I invite you to turn with me this morning to the prophecy of Amos, Amos chapter 7. We read together the first nine verses, and the text this morning being verses 7 through 9. In this particular portion of Scripture, we find three visions that the Lord gave to Amos. We will consider the third one together. Amos chapter 7, beginning at verse 1. Again, the text 7 through 9 of this chapter. Hear now the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me. He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king's share had been harvested and just as the second crop was coming up. When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small. So the Lord relented. This will not happen, the Lord said. This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me. The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire. It dried up the great deep and devoured the land. Then I cried out, Sovereign Lord, I beg you, stop. How can Jacob survive? He is so small. So the Lord relented. This will not happen either, the Sovereign Lord said. This is what He showed me. The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord asked me, What do you see, Amos? A plumb line, I replied. Then the Lord said, Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel. I will spare them no longer. The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined. With my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam. Beloved in the Lord, no doubt that at some point in time, most of you have probably seen a building that was in such bad shape that as you looked at it from the outside, it was clear that you wouldn't want to be standing on the inside. The walls were crooked. They were cracked. They were crumbling. The roof was probably beginning to sag. You might have looked at it and wondered, how in the world is it standing? What is holding it up? Because that building was simply not even a safe place to be near. I remember driving when I was a child as we would drive through the country in Iowa and you'd see a farm here and there where the barn was in such bad shape, an old barn sat there, it was tilted a little bit and maybe part of the roof was missing and some of the doors and so forth. The next year it would be tilting a little bit more. Finally one day you would see it laying on its side. But it's the kind of building you see that the building inspector would have no other choice but to declare that building condemned. It didn't meet the requirements of the building code any longer. Indeed, at one time it had been built straight and true and strong and safe, but it no longer meets the standard according to which it had at one time been built. It's good for nothing. In fact, the best and only alternative for that building would be to tear it down. And beloved, that's the picture we have before us in this text this morning. The story is about Amos and the vision of the plumb line and what that vision means. Amos was the Old Testament prophet known as the farmer from Tekoa. Tekoa was located in the southern kingdom of Judah, the two small tribes down in the south. But God called Amos, this farmer, and sent him to prophesy the word of the Lord in the northern kingdom, the ten tribes of Israel. And what's interesting was that this was a time in the history of Israel when things were going good, at least outwardly. Military threats did not exist. That was a good thing. The economy was booming. we would say that was a very good thing. It was a prosperous time, at least for the wealthy. It was a time in which you would think that God's covenant people would then recognize that the peace and the prosperity that they enjoyed came from their covenant God and in turn, their covenant faithfulness would shine through and be evident and be displayed. But that was far from true. Far from true. If we were to read, beginning in chapter 1 already, we see how that was exactly not the case. God's covenant people had forsaken Him and His commandments. And along with all of their prosperity that the world sees as a good thing, they decayed morally and spiritually. The rich did whatever they had to in order to make a buck, which included oppressing the poor, their own brothers and sisters, their countrymen. Earlier in the book, Amos talks about the rich selling the poor for as little as a pair of shoes. The cost of a pair of shoes. Religiously, everything looked good from the outside. On the Sabbath, the churches were packed full. The problem was that they were not worshiping the one true God. Instead, they were worshiping false gods. And they were celebrating their own prosperity. They weren't celebrating the goodness of God. But their own prosperity. Coming to church to show off that new dress. Or hope that someone notices their new suit. Or maybe driving in with that new car to make heads turn. They were celebrating their own prosperity, not the goodness of God. The situation that Amos was sent into was one of grave apostasy and self-fulfilling wickedness. And the message of God that Amos came with was a message of judgment. God's people had gone far enough and God had had enough of it. This vision of the plumb line, you see, is really tucked in the middle of five visions that God gave to Amos. There are two that come a little bit later, all of them relating to judgment. Again, we read together the first two visions about the locusts and the fire. And it's interesting to notice that with those first two visions, Amos intercedes