Pastor's Sermon Notes - June 24, 2007

Time to Return
Amos 4:6-11

[6] And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
and want of bread in all your places:
yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
[7] And also I have withholden the rain from you,
when there were yet three months to the harvest:
and I caused it to rain upon one city,

and caused it not to rain upon another city:
one piece was rained upon,

and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
[8] So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water;

but they were not satisfied:

yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
[9] I have smitten you with blasting and mildew:
when your gardens and your vineyards
and your fig trees and your olive trees increased,

the palmerworm devoured them:
yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
[10] I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt:
your young men have I slain with the sword,

and have taken away your horses;
and I have made the stink of your camps

to come up unto your nostrils:
yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
[11] I have overthrown some of you,

as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning:
yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.

Introduction:

You’ve got to ask yourself, "Why now? Why slap them in the face with that sarcasm now? Isn’t it too late? By His oath hasn’t he shut the door on any hope of avoiding this judgment? What is this about? Who is this for?"

God doesn’t take sin lightly.
God doesn’t take judgment lightly, either.

When bad things happen to good people - Jobs
When bad things happen to God’s people - Jonahs
When bad things happen to bad people - Judas’s

It is "time to return"!

"Reprobate" and "contumacy" defined:

Reprobate = 1. Not enduring proof or trial; not of standard purity or fineness; disallowed; rejected. Jer. vi. 2. Abandoned in sin; lost to virtue or grace. Tit. 1. 3. Abandoned to error, or in apostasy. 2 Tim. iii. [footnote 1]

Contumacy = stubbornness; unyielding obstinacy; inflexibility. 2. In law, a wilful contempt and disobedience to any lawful summons or order of court;... [footnote 2]

Outline:
I. The Reprobate Maintain Their Contumacy Despite Repeated Warnings - Yet
II. The Reprobate Exhibit Their Contumacy By Their Failure To Repent - Have Ye Not Returned
III. The Reprobate Finalize Their Contumacy In Their Enmity Against God - Unto Me, Saith The Lord


I. The Reprobate Maintain Their Contumacy Despite Repeated Warnings - Yet

Yet = "Nevertheless; notwithstanding; however." [footnote 3]

Leviticus 26:18-19 - [18] And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. [19] And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:

2 Chron. 28:22 - And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is that king Ahaz.

Jeremiah 3:10 - And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.

Haggai 2:17 - I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.

1. They did not respond after Famine - 4:6

And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
and want of bread in all your places

Deut. 28:47-48 - [47] Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; [48] Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

Lament. 2:12 - They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.


2. They did not respond after Drought/Selective Drought - 4:7-8

[7] And also I have withholden the rain from you,
when there were yet three months to the harvest:
and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city:
one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
[8] So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water;
but they were not satisfied

Deut. 28:23-24 - [23] And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. [24] The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

Deut. 11:17 - And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.

Jeremiah 3:1-3 - [1] They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord. [2] Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. [3] Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

Jeremiah 5:23-25 - [23] But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. [24] Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. [25] Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.

Haggai 1:6 - Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

Another kind of drought coming!
Amos 8:12 - And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.


3. They did not respond after Blasting/Mildew/Palmerworm
(crop failure) - 4:9

I have smitten you with blasting and mildew:
when your gardens and your vineyards
and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them

Deut. 28:22 - The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

Deut. 28:38-42 - [38] Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. [39] Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. [40] Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit. [41] Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. [42] All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.

Psalm 105:34-35 - [34] He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillers, and that without number, [35] And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground.

Joel 1:4 - That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

Joel 1:7 - He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

Joel 1:12 - The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.

Haggai 2:17 - I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.


4. They did not respond after Pestilence/Defeat in war (disease/slaughter) - 4:10

I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt:
your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses;
and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils

Leviticus 26:25 - And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

Deut. 28:21 - The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

Deut. 28:27 - The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

Deut. 28:60-61 - Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. [61] Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

Cp. Exodus 7-12


5. They did not respond after Burning - 4:11

I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning

Genesis 19:24-25 - [24] Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; [25] And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

Jeremiah 23:14 - I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

Jeremiah 49:18 - As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.

Lament. 4:6 - For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.

