AMOS 4 A WORD TO SELFISH PEOPLE2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Amos 4 A Word To Selfish People

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. Well, this morning as we look at Amos chapter 4, I've titled the message this morning, A Word to Selfish People. Because Amos begins the chapter, begins the message saying, Hear this word, you cows of Bashan.

And as he talks about or talks to the cows of Bashan, he's really dealing with the issue of selfishness in the heart of the people of Israel. As we consider this idea of selfishness this morning, I would encourage you to understand and to examine that selfishness is a sin that we all face. You know, as we're reading through the Bible in three years and we've been going through the book of Amos this week, we're

I understand, you know, you could be reading a lot of those things and thinking, okay, you know, what does this mean? How does this apply? Why do I need to read these things? You know, there's a lot of prophecies and things that were very specific to the nation of Israel at that time.

And yet, as we look at chapter 4 and understand some of the roots of the issues that Amos was dealing with and that God was speaking to, I think that it becomes very apparent for us that this is something that we do face and something that we do deal with. Selfishness is something that we will all struggle with until we enter into eternity.

And maybe you look at, you know, these judgments and these prophets, you know, proclaiming judgment against these rebellious people. And you might think, well, you know, I'm not out there rebelling against the Lord. And I'm not, you know, involved in drinking or partying or cussing or stealing or, you know, whatever sin you might highlight that you're not a part of. And yet even the best of the best of the best of us,

will still face and deal with selfishness. Even those who have walked with the Lord for many years, even pastors here at this church, will still deal with this issue of selfishness, which really is the root of what Amos is getting at here in Amos chapter 4. And so as we look at these things, there is great application for us to consider the condition of our hearts and the selfishness that might be going on there.

As we talk about selfishness, it's important to understand what it means. And so I like this definition of it. Selfishness is being concerned excessively or exclusively for oneself or one's own advantage, pleasure, or welfare, regardless of others. Now think about that definition, that overemphasis on self and disregard for others as we look at verse 1 again.

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountains of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, bring wine, let us drink. Drink.

Here is Amos addresses the cows of Bashan. He's addressing the ladies of the nation of Israel. And all the ladies gasp in horror because no woman in any time in all of history has ever appreciated being called a cow, right? That's not a pleasant thing.

But to understand what he is talking about here, the cows of Bashan were very noteworthy because Bashan was an area of northern Israel that was well watered. The pastures were lush and green. And so the cows were well fed. They were fat. They were healthy. They were strong. The best cows came from Bashan. And so that's the idea here is he speaks to the people of Israel and

He's addressing specifically the ladies, but of course it's applicable to all of us. But saying, look, you're well taken care of, you're wealthy, you have all that you need, you have all the resources you need, and here's a word for you, you cows, you healthy cows from the area of Bashan. And notice what he says. He says, you're oppressing the poor, crushing the needy,

But all the while saying to your husband, saying to one another, hey, bring wine and let us drink. And so you're enjoying life. You're, you know, going through stuff just to have pleasure. You're focused on that, but it's at the expense of other people. Again, it's dealing with this issue of selfishness. Concerned excessively for oneself, for your advantage, for your pleasure, for

Regardless of others. And so that's really what Amos is addressing here in chapter 4. Now Amos...

was a prophet who prophesied to Israel, the northern kingdom, after the nation had split in two. And he's prophesying about 40 years before the final destruction, when Assyria comes down and conquers Israel and takes them all away captive. And so he is, you know, one of the prophets who is kind of the last call, you know, giving them one opportunity to repent before this judgment comes.

comes. Now, although judgment is looming and it's coming, it's a prosperous time for Israel. And it has revealed, the problem isn't that they are having prosperity, but it's exposed the issue of their hearts and it's allowed them to focus on themselves and be consumed with themselves in this time. And so as he talks about the cows, he's talking about people who are self-absorbed,

People who are focused on pleasure and entertainment and meeting their own needs and disregarding others, even taking advantage of others to please themselves. The commentator Thomas Constable describes it this way. The picture is of spoiled, lazy women ordering their husbands to provide them with luxuries that the men had to oppress the poor to obtain.

