Kiss the Wave
Text: Amos 3:3-8
Good morning everyone. I want to welcome you to Sharon First Baptist Church, whether you’re with us here this morning, or at home watching the live stream.
A couple of real quick announcements before we get into our message this morning.
1. First of all, I’d like to say, that if you are shut in and unable to get out and go get essential items, like groceries or toilet paper, you can call us here… call me, and either I, or someone will go to the grocery store and pick up items for you, and deliver them to your home. If those items are in stock.
2. Secondly; if you’ve been unable to get your tithes and offerings to us, please go ahead and mail them in, or drop them by the church or parsonage. Or even take it and use it to bless someone who is really struggling during this time. Maybe a neighbor who has not been able to work due to the pandemic. Doing that may open up an opportunity to share the Gospel with them.
3. And Thirdly; Resurrection Sunday is fast approaching, and we are working on a way we might be able to hold services where we can gather. As of right now, we’re thinking of ways we can do that, and we’ll try to let everyone know what we’ve come up with. Right now; we’re looking at having chairs set up outside on Easter Sunday, where we will place chairs at least 6 feet apart, or maybe have everyone in their cars, but we’re still working and brain storming on that, so we will let everyone know for sure, what we’re going to be doing for Resurrection Sunday either by phone call, text, or Facebook. And of course, just like our services… We aren’t saying that anyone has to come to that, but the option is open. It’s really what you feel the Lord leading you to do. And it’s important that you be obedient to the Lord’s leading, in all of this.
All right… so this morning, I want you to open your Bibles up to the Book of Amos, chapter 3. And I’ll just tell you, I’ve been thinking a lot about this pandemic, the Wuhan Corona Virus, and about what God is doing in the midst of all this. We are a people who believe in God’s absolute sovereignty. It’s what the Bible teaches us over and over and over again. God is sovereign. We could go to passages like Psalm 103:19 which says, “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His Kingdom rules over all.” Or Psalm 135:6, “Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and on the earth, in the seas, and all deeps.” Or even Isaiah 45:5-7, which says, “I Am the Lord, and there is no other, besides Me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know Me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides Me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.”
The point is – GOD IS SOVEREIGN, and He works all things according to the counsel of His will. He has a plan and a purpose for the Coronavirus. He has a plan and a purpose for allowing it, and for what it is doing… to our economy, to our liberties, to our lives. And so as believers, we have to ask the question – “What is God doing? What is His purpose and plan? And what should be our response in accordance with God’s Will to all of this?”
Well; if you’re in Amos chapter 3, I want you to follow along as I read verses 3 – 8.
(READ Amos 3:3-8)
So the prophet begins by asking as question – “Can two people walk together unless they’ve agreed to meet?” It’s a pretty straight forward question.
Let’s say you want to go for a hike with your buddy, and you go out to the trail, and you sit there and wait and wait and wait, but he never shows up. So finally you call him, and say, “Man, I was all ready to go hiking with you, but you never showed up.”
And he’s like “Say what? You never called me and told me to meet you. If you would’ve I would’ve been there.” You can’t be mad at your buddy if the two of you never agreed on meeting to go hiking. So if you’re going to go for a hike, or a walk with someone, you need to agree upon the time, the place, the route… think about it, if you’re going along a trail, and the trail splits, and you want to go one way, and your buddy wants to go the other way, unless you agree, you’re not going to go together.
And many times in Scripture we’re told that our relationship with Christ, is like a walk.
We use that language all the time, we ask one another, “How’s your walk with the Lord?” And our walk with the Lord is based upon agreeing to the terms He’s set. So basically; God says, “Here’s what you need to do… here’s what you need to agree to, if you’re going to walk with Me.” And He tells us different things, like, “Trust Jesus as your Savior and Lord”, “repent of sin”, “be obedient”. And it has to be that way because our God is holy… He is holy, and if we’re going to walk with Him, we can’t be in unrepentant sin, or outright rebellion, and we have to be a new creation in Christ. To be something other than that, and to be in open rebellion and unrepentant sin… that’s going on a different path, a different trail… if we’re in unrepentant sin or rebellion, we’re not going to be able to walk with Christ, and go in the direction He’s going. Plain and simple.
So when Jesus says to us, “Come, walk with me. Come experience the blessings of the Father. Come experience the privileges of the Kingdom. Come experience the joy of salvation, the blessedness of justification, the peace, and protection, and security, and love and contentment of knowing Me and walking with Me.” And we’re like, “That sounds good, what needs to be done?” And Jesus says, “Here’s how that works. First you have to have a saving relationship with Me. You must be born again, and you as you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you walk with Me along this path.” And we go, “Mmmm…. Nah, I think I’ll pass. I like my sin, I like doing what I want. I don’t want to obey God, I don’t want to give up my lifestyle, or my way of doing things.”
God has extended the offer to walk with Him, and the world has rejected the offer.
