Tonight, we turn to the Old Testament prophecy of Amos for our text, Amos 8, verses 11 and 12. And we will read chapter 8 in a moment. And I did not indicate it on the bulletin, but I would also like you to turn with me to John chapter 6. John 6, as we read together verses 25 through 35. And then we will turn back to Amos 8. John chapter 6, beginning at verse 25 as we now hear the word of our God. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval. Then they asked Him, What must we do to do the works God requires? Jesus answered, The work of God is this, to believe in the One He has sent. So they asked Him, What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Sir, they said, from now on give us this bread. Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. Turning back to Amos, reading together chapter 8. The text again, verses 11 and 12. This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me. A basket of ripe fruit. What do you see, Amos? he asked. A basket of ripe fruit, I answered. Then the Lord said to me, The time is ripe for my people Israel. I will spare them no longer. In that day, declares the Sovereign Lord, the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies flung everywhere. Silence! Hear this. You who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, When will the new moon be over that we may sell grain and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat, skimping the measure, boosting the price, and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob, I will never forget anything they have done. Will not the land tremble for this and all who live in it mourn? The whole land will rise like the Nile. It will be stirred up and then sink like the river of Egypt. In that day, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only sun and the end of it like a bitter day. The days are coming, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I will send a famine through the land, not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east searching for the word of the Lord. But they will not find it. In that day the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst. They who swear by the shame of Samaria or say, as surely as your God lives, O Dan, or as surely as the God of Beersheba lives, they will fall, never to rise again. Beloved of the Lord Jesus Christ, the people of the world today are a blessed people. You say, what in the world are you talking about? they're a blessed people and indeed that sounds strange doesn't it but it's true because of the existence of holy scripture the word of god many homes at least in those nations that claim to be christian still have at least one bible sitting around somewhere it's still a bestseller god's word is preached and taught and is available in homes through the radio and television. Not all of it is faithful and true, but some of it is. God has raised up godly men throughout the ages to write volumes about Scripture and about the teachings of God's Word. And these are all available for the reading. And of course, in most cities, towns, and villages, one can still find God's people gathered together on the Lord's Day, even if only in a small group, yet nonetheless gathered to worship Him and to hear the faithful preaching of His Word by a faithful servant of His. Indeed, the people of the world are blessed to have all of this available. Available. But that's about it, isn't it? It's available. Yet not many take advantage of it. Outside of the church of true believers, the people of the world do not recognize this blessing of God's Word, and therefore many reject the Word of God. And unfortunately, sadly, sometimes that even happens in the church, that God's people reject His Word. Israel had rejected God's Word. That was the situation that Amos faced, and therefore the Word of God through Amos was that the rejecters would be rejected. Now Amos, no doubt, was not a very popular prophet or preacher. Boys and girls, one who brings bad news never is very popular. And he brought a lot of bad news. The nine chapters of his prophecy, of those nine chapters, only the last part of chapter 9 really has any good news in it. The rest of it is all about judgment, but yet that good news in the second half of chapter 9 is very good news. But here he brings news of punishment. Amos has been called the preacher of gloom and doom, or the kind of preacher that used to be called a hellfire and brimstone type of preacher. But you see, as the mouthpiece of God throughout his entire ministry, again, just read the entire prophecy, throughout his entire ministry, Amos had warned the people of Israel. Now boys and girls, there are two kinds of warnings that you might be familiar with. Now one type of warning is one that is meant to prevent us from doing something that could hurt us or to keep us from doing something wrong. For example, a sign on a newly mopped tile floor might say, caution, slippery, be careful. You don't want to slip and fall. You might get hurt. Or a road sign that says, sharp curve ahead. Those are meant to warn us, to keep us indeed from getting hurt. Or a sign that says, shoplifters will be prosecuted. Or those signs in the carpool lane that says, violators. You're going to be prosecuted and pay a large fine. Those are meant to keep us from doing something wrong. But the other type of warning is meant to get us to stop doing something because whatever it is we're doing is wrong. Again, a couple of examples might be a warning for speeding. If your mom or dad gets pulled over by the patrolman and the patrolman says you're going 72 in a 65. And I'm going to be generous. I'm not going to give you a ticket, but I'm going to write you out a warning it's going to go on your record but it's just a warning slow down or if you're driving down the street