on behalf of the people. He pleads for the people with God that God will not carry out these judgments because God's people are small. And without crops, and without land, they cannot survive. And the Lord listened to Amos. He didn't carry out these visions of judgment. In the outcome of those visions, we see that God was still willing to forgive. But that's not the case with the vision that we have before us of the plumb line. In this vision, Amos never intercedes for the people. And the message of the plumb line, beloved, as I hope you will see, is loud and clear. The message that the master builder inspects and rejects his covenant building. Very simply, we want to notice the picture, and then the purpose, and then the punishment. First of all, the picture we see, again, recorded in verse 7. This is what he showed me, the Lord showed Amos. The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. This vision from the Lord, in this vision, Amos sees the Lord himself. He's standing on a wall that had been built with a plumb line, true to plumb. And he holds a plumb line. Now what's a plumb line? Boys and girls, a plumb line is a carpenter's instrument or tool that is used when a carpenter wants to figure out what is straight up and down. In its simplest form, a plumb line is a piece of string with a weight, Some sort of a weight tied on to one end. And if I were to stand here today holding a plumb line in my hand, I would hold the opposite end of the string and let the weight hold the string straight down toward the floor, and it would make a straight line indeed. And I could walk around here and I could check to see if things were straight. If this pulpit is straight, if the communion table is straight, if the walls are straight, if someone's tie is straight maybe, it tells what is straight. I'm not sure how much an actual plumb line is used anymore because now I know that carpenters have more high-tech equipment like lasers and things like that to do the same kind of work. But at one time, a plumb line was used when a building was being built to make sure that the walls were straight up and down. As a teenager, when I worked for a gentleman who laid block and brick and did concrete work, we would pour the concrete basement and then he would begin to build the block walls in that basement. and with every first corner he would take out his plumb line and check out that corner to make sure that it was straight and true. If the walls were built properly, according to plumb, then the building would be stronger and safer than if the walls were built crooked. Because we all know that a wall that leans is simply not safe. And in this text, the Lord is standing on a wall that had been built with the use of a plumb line. In other words, the text says it was built true to plumb. It was straight and upright. It was a wall that had been built perfect and secure. It was well built. What we need to understand is that in the Old Testament, a wall represented the city. It was the physical strength and support of the city. In Deuteronomy 3, verse 5, we read, All these cities, the cities of Canaan, were fortified with high walls and gates and bars. And see, basically we could say that the wall was the city. Because if the enemy could break down the wall that surrounded the city, the city was defeated. It was done for. Think of the Lord giving the city of Jericho into the hands of Joshua and the Israelites. In Joshua 6, verse 20 we read, And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before Him, and they took the city. Or think of Nehemiah rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. That was the first step in rebuilding the city. It was important to first rebuild the physical strength and support of the city. Here in our text again, God is standing on a properly built wall with a plumb line, the tool used to build that wall in His hand. Now we must understand, in order to understand this, we need to understand that this wall represents the people that Amos was preaching to. This wall represents, it was God's covenant people, the Israelites. They were God's covenant building. They had been built straight and upright. God, in His grace, had built His people with the straight edge of His law. And He built them upon the foundation of His covenant. And when God established His covenant with them, He said, I will be your God and you will be My people. In other words, they had a good beginning. God called them out from the nations of the world and showed them the path, gave them the path, set them on the path and said, follow this path. They had a good beginning. God's covenant building had been built properly so that everything was directed toward one goal and that goal was the glory of God. And God gave them His law to keep them straight and to guide them toward that goal of glorifying God. For example, when God's people obey the command to not covet, that builds a content people. When you obey the command of forbidding adultery, that builds a trustworthy people. When you obey the command to not murder, that builds a loving people. When you obey the command to not steal, that builds an honest people. When we obey the command to keep the Sabbath day holy, that builds a worshiping people. And we could go on and on. And this obedience, you see, is for God's glory. In this vision, God was standing on and therefore over the wall, watching over the wall of His covenant people, the Old Testament church, which