Amos – The Last Call To Personal Holiness – Part 2: Truthfulness – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl

Proverbs 12:22 says, “Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.”

Good morning! Last week was kind of an introduction to the Book of Amos. We saw that God said in Leviticus 11:44 God said, “For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy…”

If you are saved, God is in the process of conforming you to the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And since Jesus said that I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and also told us that, God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth; truthfulness should be one of the traits we look for in ourselves. Don’t look for it in anyone else: this is personal between you and God.

There was a priest at the time of Amos, whose name was Amaziah. Amaziah did not like to hear the truth. Like so many others who do not like to hear the truth, they try to keep others from not hearing the truth also. In Amos chapter 7, verses 10 thru 13, we see what Amaziah did to try and hinder the warning from God’s prophet…

“Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. 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.”

Amaziah did not want to hear what God had to say, but Amos was going to give him the truth anyway. In verses 14 thru 17, the Bible says…

“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: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.”

Truth is the only thing that is stable: it can not be bent or reformed. If truth is modified in any way, it is no longer truth, it is a lie. In America, we have been being fed lies for a long time. Evolution, there is no God, god is in everything so hug a tree, it’s okay to abort a baby because it’s just a blob of goo, and the list goes on and on. Adolf Hitler said that if you tell a lie often enough, it would be believed as truth.

Jesus said in John 8:32. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

And Jesus is the truth. The Words given Amos to speak to the nation of Israel, and write in a book, they are truth. In our search for personal holiness, we must be truthful. Truthful to God (He knew what you would do. He knew all about you before you ever existed). Truthful to others. Truthful to yourself. Examine yourself (remember this is all between you and God). Peter pointed to the disciple whom Jesus loved, and asked what that man would do. Jesus saith unto him, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.”

Peace. (John 4:24)