and you see one of those radar boxes and you realize all of a sudden hey that's my number up there it's 45 and a 25 again a warning stop doing something wrong or boys and girls when you're when you're jumping on the bed and you do it repeatedly or maybe you fight with your brother and sister and mom or dad says stop doing that or else you see if you don't stop sooner or later there will be some sort of a punishment it may be severe it might not it might just be a slap on the hand but there will be a punishment Israel had forsaken her covenant God and therefore over and over and over again Amos warned the people to turn back to God or else they were to stop doing what was wrong and now here in the text Amos speaks of a terrible punishment with which he was with which God was about to punish his people why because they had not listened to God's warnings the text again the days are coming declares the sovereign Lord when I will send a famine through the land not a famine of food or a thirst for water but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. Rejectors reject it. Now Amos begins chapter 8 by telling about the fourth of five visions that God had given to him that he had seen, all relating to God's judgment on Israel. We find the first three in chapter 7, judgments of locusts and fire and the plumb line but this was the vision of of the basket of ripe fruit also called summer fruit as in the season summer fruit and summer fruit very simply is fruit that is ripe right now it's ready to eat it's good to go there's nothing quite as wonderful as that sweet tasting ripe fruit sounds wonderful but what does this vision mean it's not that israel would receive good tasting sweet ripe fruit to eat normally when the first fruits of the crop were ripe that was a sign of celebration and rejoicing and the feast of booths was celebrated and the people brought a thank offering to the lord for the harvest and it was a sign of prosperity to come but god would turn and this expectation on its head, as it were. And instead of prosperity, God's Word, through the vision of ripe fruit, was that Israel, as it says, was ripe for judgment and punishment. In other words, the or else had come. This was not the beginning of good things to come, but instead this was the announcement of the end. The warnings would now end, and it was time for punishment, and the form of the punishment would be a famine. The Sovereign Lord. It's interesting how Amos describes God here. The Sovereign Lord. The Covenant God. The Creator of the heavens and the earth. The One in whose hand is the King's heart. He turns it wherever He pleases. The Sovereign Lord declares, I will send a famine through the land. Interesting. Because again, a famine certainly didn't fit with ripe fruit. Again, ripe fruit was supposed to mean prosperity. But a famine, of course, makes us think of a lack of prosperity. No food, no water, a lack of sustenance and nourishment, leading to starvation and maybe even leading to death and destruction. But in a sense, this kind of a punishment was no surprise. A survey of Old Testament history shows us that God periodically used famines to warn or correct or punish His people. For example, when Elijah announced the coming famine for three years or three and a half years to Ahab to warn them. As well, we see in Old Testament Scripture that God used famines to carry out His will for His people as He unfolded His secret will day by day to lead them and to guide them. For example, in Genesis 12, we read that Abram went to Egypt because of a famine. Through a famine, God brought Naomi and Ruth together. As well, through a famine, God exalted Joseph and made him great in the land of Egypt. Often God used famines in these different ways to preserve and to build up His people. But now He would use a famine to destroy His people. And this punishment was well deserved. We also know from Old Testament history, as Pastor Donovan touched on this morning, that God's covenant people had a difficult time staying faithful to Him. They were so quick to fall away from Him. Yet He never completely forsook them. He was patient and long-suffering with them again and again and again. But enough was enough. You see, another thing that didn't quite fit with this announcement of judgment was that this was a time of prosperity. How could this be? What Amos is saying. How could it be true? These were the good days, you see. Economically, things couldn't have been better. As well, there were no military threats to be worried about, so the people started to focus on themselves. Business was booming. But the problem? Instead of being thankful in prosperity, the Israelites were filled with greed for wealth and material gain. They wanted more and more and more, and the rich got richer most often by cheating their customers and by bribing the judges and officials so that things would go their way. And the poor became poorer in Israel. The middle class was basically wiped out and the only ones who were left really were the rich and the poor, those who we would say had made it and those who hadn't. As well in a time when the rich should have had compassion on the poor who owed them money, their own countrymen, their own brothers and sisters in Christ. They had no compassion. Instead, they took the poor as slaves. The slaves or the poor were forced to sell themselves as slave labor. And when they felt like it, the rich sold the poor at times for as little as the cost of a pair of shoes, a pair of sandals, as Amos says in verse 6. And he also says that back in chapter 2, verse 6. In a time of prosperity, you see, business practices were completely unethical and wicked in verse 5 we read about the complaints of the rich saying when will the new moon be over that we may sell grain and the sabbath be ended