So it's this picture, it's this idea of what I really care about, what's most important to me is my comfort, my pleasure, what I want, and if others have to pay a price for me to get that,

Well, that's fine. As long as I get what I want and I have what I need and I get to enjoy what I want to enjoy. And so it's that picture of excess. It's that picture of, you know, just focus completely on self and that selfishness that is there. Now, for some reason, my brain's a little bit twisted because I'm sick, so you'll have to forgive me.

But as I was studying this passage this week and looking it over, I kept having the picture of the Gangnam Style YouTube video just over and over, playing over and over in my head because, you know...

for those of you who don't know, talk to the youth and they'll explain it to you. But it's kind of that poking fun at that 1% class, you know, in the Korean culture and the lifestyle and the mentality and the approach and mostly at the fakers, you know, who aren't really part of the 1% but are trying to like look like it. And so there's that, you know, that mentality and

this is the kind of thing that Amos is addressing. So, you know, he was the first who, you know, wrote the song Gangnam Style. He said cows of Bashan instead. It was instead of writing the whole... Anyways, I'm gonna stop there. Okay, so a word to selfish people.

This is a word for all of us to consider because, again, no matter how long you've walked with the Lord, no matter what you are going through, you know, the oldest, sweetest grandma in the world will have to deal with selfishness in the heart. And so these are things for us to consider. And we get some perspective from God on what selfishness is and how it's dealt with. So four points this morning as we look at Amos chapter 4. The first one is found in verses 1 through 3.

And that is that selfishness deserves judgment. As we begin to talk about and think about selfishness in our own hearts and lives, we need to understand first and foremost that it is sin and it deserves the judgment of God. We have a tendency to kind of water down the failures on our part. And it would be easy for us to look at somebody else who in our mind, you know, they're way worse than we are.

And maybe, yeah, there's some selfishness and I love my comforts and I love my pleasures and I love my entertainments and all that, but I'm not as bad as that person. But here's what you need to understand. Selfishness deserves judgment. And we see that reflected here in these first few verses. Again, verse one says, hear this word, you cows of Bashan.

who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, bring wine, let us drink. And so again, hear the word, pay attention, listen up, because this is a message for those who deal with selfishness. Self-focus and focusing on our comforts and our entertainment always comes at the expense of something else.

You know, it's not that God wants you to be always miserable and God wants you to always be, you know, unhappy and hungry and never have what you need and never get to enjoy what you have. That's not what God would say at all. He gives you stuff to enjoy and he wants you to have joy and comfort in life to a point. Right?

But where we go wrong is in our selfishness. We try to get more and more for ourselves that God has not given to us. And when we do that, we are taking away from others and we're taking away from him. And so it becomes an issue of us removing from God passion, attention, focus, devotion that is deserved to go to him, but instead we're giving it to ourselves. Right?

or we're taking away from others' attention, focus, care, love, and we're removing it from them to place it upon ourselves. We can't be selfish without robbing God or the people around us from the things that God has, well, ordered and instructed to be given to them. And so that's the issue here, crushing the poor and the needy,

Meanwhile, saying, hey, let's have a drink. Let's enjoy life. We're gratifying ourselves at the expense of someone else. And that's the issue with selfishness. And here's what God says about that. Here's what selfishness deserves in verse two. The Lord God has sworn by his holiness, behold, the day shall come upon you when he will take you away with fishhooks and your posterity with fishhooks.

You will go out through broken walls, each one straight ahead of her, and you will be cast into Harmon, says the Lord. Here's what God says regarding selfishness. His perspective on it, you deserve judgment for selfishness. And he speaks to the people of Israel, and he says, you're going to go into captivity.

And this is so serious to him. It says in verse two, the Lord God has sworn by his holiness. Now the word of God alone is solid. It's dependable. It is going to come to pass no matter what God's word is faithful. But from time to time, God will kind of strengthen his word with an oath and he'll promise. Now he can't promise on anything higher than himself. And so he swore by his holiness.

God is absolutely holy and perfect, and that never changes. And so God says, as sure as I am holy, you're going to be punished. You're going to experience judgment for this sin in your hearts, for this issue that is going on, for this behavior that you are living in. It's a promise. It's a guarantee. Selfishness deserves judgment. And here's what God says to the people of Israel. He says, he's going to take you away with fishhooks.