had been built proper and straight and plumb with the straight edge of His law. And the New Testament confirms that the church has been built straight and true as it has been built on the firmest, most solid foundation, the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself, the great law keeper, being the chief cornerstone. And all true believers are building blocks in that new covenant building as individuals, as families, as churches. And our Lord continues to stand on the wall of His covenant building overlooking His church. But now in the second place we ask, why? What is God's purpose here? Again, Amos not only sees God standing on the wall, but again, God is holding that plumb line. If the wall was built with the use of the plumb line in the first place, then why did he need a plumb line now? Well, it becomes clear that this wall was showing signs of wear and tear. It wasn't as perfect and solid and straight as it once was. In verse 8 we read, Remember, this was a time of apostasy and wickedness in the lives of God's covenant people. In Leviticus 19, verse 2, God gave them this familiar command, You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. But they hadn't done it. They hadn't followed this command. In fact, they were the opposite. They were unholy and unrighteous. They were downright wicked and sinful. God's covenant building, this wall had become crooked. Cracks had formed and it was beginning to crumble. And what Amos saw here, you see, was a picture of God, the master builder, who was also the building inspector who had come for the purpose of inspecting his covenant building. And God was about to inspect his covenant building by placing the plumb line right in the middle of them. He was going to check the very heart of His people. And by using a plumb line, God is going to inspect this wall with the very same standard that had been used to build the wall correctly. To see how straight she stood. Indeed, God had built this wall straight and true. He had established His covenant people by His grace and His grace alone. They had been set up straight with the plumb line of His law complete with His covenantal obligations and stipulations. And now God was going to test or evaluate them with the same plumb line of His covenantal laws to check their condition. You see, beloved, we need to realize that the plumb line is not only used for building, but it's also used for tearing down in this respect. Not that the plumb line is used for the actual tearing down. We know that a string is not strong enough to tear down anything, but it is used to check and see if the walls are so crooked that they are beyond repair. And therefore, in a sense, a plumb line testifies to the fact that the building is to be condemned and torn down. Here, God's covenant building was sagging so badly. It was leaning almost to the point of collapsing under its own weight. God's people did not stand straight any longer. They didn't measure up. We know that they never did after sin entered the world. We know that. But again, they had had a good beginning as God had called them out to be His people. A showcase for the nations. And He showed them how they were to walk before Him. But their idolatry and their injustice and their unrighteousness and their self-centeredness threw them completely out of plumb. Notice that when God asked Amos what he saw, But Amos' only reply was that he saw a plumb line. That's all he says. He didn't say anything about the wall or seeing the Lord standing on the wall holding a plumb line. It's not completely clear whether Amos knew right away what God was going to do. But I believe that he did realize that this wasn't a good situation for the kingdom of Israel. Because he knew what a plumb line was used for. And he also knew how crooked these people had become. God would use this plumb line to test their moral character and their covenantal faithfulness. And Amos knew that it would reveal their true state. They had failed to be holy. They had failed to be the people of God. It would reveal their sin and misery. Indeed, Israel was small, but she was still expected to stand straight and upright and vertical. Judgment was coming. God wasn't going to use the plumb line to administer His judgment, but He would use it to prepare His people for judgment. Every Lord's Day, congregation, we hear the law of God, His Ten Commandments read, teaching and reminding us of the way of the Christian life. As well, we sit under the preaching of God's own holy word. And on occasion, as this morning, earlier with both the form of baptism and in both services, the preparatory form, we are reminded of the truth of ourselves and the truth of ourselves apart from Christ. The truth of ourselves in Christ. And the truth of how we are to walk in Christ. And through all these things, through all of this, God checks your heart and He checks my heart. He checks our condition and believe it or not, make no mistake about it, God's plumb line makes a true and a correct diagnosis. It is never wrong. With the plumb line of His Word, the Holy Spirit helps us to continually examine ourselves, not only on this week of self-examination, but every day to continually examine ourselves and our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the hope and the comfort that we find in Him alone that we profess to have. Finally, God finds His covenant building to be in such poor shape that He rejects it. He condemns