To use Biblical language, we could say that our nation, and the world has forsaken the Lord, and chased after other gods. We’ve gone after the gods of comfort, and entertainment, and sports, and wealth. Athletes and entertainers, and our jobs become our gods and idols, and we forsake the Lord. And so look at what God has done… no sports, no going to the movies, a huge downturn in the economy. And people say, “Would God actually do that?” Well… that’s exactly what He did in Egypt with the 10 Plagues… every one of those plagues were designed to destroy one of Egypt’s false gods, and false systems of worship, in order to show that our God is the one true, and Sovereign God of the universe. And the Bible tells us that there are two kinds of people in the world… the saved and the lost… and it tells us that God deals with people in two ways, either as under the Law, or as under grace. If you’re not born again, you’re under the Law, and will be dealt with as under the Law, and if you break the Law, you are punished according to the Law, not according to grace.
And we look at this pandemic, and we see that its global in its scale. And it’s strange. So far; the death rate is nowhere near what we saw with Swine Flu, or pandemics of the past, but the worldwide impact it’s had on the economy, and our liberties, and our way of life… or that it’s going to have is staggering. The impact it’s going to have on these particular things and on other things remains to be seen… but I heard one guy say that we haven’t seen this kind of global impact since 9-11, and before that the only thing comparable was WWII… Meaning as far as the world-wide economic impact it’s had, and the fear that it’s caused.
Let me go back to Amos and listen as I read verses 4 & 5 (READ Amos 3:4-5).
The idea that Amos is trying to get across here is that there are times in human history when God speaks. There are times in human history where God is saying something, whether it’s a warning, or a judgment, or even a proclamation of His plans and purposes. But God speaks to His people, and to His world, and there’s a reason for it. And God does that in different ways.
Of course He reveals Himself through His Word, and He offers salvation through the proclamation of the Gospel, but at other times, God is saying things to us, through events in history. And the Bible teaches us that God never does things without a reason. He has a plan and purpose for what He allows. Even this. And we’d be silly to think that God isn’t in some way… in some form or fashion, saying something to us, during all of this. Things don’t just happen for no reason.
I know that evolutionist want us to think that everything is just random chance, but as believers in the Bible, we can’t accept that. God has a plan and purpose, just as a lion doesn’t growl without a reason, and a trap or snare doesn’t set itself… and that same trap doesn’t just go off unless something sets it off. That’s what Amos is saying. He’s talking about cause and effect. He’s saying there is an underlying reason that God allows calamity to come upon His creation.
And so we ask – Does God have a reason? Well… is 60 million + murdered babies a reason? Is legalizing and celebrating sodomy a reason? Is the false teaching that’s coming from so many pulpits reason? When we have pastors preaching humanism, Critical Race Theory, the prosperity gospel, and new age philosophy and having the audacity to call it the Word of God, doesn’t God have a reason? You see; our God is not only Sovereign, He is also Just, and His justice will not remain silent forever. And we hear that all the time, that God is a just God, a holy God, a righteous God, and that He is going at some point judge the wickedness of men. But then we see something like this happen, and we’re shocked. We’re totally taken aback by it. Because we realize, “Oh my goodness… I’m a sinner too… I’m deserving of judgment too…” Our only hope is Jesus Christ, and the mercy and grace of God.
So look what Amos says here in verses 6, 7 & 8… (READ Amos 3:6-8)
“Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city UNLESS THE LORD HAS DONE IT? For the Lord God does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?”
Coronavirus is like a trumpet blast, it’s like a lion’s roar… and I said it a couple of weeks ago… it’s a birth pain. It’s one of those things that takes place throughout history, it’s the earth groaning and longing for the redemption that is found only in Christ. And it points to His coming. To that day – the Day of the Lord, when Christ will come and set all things right. And so when we see things like this, and we see them as heralding the coming of the Lord, we have to speak to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and to an unbelieving world, and say, Christ is coming. Our God is sovereign over the world that He has made, and He is sending His Son who died for our sin, and who He raised up from the dead, to set all things right. No one knows the day or the hour, but things like this pandemic remind us that God’s Word is true. And so we see that, and we believe that, and we are reminded that our God, in His wisdom, has given us the task of calling the world to repent, to turn from sin and trust in the only hope we have – Jesus Christ. We are reminded that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. We are reminded that it is our duty and our calling to tell the world that our God is a God of grace and mercy, and He is quick to relent, but we must come to Christ, and trust Him as our Lord and Savior. We must ALL repent of our wicked ways, and seek His face, and trust in Jesus. We must cry out to the Lord and confess our sins, and our rebellion, and our idolatries. And turn to Him and fall upon His mercy.
In 1854 in London England, Charles Spurgeon was pastoring at the time when a terrible cholera epidemic swept through the city. Just a few years before in 1849 another cholera epidemic had killed 14,000 people, and so it was no wonder that when it returned, five years later, people were fearful. And Spurgeon addressed the issue in a sermon he preached. And he spoke about how things like plagues and pandemics can test our faith, and how they should drive us to seek Christ, and His mercy and grace. And in that sermon, Spurgeon said something very profound, and I want to quote it to you this morning. He said, “I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.”
We can speak of God’s faithfulness, but it takes times like these to experience it and know it. We can speak of God’s provision and care, but it takes trials and tests, to experience it and know it. The Apostle Paul tells us to fight the good fight of faith, but sometimes you never really know you have faith, until you’re in a good fight. Knowing Christ does not exempt Christians from illness or calamity. But knowing Christ makes all the difference in the world, as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Knowing Christ means we fear no evil – BECAUSE HE IS WITH US. His rod and staff, they comfort us.
CLOSING