I don't know if you've ever been out catching fish, but you know, fishermen, at least sometimes, have that string of fish, right? You have the string, your catch. And so as you're catching it throughout the day, you add it on to the next hook and next hook. And at the end of the day, you hold up your string of fish and you have all this fish on a string. This is my catch for the day, right? That's kind of the idea here, because what would happen when Assyria would conquer a people, right?

They would take away the survivors captive. And the way that they would lead them out into wherever they were taking them is they would put hooks in their lips and their jaws and their noses. And they would tie all of those hooks together in a string. So all the people are tied together with these hooks in them. And you can understand it would make it, you know, very painful if you were going to try to rebel or try to escape. You know, it was going to be at great expense, right?

And that was the practice of the Assyrians, and that's seen throughout history. And so God is saying, judgment's coming to you, and this is what's going to happen to you. And it did happen 40 years later. They experienced this destruction and were taken away captive, just as God said, because selfishness deserves judgment. This is how seriously God takes it. He can't stand selfishness, again, because it's robbing him

of what he has deserved, as well as taking from others what God has apportioned for them. Whether it be material goods, whether it be finances, whether it be attention, whether it be focus or love or care, God has called each of us

to care for ourselves to a degree, but to care for him to a greater degree, and to care for others around us as we care for ourselves. Again, these are the first two commandments that we often talk about. We often come back to this. The greatest commandment is love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.

And selfishness is opposed to both of those things. It's taking from God the love that we owe to him, and it's taking from others the love that we owe to them, whether it be our family, our co-workers, our neighbors, or whoever might be around us. And God sees it as a serious issue and says it deserves judgment. It deserves punishment. And this destruction was brought upon Israel as a result.

But what God has called us to is the opposite of selfishness. Let me remind you of what Jesus said in Mark 8, verse 34. It says, Notice what it says. It says,

and his disciples also. So understand, first of all, this is not just, okay, if you're a Christian, but you want to be like, you know, the next level of Christian, the super elite Christian, the really good Christians, you know, here's the word for you. This is Jesus saying to all people, if you want to follow me, the only way to follow Jesus, the only way to be a part of Jesus, the only way to be a disciple of Jesus is to do what he says next.

He says, whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. And so here we have the instruction for us. If we want to be with Jesus, first and foremost, we deny ourselves. That's the opposite of selfishness. That is, we say no to ourself. Because again, it's not that God wants you to always go around with your hair messed up.

It's not that God always wants you to go around with no makeup on, never caring for yourself, never having any fun, never enjoying anything. God wants you to take care of yourself. He wants you to enjoy life. There is a certain amount of attention you need to give to yourself that's appropriate and given to you by God. But yourself, your flesh will cry out for more and more and more and more. And one of the first things you need to do in order to follow Jesus is to learn to deny yourself, to say no.

I know you want that. I know you are crying for that. You're demanding that, but that's not what God has given to you. We have to learn to deny ourselves. And again, don't take that too far and to think that we have to live in gloom and misery. There is an appropriate measure of care that God has called you to give to yourself, but there is a measure of

And you need to deny yourself beyond that measure and say no to yourself. And then he goes on to say, and take up your cross. So deny yourself. And then you could also say it this way, die to self. Because when you say no to yourself, you know what it feels like? It feels like you're going to die if you don't give that to yourself, right? We all have experienced that.

Missing a meal on accident, no big deal. But if you intend to miss a meal to fast and pray, it feels like you're going to die, right? It's just like torture. It's like horrendous. If you don't get, you know, that attention that you want, that you demand from the person that you're wanting attention, it just feels like you're going to die. And that's what Jesus says. You got to die to yourself. Yeah, your body's going to crave things. Your mind's going to crave things. Your heart's going to crave things. And you got to learn to say no.

to let those things die, and then Jesus says, and follow me. And to put Jesus in place of those things that your body and your mind and your heart are crying out for. That's the cure for selfishness. But selfishness is in opposition to that. When our heart is consumed with selfishness, we're not denying ourself, we're not dying to ourself, and we're not following Jesus. You can't. They're opposite of each other. And so,

Selfishness deserves judgment. It's a rejection of Jesus Christ. It's a rejection of what God has done for us. It's a rejection of God's provision. It's a rejection of God's love. And it's us taking matters into our own hands to care for ourselves and feed ourselves and meet our own needs. Again, selfishness is a sin that we all face.

