Jun Jul Aug 2015 June 28, 2015 | Lesson 4
ADULT / YOUNG ADULT (18 AND ABOVE)
GOD WILL NEVER FORGET
Bible Basis: AMOS 8:1-6, 9-10
Bible Truth: Amos says that God will no longer overlook their misdeeds and will destroy them for all time.
Memory Verse: Read Amos 8;2
Lesson Aim: By the end of this lesson, we will explore unjust practices and their consequences during Amos time, reflect on how the church practices injustices and seems to be oblivious encourage the church to address injustices practiced within our community of faith.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK – What did God show Amos?
Today How Does This Apply?
Will God destroy US because of our SIN?
We will begin this lesson in Amos 8:1 “Thus hath the Lord GOD
shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.”
This basket of summer fruit is speaking of the fact that the
people are ripe and ready to be condemned of God. Again, this is like
a vision that God has given Amos. Their sins are like this ripe fruit.
Amos 8:2 “And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A
basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come
upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.”
There is a time, when God will not go any further and that is
what He is saying to Amos, here, and to Noah in the next Scripture.
Genesis 6:13 “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come
before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and,
behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Notice, God still calls
them His people. His indignation is full.
Amos 8:3 “And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that
day, saith the Lord GOD: [there shall be] many dead bodies in every
place; they shall cast [them] forth with silence.”
In this time of the end for the house of Israel, there will be
great sorrow and crying. Dead bodies will be everywhere. We studied
earlier, how the near kinsman burned the bodies, because there were
too many to bury. There will be no more singing and laughter in the
temple. There will be a silence that accompanies death. God will not
hear their cries anymore.
Amos 8:4 “Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to
make the poor of the land to fail,”
This is just one of the sins they committed, that brought them to
this judgement. This sin was a direct disobedience of God’s Word,
which taught to help the poor.
Amos 8:5 “Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may
sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the
ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by
deceit?”
They ritualistically kept the sabbath and the new moon, but their
hearts were not in it. They were wishing for them to be over, so they
could get back to the things of commerce they were really interested
- To keep the sabbath, or new moon, out of obligation, was
unacceptable of God. He wanted them to love these times . He wanted
them to keep these days for love of Him, not for obligation. They even
had dishonest weights, which were strictly forbidden.