that we may market wheat when will these things be done so we can get back to business skimping the measure, boosting the price, and cheating with dishonest scales. Skimping the measure and boosting the price sounds kind of like the potato chip bag, doesn't it? Which nowadays seems to have more air and less chips, but the price is the same. And many other products. Take coffee, for example. Oh, they conveniently rob you of a half an ounce of coffee, But look at this easy-to-grip case that it's in, this canister. How easy it is to handle. Or the cereal box, which has the same problem as the chips. But, of course, we are to believe the contents simply settled in shipping. Indeed, beloved, we see the same thing today, don't we? With so many, the quality and the service goes down, but the price goes up. The slogan for our business world really is less for more. Today we don't even worry about the Sabbath being ended. At least we can say that for the Israelites. They at least observed the feast days and the Sabbath day. Although the Lord says in chapter 5, verses 21 and 22, I hate, I despise your religious feasts. I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Yeah, they kept them. That was about it. But we don't even worry about the Sabbath being ended. For many, it never starts. Our Lord's Day has become Sale Day. Religiously, religiously, everything looked good on the outside. Oh, they were good at going through the motions. The churches were packed. But the people didn't come to worship God and to celebrate Him for His blessings, but they came to celebrate their own prosperity to show themselves off. Look at me. Look at me. And because the people showered the priests with gifts, they were able to dictate their own worship. They would tell the preacher, in essence, what to preach. Tell us what we want to hear. Tell us the things that will make our ears tickle and make us happy. Tell us what we're doing right, not wrong. Don't tell us thou shalt not. But be positive, preacher. Come on, be positive. If you can't do that, get out. In fact, if you go back to chapter 7, verses 10 through 12, we read there that Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. And then Amaziah said to Amos, Go out, you seer. Go back to the land of Judah. You see, Amos was from the small kingdom of Judah. But the Lord had sent him to preach to the ten tribes of Israel. And he's told to get out. We don't want to hear the word that you have to bring. And to top it all off, the children of Israel had adopted the erotic religious rites of pagan Canaanite Baal worship, which completely dishonored God. In essence, they were starving themselves. They had sung to a pathetic state. They were indeed ripe for judgment and punishment all because they refused the Word of God and they ignored the ministers of God's Word. And the thing is, these were God's covenant people, the people to whom God had said, I will be your God, you will be my people. These were the people Amos urged to repent and return to the Lord, to give up their immoral way of life and once again take seriously their covenant relationship with the Lord. And Amos warned them that if they did not change, they would be punished worse than they had been punished before. They would become the branches cut off from the vine and destroyed in the fire. You see, they had been punished before, as Amos relates throughout his prophecy. They had been punished with a lack of bread and a lack of rain, with blight and mildew and locusts, as chapter 4 tells us. As well, the Lord put to death their young men as He had killed the firstborn in Egypt. But we might say that all of those punishments were merely slaps on the hand compared to what was about to come. Yet each time, the sad response of the Lord was the same. You read it at least four times in chapter 4. Yet you have not returned to me. And beloved, maybe even the worst part was their ignorance. They didn't even think or realize that they were doing anything wrong. They didn't know that they were ripe for judgment. In fact, they thought that their material prosperity was a blessing from God. Indeed, we know that it is. But they thought that it was a taste of better things to come. They were looking forward to the day of the Lord, as it says in chapter 5, a day when they thought that God would strike down His and therefore obviously their enemies, because they had to be one and the same, and bless His covenant people. They didn't realize that the coming of the day of the Lord meant the coming of judgment upon them. Little did they know that court was in session. God is the judge. The jury was in. The evidence was crystal clear and the verdict had been reached. God's covenant people were guilty as charged. Guilty of breaking God's covenant. Guilty of failing in their covenantal responsibilities. Guilty of rejecting the word of God's warnings. Their sentence and punishment. Death by famine. But this famine would be no normal famine. The punishment would indeed be severe. Nothing would be able to compare with it. Not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Not a physical famine, but a spiritual famine. If you think about it, oh, how much better a famine of bread and water would be? Because at least then they would be able to wander around and maybe find a little nourishment or find a compassionate someone who might reach out to help them. They might be able to tolerate and even survive a physical famine, but with this famine God was about to send, they had absolutely no chance for survival. This famine would be intolerable because no one can be separated from God and live. The same God, the same sovereign God, the one and only who controls the seasons and the rains and who provides wheat and grain by causing them to grow. This same God who provides physical