We can read through the minor prophets and think, yeah, they deserve judgment that is being pronounced on them. But, you know, not me. I don't do those things. We might look at others and think, yeah, I don't behave that way. But again, for the rest of eternity, the best Christian on the face of the earth, not the rest of eternity, the rest of this life until eternity, we will face this issue of selfishness and we can get consumed in it.

very quickly, back, just caught up in our own selves, our own needs, no matter how long we've walked with the Lord. Even me as a pastor, I can get caught up in selfishness just as quickly as anybody else. It's an issue that we face, and that's why it's important for us to go through these things and read through these passages and be reminded of the values and priorities that God gives us. When we're caught up in selfishness,

Even our worship is tainted by it. That brings us to point number two, found in verse four and five. Selfishness spoils worship. Verse four says, come to Bethel and transgress. At Gilgal, multiply transgression. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days. Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven. Proclaim and announce the freewill offerings for this you love.

You children of Israel, says the Lord God. As you read through the book of Amos, you can, well, as you read through all the different prophets, you kind of learn a little bit of their personality, a little bit of the tone. And there's a bit of sarcasm that you can detect throughout the book of Amos. And so I kind of, it appeals to me a little bit. I kind of like it. Yeah, like, yeah, get him, Amos. You know, it's good. But Charles Ryrie says it this way. He says, this sarcastic call to false worship

was intended to show the people how far they were from God. It's an invitation to worship. Come to Bethel. But there's sarcasm. He says, and transgress. And come to Gilgal and multiply transgression. Bring your sacrifices. Go ahead. Keep on doing the worship that you're doing and multiplying the sin that you're engaging in is what God is saying here. Come to Bethel and transgress. Now,

Bethel was a place there in the nation of Israel where they would go to, I'm going to put it in quotes, worship God. It was a significant place because it was the place where Jacob encountered God. He had a vision and the ladder, you know, going up and down to heaven. And he named the place Bethel, which means house of God. So significant place, cool name, but it became a place of idolatry.

When the nation was divided in two and Israel split from Judah, Jerusalem was located in Judah. And so the king of Israel said, you know, I don't want my people crossing over to the other nation to go worship God at Jerusalem. And so he set up an altar there in Bethel and said, okay, guys, this is your God. And this is where you're going to worship him. And so it became a place where they would sacrifice and worship. They said it was the God who brought them out of Egypt and

But that was not the truth. And so they worshiped here, but it was idolatry. It was a rejection of God as they engaged in this worship. And then he also mentions Gilgal. He says that Gilgal multiply transgression. Gilgal was also a significant place. This was where the children of Israel camped after they crossed the Jordan River for the first time.

Remember under Joshua, they went across the Jordan River. It parted and they went across on dry ground. They camped at Gilgal. They're beginning now to take over the promised land that God had given to them. It's also there at Gilgal that they experienced the circumcision for the nation. And so that takes place for all the people who were born during the time in the wilderness. It was a place of dedication to God, a place of celebration of victory as they were crossing into Jerusalem.

the promised land, but it also became a place of idolatry. And they would worship God there, quote unquote worship God, but it was not actually the worship of God. It was false worship. And so they were performing these offerings. They were performing these sacrifices. They were bringing their tithes, but God calls it multiplying transgression.

Because it was not actual worship. It wasn't genuine worship of God. It was tainted by their own selfishness, tainted by their own hearts and their own methods instead of what God had ordained. I would ask you to think about it this way. Can coming to church ever be an issue of sin? Can it be a multiplying of transgression to come to living water?

And I would say, absolutely. Now, that's not an excuse to stay away. I just saw everybody rush for the door right now. It's like, oh, got to stay away from sin. Don't go to church. No, it can be a multiplying of transgression when you continue to come. But although the outward is there, although the external is there, your heart is still bound up in selfishness and not surrendered to God. And so there's a show that's being put on and you feel good perhaps about what took place because

but it's not an actual time of worship. In verse five, he says, offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, proclaim and announce the freewill offerings for this you love, you children of Israel, says the Lord God. Notice what God says. You're doing these acts of worship, so-called, and you love to do them, but it's a multiplying of your transgressions.

So even the acts of worship that you're doing are furthering your issue and your sin situation. The commentator Thomas Constable talks about it this way. He says, the people loved to practice these acts of worship, but they did not love to obey sovereign Yahweh. The Lord wanted their loving obedience, not their acts of worship. Loving religious activities is not the same as loving God.