it. We look to the last part of verse 8 and also verse 9 to find God's promise of rejection, the punishment. I will spare them no longer. The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined. With my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam. The very words of the Lord. Again, in the visions of the locust and the fire, God had passed by His people without rendering judgment. He spared them. He had forgiven them. But now he promises punishment, that he will no longer spare them. He will not overlook their sins. He will not forgive them any longer. And as Amos knows, maybe that's why he didn't intercede in this vision, as he knows who can argue with God. Because as the plumb line showed, their disobedience was clear and unquestionable. Notice God's punishment includes wiping out the high places of Isaac as well as the sanctuaries of Israel. Both of these were symbols of pagan cultic activity, of their pagan religious exercises. These were set apart for the purpose of worship or communion with a pagan god. In Numbers 33, verse 52, God had commanded the Israelites to demolish the high places of the Canaanites, to get rid of pagan worship, but they hadn't done it. But we notice too, congregation, that these high places are called Isaac's high places. These people, you see, were familiar with their heritage. They knew all about their background. They knew all about their faithful forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And remember, the people of Israel, as paganized as they were, they were still a religious people. And it appears they wanted to be recognized with their faithful forefathers. Unfortunately, they had no idea how or what their forefathers believed. Even though they wanted to be recognized with men like Isaac, they certainly couldn't be recognized by Isaac's faithfulness. But again, the high places and the sanctuaries represented Israel's religious life during their apostasy. But these things were something not commanded by God. They were not approved by God. And by this we see that God was going to wipe out their religious life. He would strike at the very heart of their religious life, at the false religion that lay at the very root of their sin. But he was also going to wipe out their political life. The text says that God will rise against the house of Jeroboam with his sword. This was another Jeroboam. This Jeroboam was the king of Israel during this time. And in 2 Kings 15, verse 10, we find the fulfillment of God's word here in Amos 7, verse 9. And in that 2 Kings 15 passage, Jeroboam's son Zechariah is killed by Shalem, the son of Jabesh, and then Shalem reigned as king. You say, so what? Big deal. You see here we have hatred and fighting within the kingdom. And Leviticus 26 verse 25 says, I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. In other words, punishment by the sword was evidence that the covenant had been broken. God promises in this vision of the plumb line to destroy the sacred places and to overthrow the monarchy or the government. These two institutions, religion and royalty, church and state, were the two things that gave the people security. False security, to be sure. But the two things that gave the people security and they would be wiped out. what this meant was that the kingdom would be destroyed. I will spare them no longer, says the Lord. And we know all about captivity. The master builder inspects and rejects his covenant building. That was the message that Amos preached to the kingdom of Israel so many years ago. But that message is no different today. The New Testament church is God's new covenant building. We are a part of it. And God still inspects His building. In this text, God is using imagery that's familiar to each one of us. And He says to us, you are the wall. And He is standing on the wall with a plumb line in His hand. The plumb line of covenant faithfulness in our Lord Jesus Christ. The plumb line of true repentance, obedience, and faith in Jesus. The plumb line of God's law, ultimately the plumb line of God's Word, the Bible. All of this, you see, centers on Christ. He and true faith in Him and His saving sacrifice is the ultimate plumb line that God checks us against. He inspects us both corporately and individually, as a church congregation, as families, as individuals. How do we measure up as a congregation? How do you measure up as a child of God? As a Christian church and Christian families and as Christian individuals, God has set us apart from the world and He has commanded us to be holy. And as God's covenant people, we are to be tested by that plumb line because testing, you see, is a part of the experience of God. And that's why self-examination in a particular way, This call to self-examination throughout this coming week in order to come to the Lord's table is so important. So many churches have done away with it. It's not important. They've watered down the Lord's table. We must not do that. We must be called time and time again in this way to examine ourselves as we look forward to celebrating the sacrament. You see, we are tested to see the reality or the unreality of our profession. How are we doing as a church, as a congregation? Do we look good on the outside for those passing by on the street, but on the inside the walls are cracked and crumbling and sagging? Again, it's not only necessary to examine our individual lives, but also our corporate life. Do we desire to worship God