sustenance also provided the spiritual food for His people by sending His prophets to preach to the people and to guide them. And His people, remember, at one time would even go and search out the prophets just to hear the Word of the Lord. Especially in time of battle, what does the Lord have to say to us? But now they didn't care. They wouldn't listen, especially to Amos. Number one, he didn't fit. He belonged in Judah. And number two, his message completely contradicted the values they held dear. To listen to him would mean to give up their entire lifestyle which wasn't worth it to them. So God chose to keep his word out of their reach. Those who rejected God would now be rejected by him. In reality, we know they brought the famine for God's Word upon themselves. This spiritual food should have been much more precious to them than any of their material riches, but it wasn't. And in essence, Israel was telling God they didn't need Him. They could survive without Him. And therefore, God would now take away from them the blessing of being visited by His Word. Oh, how foolish of them. One commentator writes, This punishment is terrible and indeed worse than any material punishment because as they already knew from the wilderness wanderings and as Moses had told them in Deuteronomy 8 verse 3, Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Familiar words to us indeed because we know our Lord Jesus Christ quoted those very words when Satan was tempting him after 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. Go ahead, turn these stones into bread. Our Lord quotes these words. You know, we can have bread in abundance, but if it doesn't come with the blessing of God, it will do us no good. And along with the severe punishment of a famine for God's Word would be a severe result. Verse 12, Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east searching for the Word of the Lord, but they will not find it. The result? Total separation from God. And the separation from God and His Word would bring such anguish upon the people of Israel that they would wander about aimlessly looking for the Word of God, but it would not be available for them. It wouldn't even be there to find. Since they had rejected God's Word and the true preachers of His Word, now the Word of the Lord would be beyond their reach. In fact, the Word of God was in essence beyond their reach for about 400 years in that time period which we call the intertestamental period. The time between the history recorded in what we call the Old Testament and the New Testament. The time between the return of the remnant from captivity and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For many years, God was silent. There was no new revelation until the announcement, the angel announced the coming birth of the Savior. And our Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who can perfectly and completely did not live on bread alone. But on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord, He was completely obedient to every word of the Lord. This famine of the word of the Lord that was to come upon Israel points to the hopelessness of those who reject God. The result is spiritual and eternal death, separation from God for eternity. That's what happens without God's Word. But again, sadly, even in the church today, many have rejected God's Word and turned the Bible into nothing more than a book of helpful how-to hints. Its truth is being watered down. Its authority is being undermined. Its message is being compromised. And we must confess that we too have at times rejected the Word of God in different ways. His Word says, Love me above all and your neighbor as yourself. But instead of loving God above all at times, we have had other gods before Him. We have trusted more in the creature and in things instead of in the Creator. We have often taken His name in vain and violated the Lord's name. And we could sit here together and discuss specifics, but we don't need to. Each one of us can examine his heart and know that this is true. Instead of loving our neighbor as ourselves daily, we struggle with honoring our parents in a way that honors God, don't we, boys and girls and young people? As well, we struggle with honoring others whom God has placed in authority over us. And if we're honest, we can think of countless ways that we have murdered and committed adultery and stole and lied about someone or something and coveted something that belonged to someone else because we were not content with God's provision for us. But our hope, beloved, is in nothing less than the blood and righteousness of Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is the incarnate Word of God. God in the flesh who came to reveal His Father and to pay for the sin of rejecting God, even my rejecting of God and yours as well. And He has left us with a witness of Himself, the Bible, which teaches us the truth of God, the truth of God's holiness and majesty, the truth of our sin and rejection of God, the truth of the Savior who experienced the famine of God's presence during the hellish agony of the cross so that you and I would never have to experience that famine. And the truth that whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved and will never hunger and thirst again. Apart from God's inscripturated Word that teaches of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, apart from that applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, there is no salvation. But we know from the Scriptures that it is through hearing the Word of God that the Holy Spirit works faith in the heart. Romans 10, verse 17 says, Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the Word of Christ. And 1 Corinthians 1, verse 21 says, For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. And