And notice that last part. Loving religious activities is not the same as loving God. You see, we can get caught up into this same pattern where we love to worship, perhaps, and the idea of singing. We love the ritual. We love reading the Bible. We love to do these things. But if our hearts are not right with God, they're not acts of worship anymore.

And we can love the rituals and we can love the tradition and we can love the religion and actually miss out on loving God. And this is an important thing for us to consider. Selfishness spoils our worship. Now, we can think about worship and the idea of singing.

And that's definitely part of worship. But all of our life and our obedience and our spending time with God and his word, our giving to God, our giving to others, there's so much of our life that really falls under that umbrella of worship. It's devotion to God. And oftentimes what happens is we get into the outward appearance of it, but we miss the actual devotion to God.

In the same way that there were sacrifices that God had ordained, right? That God had called his people to sacrifices. And so here's the nation of Israel doing sacrifices. It looks the same, seems like the same, but it's not the same. God had commanded his people to give the tithe. And they're giving the tithe here. God's inviting them. Go ahead. Go ahead and continue to give the tithe and you continue to increase your transgression as you do. Because their hearts were broken.

twisted up in selfishness, and they loved the acts of these rituals, the acts of worship, but their hearts were not actually submitted to God. And selfishness will do this to our hearts as well, so that we can go into a time of worship, and we can sing and

with great voices and loud voices and just be totally caught up and walk away from the service just like, oh, wow, that was a great time of worship, man. It's just amazing. And God just says, you just multiplied your transgressions. That's all you did. You didn't worship me. That can happen. When our hearts are wrapped up in selfishness and we've lost sight of denying ourselves and taking up our cross and following Jesus.

When worship is all about how I feel, listen, I'm in trouble. It's so easy for us to get caught up into this, though. You know, there's certain songs, perhaps, that I like, I prefer. Oh, I love that song. I could really worship to that song, but there's other songs, I don't like that song, I can't really worship to that song. That's a whole misunderstanding of worship. It's a complete misunderstanding of worship when we feel that way. But I'm in trouble.

but we're basing it on how we feel it when we do that. We're basing it on what we think about the worship, how much it pleases us and not how much it pleases God. You know, we can have an awesome time of worship with like the best instruments and the best vocals and amazing, you know, lights or sound, whatever. We can have all of that and it not be pleasing to God at all, although we are just, you know, giddy about how awesome that worship was.

And we can also have a time of worship where it's out of key, the instruments are not in time, and it just sounds terrible to the natural ears. But God is pleased by it because he looks at the heart. And we get so distracted. We get so confused about these things many times. Selfishness spoils our worship. It's not about how you feel. It's not about how well you like the song or what, if you like that song.

tone or that key or if that suits your voice well or that makes you sound good or whatever. It's not about any of that. How much does it please God? And are you able to give yourself to God in that song and express yourself to God in that song in a way that pleases him? Now again, worship is more than song. It's about all of our lives are meant to be lived in acts of worship and devotion to God. Consider the words of the prophet Samuel to King Saul.

In 1 Samuel 15, 22, Samuel says, He's addressing King Saul as King Saul comes back celebrating a great victory, saying, I've done all that God told me to do. And Samuel says, you're a liar. You're a liar.

Because you brought back animals and God told you not to bring back any animals. And King Saul says, oh, no, no, no, you don't understand. I brought these animals back to sacrifice to God. This is so I can worship God better. And we could so easily go to that. I'm going to disobey God so that I can worship God better. It doesn't work that way. That's what happens with selfishness. It taints our worship. It distracts us. It confuses us. It deceives us.

So Samuel says, look, does God delight in burnt sacrifices more than obedience? No, no, obedience is first and foremost. And you can't make up for disobedience by giving some great sacrifice, by offering extra money in the offering, by singing extra loud in the worship. You can't make up for disobedience. And as we foster that disobedience in our heart, these acts of worship are now fake, right?

and multiply our transgressions. And that's the condition of the nation of Israel. And so we need to take heed. We need to take our lives and our hearts and examine and consider, are we wrapped up in selfishness? Has this crept in? Have we allowed this to persist in our lives, that it's affecting now our worship? Dave Guzik says, it's always wrong to measure worship by how it pleases us.

