Session 1: Listen to God

Suggested Week of Use: September 4, 2022

Core Passage: Amos 2:4-16

God’s judgment awaits all who ignore Him and His truth.

Introduction

Amos 2:1-3 NASB

1 Thus says the LORD,
"For three transgressions of Moab and for four I will not revoke its punishment,
Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.
2 "So I will send fire upon Moab
And it will consume the citadels of Kerioth;
And Moab will die amid tumult, With war cries and the sound of a trumpet.
3 "I will also cut off the judge from her midst
And slay all her princes with him," says the LORD.

News Story Summary

Warnings are given for a reason. That’s a lesson several people learned in August
when they ignored warnings against taking “unnecessary risks” and crossed
a causeway to reach St. Helen Fort near the Isle of Wright.
The fort, built in the 19th century, is usually surrounded by the waters of the English Channel
just off the southern coast of the United Kingdom. Once a year, though, the area’s lowest tides
expose a causeway that allows access to the fort.
Hundreds of people take part in an unofficial walk
to the fort, but these walkers often find themselves in deeper water than they expected.

Over the years, many people have had to be rescued.
This year, rescuers helped a mother and her child, along with a 12-year-old girl
who had been reported missing. Last year, a group of eight people had to be rescued,
while another four adults and two children needed assistance when darkness fell before they
could reach the mainland safely.

For more about this story, search “People walk to St. Helen Fort despite warning.”

Focus Attention

Ask:

• Why do you think the people chose to ignore the warnings against crossing the causeway to St. Helen Fort?
• Will they choose to walk across again next year? Explain.
• Do you think the mom and her child who were rescued will take that walk?
• What would need to happen for people to stop trying to cross the causeway every year?

Transition

explain that this is the first week in a study of the book of Amos,
a prophet who warned people about God’s judgment for ignoring Him.

WRONGS REVIEWED (AMOS 2:4-8)

The oracle against Judah

Amos 2:4-5

4 Thus says the LORD,
"For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not revoke its punishment,
Because they rejected the law of the LORD And have not kept His statutes;
Their lies also have led them astray, Those after which their fathers walked.
5 "So I will send fire upon Judah And it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem."

6 Thus says the LORD,
"For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke its punishment,
Because they sell the righteous for money And the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 "These who pant after the very dust of the earth on the head of the helpless Also turn aside the way of the humble;
And a man and his father resort to the same girl In order to profane My holy name.
8 "On garments taken as pledges they stretch out beside every altar,
And in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

Ask

• Why should the people of God live to a higher moral standard than others? (p. 15)
• What are the dangers of allowing culture to decide what is right and wrong? (p. 15)

Crimes

• Israelites were accused of selling "the righteous for silver. righteous or non-guilty.
• injustice, innocent sold. oppression of the poor
• lewd behavior in the temple, on garments used for oaths orr vows.

punished for rejecting yahweh, the lord
and his law, torrah.
continued to bow down to the false gods of the pagans
Judah's punishment was to be similar to that of the other nations—destruction by the fire of war
Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians.

TRANSITION:

The people of God had reverted to their old way of life prior to their knowledge of God,
and Amos sounded the warning that their sins would not go unpunished.

HISTORY RELIVED (AMOS 2:9-11)

Oracles of Judgment Against Israel

Amos 2:9-11

9 "Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, Though his height was like the height of cedars And he was strong as the oaks;
I even destroyed his fruit above and his root below.
10 "It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, And I led you in the wilderness forty years
That you might take possession of the land of the Amorite.
11 "Then I raised up some of your sons to be prophets And some of your young men to be Nazirites.
Is this not so, O sons of Israel?" declares the LORD.

Ask

• How does God’s providing messengers and examples in history point to His grace? (p. 15)

EBD: Though they may have rejoiced in the denunciation of their brothers in Judah, the Israelites themselves were to feel the lash of Amos's words.
The same formula that introduces the condemnation of their pagan enemies begins this powerful oracle.
It is the most extensive of all the oracles.

vv.9-11 appeal to God's past activity in their behalf,

• rejection, unfaithfulness, despite gods goodness, faithfulness and strength.
• god offered delivererance though 40 years of grumbling.
• god gave prophets and nazarites.

TRANSITION:

God is full of grace and desires to make people right with Himself. However, the Israelites had no desire to hear God’s message.

vv.12-16 conclude the oracle with a vivid portrayal of their punishment.

JUDGMENT RECKONED (AMOS 2:12-16)

punishment