying God? Be ye holy? Are you allowing Him to make you more like Jesus, or are you rebelling? The choice is up to you.
Peace. (1Peter 1:15-16)
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