Because it is possible for corrupt and disobedient worship to be wonderfully pleasing. You see, we can have a completely backwards perspective and think the most amazing things that we do for God are just awesome. And God says, no, just multiply transgression there. We got to check our hearts. What's pleasing to us isn't the issue. What's pleasing to God?

It's not about what you're most comfortable with, what you like the most, what you enjoy the most. What does God enjoy the most? What's important to him? And that is in our service times as we gather together, but also in all of our lives, our worship to God. If it's tainted by selfishness, it's going to be a multiplying of transgression. It's going to be adding sin because we're faking it. We're pretending to give to God, but we're actually giving to ourselves, taking care of what we want and meeting our own needs ourselves.

Instead of giving God what he wants, what he deserves, and trusting him to meet our needs. And so selfishness spoils our worship. When worship is all about how I feel, I am in trouble. It takes those significant places in my life, those significant events in my life where God has done amazing works, and it turns them into places of sin. Into places where I multiply transgression against God because I'm

Although he did that work in my life and I celebrate that, I continue to celebrate it in a method, in a manner that dishonors God and rejects, well, the giving to God all that he deserves. Well, moving on to verse 6 through 11, we continue on to point number 3, and that is selfishness endures hardship. Selfishness endures hardship.

Now, this is an important one because you might think, well, okay, Jerry, I get you. I understand what you're saying. Yeah, selfishness is a big deal. But, you know, I don't think I really deal with that. I don't really have to struggle with selfishness because my life is hard, man. I mean, I go through a lot of trials and I'm just like barely scraping by to survive.

And so I'm not like living in luxury, you know, like a fat cow, just having all the pasture I want. I just like, I just got to kick back and just party all the time. Like, I don't have to deal with that because, man, I'm just barely struggling to survive. So I probably don't deal with selfishness. But here's the thing you need to know. Selfishness endures hardship. And even when there's not the prosperity and the comforts and all the luxury...

there can still be selfishness. Check out verse 6. It says, God is now going to describe some discipline, some judgments that he's brought into their lives in these next few verses. All the while saying, I did this and you have not returned to me.

I brought a little bit more judgment and you did not return to me. And here in verse six, we have it clear as day in the scriptures. God sent dentists as a judgment from God. He gave us cleanness of teeth. Of course, that's not talking about a dentist cleaning your teeth. That's talking about your teeth are clean because you have nothing to eat. Famine. You're hungry. God has withheld food from them. He said, lack of bread in all your places.

And he says, yet you have not returned to me. Again, we can easily think we're not selfish because we're suffering, because we lack, because we don't have, we don't, we need, we're hungry. So I can't be selfish. But what God is saying is, no, you are, you're selfish. And I've brought this hunger upon you. And the intention of that hunger that I've brought is

The intention was for you to open your eyes and realize, I've strayed from God. I've allowed my heart to be consumed with myself and to turn back to God. But God says, even though I brought this hunger into your life, you have not returned to me. You've continued in your selfishness, in your focus on self, in your attention to yourself, even though you've been hungry. Verse 7, I also withheld rain from you.

You can see there's a little bit of an increase here. First, God withheld food. They didn't pay attention. They continued on in their selfishness. So God withheld water.

They didn't pay attention. They continued on in their selfishness. And they did not return to the Lord. God is slowly ramping up the correction. Adding on affliction after affliction. It's a technique that he uses to show grace and mercy. So that he uses the least amount of discipline necessary. Here's what Dave Guzik says.

He says, God starts his chastisement slow and increases it incrementally so that he can use the smallest amount of discipline necessary to turn our hearts back to him. You see, if they would turn around at the hunger, they wouldn't have to experience the thirst. If they would repent early in the warning signs and the indications from God that there's an issue, then they wouldn't have to experience the rest. But if they resist, then they experience more affliction. So not only are they lacking bread, but now they're lacking water.

In verse 9, he describes blasting them with blight and mildew, hitting their crops, affecting their produce. In verse 10, he describes sending plagues, like similar to the plagues of Egypt. God's making it clear, hey, this is a supernatural work. This is something I'm calling you. I'm getting your attention. In verse 11, he describes overthrowing some of them, overthrowing the cities like Sodom and Gomorrah, that is destroying cities completely.