in spirit and in truth? Do we desire to sit under the preaching of God's Word and only His Word? Do we exercise and enjoy the communion of saints complete with praying for, encouraging, helping, and even correcting our brothers and sisters in Christ at times? Do we desire and strive to be obedient to the law of God that He has given to guide us in our faithfulness to Him? Do we strive to fulfill our baptism promises that we have made on behalf of our children in response to God's baptism promise? I believe God has been merciful and gracious to us and we can humbly say as a congregation yes to these things. Yet we cannot become proud. We are not to become arrogant. We are called to be watchful. God's law is built right into the plumb line that He holds in His hand and there is no way, absolutely no way we can begin to be faithful apart from God's law which shows us how we are to walk before God. And living according to God's law pleases God. And it's what we as His covenant children do in order to show our love and our gratitude for what Christ has done for us. Apart from Jesus Christ, we cannot even begin to be faithful. Him, He who has kept that law perfectly in our place. He who has suffered for our sin and misery. He who has given to us freely His perfect righteousness, that we might indeed stand straight in Him according to God's plumb line. And as believers, beloved, keeping God's law is what makes Christians different from the world. But of course we have to know it, don't we? But again, we must also talk about our personal lives. Are we faithful to God? Are we faithful to God in our family relationships, in our work relationships, in our school relationships or in our friend relationships or any relationship. Notice I said, are we faithful to God in all of these? Because that's where it begins. There is no true faithfulness apart from faithfulness to God. Do we heed God's commands for raising our children in the fear of the Lord? Do we do our work as unto the Lord? Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, do we do it all to the glory of God? Are we thankful in prosperity? Not arrogant, not proud, but thankful in prosperity. And are we patient? Not grumbling. Not anxious. Not impatient, but are we patient in adversity? Are we as believers standing straight in the sight of God or are we crooked? Beloved, do we live up to our calling to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world? Or does our disobedience cause the wall of our church and of our home and of our hearts to sag? You see, these questions are meant to get you thinking and examining yourself, but not to make you discouraged because this is really a message of hope. Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, apart from Him, each one of us is condemned by His plumb line. But all of these questions that we have asked and so many more depend on a right relationship with Jesus Christ. The true church of Jesus Christ and those who belong to that church will never be destroyed. Why? Because Jesus Christ was torn down because of our crookedness. Our crookedness that was put upon Him for which He suffered hellish agony. We failed God's plumb line test. Our Lord Jesus Christ passed it with flying colors and He bore the judgment for our failure upon Himself. Beloved, through faith in Him and communion with Him, the crooked is made straight. The sagging wall is repaired. And Jesus Christ continues even today to walk among His church structures to say, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. That's the way of the born-again heart. You will stay built according to plumb. If you are here this morning and you have never experienced this faith and this communion, that you are being called to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Because indeed the day is coming when it will be too late, when there will no longer be forgiveness to be found. On judgment day, the righteous judge will say to those who rejected him, I will spare you no longer. Depart from me. But what joy and comfort for those who respond in faith to that joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. You see, beloved Jesus Christ is the cornerstone. And as we prepare the Lord willing to come to the Lord's table next week, may we remember and believe that only in Him can you be built straight and true and plumb and be a part of a building that will never be destroyed. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, indeed, as we bow before you at the close of this sermon and this time together, we thank you for this instruction. We thank you for this necessary teaching. We thank you for the application that your Holy Spirit uses to apply this to our hearts and lives. Be reminded, Father, that your eyes are always open. You continue to watch over your people but also you continue to keep your people straight in Jesus Christ. When we stumble and fall, you pick us up. When we drift to the left or to the right, you draw us back. You will never leave us or forsake us. Father, may we cherish this truth that we are a part of a building, the church of Jesus Christ that will live and reign forever with her Savior and her Bridegroom. We pray that You would strengthen us each and every day of our lives to walk before Your face in a way that is holy, in a way that pleases You, in a way that is straight and true. Father, strengthen us to that end. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray these things. Amen.