that foolish message is, as Paul says, Christ crucified. beloved the word of god is a precious feast for his people jesus said in john 10 verse 9 i am the gate whoever enters through me will be saved he will come in and go out and find pasture find pasture food in abundance protection security he alone is the bread of life and the living water and He alone truly satisfies as He says in John 6, verse 35, He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. In fact, Christ's feast is a never-ending feast. It is an eternal feast as He teaches us in the parable of the wedding banquet and as we were reminded of once again this morning at the Lord's table. A beautiful reminder. Sealed with a meal. Nourishment for eternity. Never a famine. Never will God and His Word be beyond our reach because He has written it on our hearts and our Lord Jesus Christ has promised to be with us even to the end of the age. God's Word faithfully preached of Jesus Christ and His saving love is indeed a feast. Beloved, do you hunger and thirst for it? Do you desire the Word of God and the preaching of His Word more than anything else? You see, He provides it for you, Lord's Day by Lord's Day. The means of grace, the preaching of the Word and the participation in the sacraments. Nourishment unto eternity is so wonderful. Let me get practical for a moment. The blessing of having two morning worship services, for example, is if you're scheduled for nursery duty in the 8.30 service. You don't have to miss worship with God's people and feasting on God's Word. I'm not talking about the TV monitor in the nursery either where all the kids are running around and it's hard to hear. You don't have to miss this feasting because it's available again at 11 o'clock. Isn't that wonderful? Don't let having to drive two cars stand in your way. Or if you have a sick child at home, one parent can attend the early service and the other the late and both can feast upon the Word of God and at the same time take care of the child as the child needs to be cared for. Just a simple way. Do you desire to feast upon the Word whenever it's offered? And the nourishment of God's Word, beloved, is available for God's people every day of the week as we spend that quiet time with Him in reading His Word and in prayer. And all of this, you see, is a blessing unto His people for the sake of Jesus Christ. Those who reject the Word of God will starve. And apart from Jesus Christ, that starvation will be unto eternal death. You see, one day when Jesus comes again, He will say to those who rejected Him, away from Me, I never knew you. And never again, try to fathom this, never again, when that day arrives, never again will His Word or will His salvation be available to them. Never again. That's why it is so important to bring God's Word to those who have never heard praying that the Holy Spirit will work powerfully and effectively in many hearts and lives, bringing many to the Lord Jesus Christ. But for those who by the grace of God have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, we too hunger, don't we? It's not a starvation kind of hunger. It's a different hunger. We hunger for more. God's Word is sweet as honey and we look forward to those tasty treats with which the Holy Spirit blesses us day by day and we look forward to the feast of His preached Word and ultimately we look forward to the day when we gather together with our Savior at the eternal feast and we will never again be in want. Beloved, on this side of glory, may we not be satisfied, but may we always want more and may our prayer truly be bread of heaven. Feed me till I want no more. Now boys and girls, that doesn't mean feed me till I no longer want anymore. But feed me until I'm no longer in want, until I am completely satisfied, completely filled up. And that day will come when our God ushers His people into His heaven, into His glory. For those who reject the blessing of God's Word, it will indeed become a curse for them. But by God's grace, not only is His Word available to us, But he has applied it to us by his Holy Spirit for Jesus' sake. We are truly a blessed people. Allow me to close with a quote from J.I. Packer in his book, Beyond the Battle for the Bible. He writes, Let us then take our Bibles afresh and resolve by God's grace henceforth to make full use of them. Let us read them with reverence and humility, seeking the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Let us meditate on them till our sight is clear and our souls are fed. Let us live in obedience to God's will as we find it revealed to us in Scripture. And the Bible will prove itself both a lamp to our feet and a light upon our path. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we thank You for Your Word. Your word, which is indeed precious to us, and may we understand that preciousness. May it be most precious to our hearts more and more as we come more and more by your Spirit to understand your word and what you have to teach us through it. We thank you for your incarnate word, Jesus Christ, and for the faith you've given to us in him that the blinders have been removed from our eyes, that we might see clearly the revelation that you have for us. We pray, Father, that indeed we might be obedient to your word and to live in a way that pleases you, that says thank you for your precious gift of salvation, your saving word, Jesus Christ. Lord God, may we never cease to be students of your most holy word. May it never be that we would think that we have had enough that we know enough we don't need any more and may we continue to pray indeed bread of heaven feed me oh continue to feed me throughout this life until I am no longer in want until I am completely satisfied in the glory of heaven in the name of Jesus Christ we pray these things Amen