And yet still you've not returned to me. All through these difficulties, all through these hardships, they've held on to their selfishness. Again, it's not just an issue when you have extra, when you have abundance, when you have, you know, more than you know what to do with. Sometimes people who don't have money think, well, I couldn't have a money problem because I don't have money. It's the people who have all that money that they have money problems. But, you know, a lot of times it's

Those who don't have money, who have just as much money problems in the sense of in the heart, greed, and those kinds of issues in the heart, as much as those who have abundance. You can't look at the hardships in your life and say, I don't deal with selfishness. In fact, the hardships in your life might be a direct indication that you do have selfishness. Now, I always like to be careful to point out the example of Job.

Hardship in a person's life does not mean that there is an issue of sin, because sometimes there is hardship in life, even though you're righteous like Job. That being said, hardship in your life also can be God turning up the dial and saying, hey, things are getting hot, aren't they? Aren't you getting a little bit uncomfortable? Okay, good. I've got your attention now. Now, can you check your heart? Can you see what's going on? Because I see what's really happening in your life, and

You're going through all these acts of worship, but it's not actually worship because you're caught up in selfishness and you're bound up and you're consumed and you're chasing after these things that are not of me. And I'm trying to get your attention. I'm trying to call you out of those things because those will destroy you. And as God was turning up the heat for the nation of Israel, they would not return to the Lord over and over and over and over again. I would encourage you to consider when you're going through affliction,

It is a good opportunity to check with God. God, is there something going on? It's not always a direct result of sin, but you know, sometimes it actually is. And God is trying to get your attention. And he's calling to you and he's calling you to wake up and return to him, to deny yourself, to take up the cross and to follow Jesus and to throw off the selfishness that you're holding onto.

Because ultimately, God will deal with selfishness. That's point number four for verse 12 and 13. God will deal with selfishness. Verse 12 says, therefore, thus will I do to you, O Israel. Because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. God says, therefore, because I've been calling out to you, applying affliction, giving you opportunity to repent after opportunity to repent, and you have refused.

He says, prepare to meet your God. Now you can take that phrase, prepare to meet your God in kind of a nice way, like, hey, get ready to meet God. But this is really, hey, you're done. This is judgment. You're gonna stand before God and give account and you're gonna be judged because you refused to repent. That's the sense that God means it here. Prepare to meet your God because you're gonna stand before God and be judged. However,

I would suggest you take a look at this and understand that it is also an invitation. We've seen that all throughout the scriptures. When God announces judgment, it's an invitation for you to repent. Just like he sent Jonah into Nineveh and announced judgment, but as the people repented, God relented. And so in the same way, prepare to meet your God is a statement of judgment, but also, hey, listen, if you prepare to meet your God,

then when you meet him, it doesn't have to be in judgment. If you prepare, it doesn't have to be in judgment when you stand before God. And instead of receiving his wrath and his judgment for your selfishness, you can receive his forgiveness and his grace and his mercy extended towards you. You have the opportunity to change the course and you don't have to experience the judgment of God if you will prepare to meet your God.

If you'll turn to him now and deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. And even though you've multiplied transgression, you'll find where sin abounded, grace abounds much more. That God's able to forgive. He's not done with you because you're so selfish. But if you don't prepare yourself to meet him, then you're going to be experiencing some serious correction from God. Because he will not deal with, he will not put up with

selfishness. And he reminds us who he is that we're talking about in verse 13. For behold, he who forms mountains and creates the wind, who declares to man what his thought is and makes the morning darkness, who treads the high places of the earth, the Lord God of hosts is his name. When we talk about God, remember who it is we're talking about. He is the one who forms mountains. He's the creator of

of the heavens and the earth. He's the one who creates the wind. So many times we are bound and determined to do what we want, to try to meet our own needs, trying to please ourselves and make ourselves happy, totally forgetting that the only one who can really supply what we need and provide for us and provide the best for us is God. Understand, he's the one who forms the mountains and creates the wind.

He's fully capable of meeting all your needs. We're so convinced we have to. And if I don't get this, then my needs are not going to be met and I'm not going to be satisfied and I'm not going to be happy. And it's selfishness in our hearts, insisting that we try to accomplish these things for ourselves. But it's when we let go of that selfishness.

and turn to God and prepare to meet God and receive from him. He is fully capable of meeting our needs and exceedingly abundantly all that we could ever ask or think. If you really want to be satisfied, you really want to have an abundant life, turn from selfishness. That picture of the cows of Bashan, you know, just like, all right, just got green pastures galore, you know, everything I could ever want, just fat and happy. You're never going to get that with selfishness.

It will leave you empty and destroyed and wrecked. But God does promise good things to his followers. It doesn't mean that you get everything that you want, but you get everything that you need. And in ways that you didn't even know that you could be blessed, God will bless you abundantly, exceedingly beyond you could ever ask or think. In this life and then on into eternity. But if you're bound up in selfishness, God's going to deal with it. I think another thing to point out in verse 13 is,

He says, "...who declares to man what his thought is." Talking about the times of worship and the acts of worship, God can see right through all of the outward, and He tells you what your thought is. Many times we're confused about our own thoughts. We're deceived by our own hearts, and we don't even know until the Lord reveals and says, this is what you're thinking. And you go, oh my goodness, I really am thinking that. I didn't realize I was thinking that, but that's what I'm thinking.

God says, I'm the God who creates the heavens and the earth. I'm the God who moves mountains and creates the wind. And I know your thoughts. And you got to prepare to meet me. And so here's the thing. When you prepare to meet God, it can't be fake. It needs to be real. Because God can see right through all the fake. He can see right through all of the facade. He can see right through everything. And we can fool everybody else. But God knows what's really going on in your heart.

He knows when you're selfish. He knows when you're focused on yourself and consumed with yourself, paying attention to your own pleasure, to your own comfort, and disregarding him and the people around you. Stealing away resources that he wants you to give to him, resources that he wants you to give to others. Stealing away time that he wants you to give to him and to give to others. Stealing away attention that he wants you to give to him and to give to others. Stealing away devotion and

God can see right through. He knows exactly what's going on in your heart. Prepare to meet your God. He sees right through. And he says, look, I understand you're a sinful person. That's why I sent my son to die upon the cross so that you could prepare to meet your God, receive Jesus Christ, turn from your sin, deny yourself, follow Jesus, and experience God's goodness and blessing. But if you insist on continuing in your selfishness,

then you will experience God's judgment. Again, let me remind you of what Jesus said in Mark 8, 34. When he called the people to himself with his disciples also, he said to them, whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Anything else is rebellion. Anything else is selfishness. It's a rejection of God, a rejection of his provision. Here's what you need to do if you want to follow Jesus. Deny yourself.

Learn to say no. You don't need everything you want. Everything your body, your mind, and your heart cries out for is not good for you. Let God's priorities override your own. Let God's provision be enough and sufficient for you. Let God's decrees be the rule of your life. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Die to yourself. Even though your flesh is going to scream and you're going to cry and it's going to feel like the world is ending, take up your cross. Trust God.

with his word, with his rules, with what he has said, with what he provides, and follow Jesus. That's what Jesus did. That's the point. Jesus is the model. He denied himself, and he took up his cross. He went to the cross. He experienced great suffering for the joy that was set before him. He's the model for us. Live your life like Christ. Turn away from selfishness. Deny yourself, and take up your cross, and follow Jesus. Let's pray.

God, I pray for each of us here this morning. God, I pray that you would, Lord, as your word says here, that you declare to man what his thought is. I pray, Lord, that you would declare to each of us this morning the thoughts of our hearts. Lord, that we would have a clear sense of where we're at. And even though we often confuse and deceive ourselves, God, I pray that you would give us a moment of clarity this morning. Lord, are we caught up in selfishness?

Are we caught up and consumed with ourselves and so disregarding you, disregarding people around us? In fact, robbing and stealing from you and from people around us in order to indulge ourselves and meet our own needs or what we think we need. God, I pray that you would show us those things that we might have opportunity to recognize it and to repent.

And Lord, if you've been bringing affliction and difficulties into our lives, calling our attention and calling us to return to you, I pray, Lord, that you would help us to take heed. Help us, Lord, to return to you right now, fully and completely, denying ourselves and taking up our cross and committing ourselves to you once again fully, Lord, that we will live to honor you, to please you, that your priorities will be our priorities.

and your honor will be our highest goal for everything that we do. I pray, God, that you would help us to turn to you completely in that way and to live our lives to please you and not to please ourselves. Help us, God, to recognize when we're out of line and caught up in selfishness. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

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