Jeremiah 50:40 - As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

Cp. esp. Deut. 29:19-29

"The writer passed through the California earthquake of April 18, 1906, and was an eye-witness of its horrors. Not the least solemn thing noticed was the persistent efforts of the preachers of all denominations to quiet the fears of the populace by assuring them that God had no part in the calamitous events that had taken place. Natural causes explained everything! This the Christless were only too ready to believe; and thus were their partially awakened consciences lulled to rest and their ears closed against the voice of Him who through Amos said, "I have overthrown some of you!"
From vers. 11 and 12 of this chapter, it was my solemn opportunity to press the truth upon many at that time, and not altogether, I trust, without fruit; but "the day" will declare it." [footnote 4]

Jude 1:23 - And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

How do we know that God was behind these disasters, these tragic events?

Matthew 10:29-30 - [29] Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. [30] But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Luke 21:18 - But there shall not an hair of your head perish.

Dan. 4:34-35 - And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

Eph. 1:11 - In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

Rom. 11:36 - For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

What is God's purpose in chastening His people? Consider especially Hebrews 12:4-11.

What is the proper response to these disasters, natural and otherwise?


II. The Reprobate Exhibit Their Contumacy By Their Failure To Repent - Have Ye Not Returned

What is it that they should have done, and failed to do?
We will come back to this question again, but their overall failure ends up being a failure to repent of their sin.

Their indictment is identical to that found in Romans 2:
Rom. 2:3-5 - [3] And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? [4] Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? [5] But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God

The Definition of Repentance

What should a good definition of repentance include?

1. After-knowledge
2. Change of mind consequent on after-knowledge
3. Regret for the course pursued
4. Displeasure with oneself
5. Change of conduct for the future [footnote 5]

In Scriptural usage it came to mean "...a change of mind, taking a wiser view of the past..., a regret fo the ill done in that past, and out of all this a change of life for the better..." [footnote 6]

"...that mighty change in mind, heart, and life wrought by the Spirit of God (‘such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice,’ Kettlewell),..." [footnote 7]

Notice that repentance is not merely a bare "change of mind" as some imagine who fail grossly to consider context and usage in their study of this word group!

Consider especially the great repentance passage in 2 Cor. 7:8-11 -
[8] For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. [9] Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. [10] For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. [11] For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

It is important to notice from this passage:

1. There are two kinds of sorrow, godly and worldly, one that brings salvation and an end to sorrow, while the second brings death and eternal sorrow. (vv. 9-10)

2. True, evangelical repentance is produced only by godly sorrow. (vs. 10)

3. True, evangelical repentance involves the following seven ingredients (vs. 11):
1) carefulness
2) clearing of yourselves
3) indignation
4) fear
5) vehement desire
6) zeal
7) revenge

4. True, evangelical repentance results in a righting of wrongs that is here referred to as "approving yourselves to be clear in this matter". (vs. 11)

The Opposition to the Preaching of Repentance

There is a great deal of opposition to the preaching of repentance, along with a serious lack of teaching concerning repentance, in our day involving a theological position that has been characterized as "anti-Lordship". This is a very serious error that divorces faith from life, and belief from behavior. Such a severing of faith from repentance would have been unthinkable in the first century A.D. The basis of the contemporary opposition to this doctrine comes from what I can only characterize as simplistic etymological nonsense that flies directly in the face of the fine teaching from Scripture of others like Trench above. An unrepentant easy-believism has no warrant in God’s Word!

Consider the teaching of the New Testament on this subject:

Luke 15:7 - I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Mark 2:17 - When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Notice that the only ones who may claim "exemption" from God’s command to repent, are those who don’t see themselves as sinners! There is joy in heaven when there is repentance!

Acts 17:30 - And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

Notice that in reality no one is exempt from God’s command to repent! He commands all men everywhere to repent! Any preachers who do not preach repentance as part of the Gospel, are failing to preach the Gospel according to the Word of God! This is no light matter! All men! Everywhere! No exceptions! Preach it!

The Christian Life as a Life of Repentance - Returning, Turning and Conversion

1 Th. 1:1-10 - [1] Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. [2] We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; [3] Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; [4] Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. [5] For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. [6] And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: [7] So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. [8] For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing. [9] For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; [10] And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

We need to think of the Christian life as one that begins with a conversion, a turning, involving repentance, and as one that does not stop there, but may be characterized as a life of repentance, a continual turning and converting each and every time we sin!

The Opposite of Repentance

Now let us return to the original question, "What is it that they should have done, and failed to do?"

Consider the following five verses recording God’s accusations of contumacy, a stiff-necked, hard-hearted refusal to repent:

Jeremiah 3:10 - And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.

Jeremiah 5:3 - O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

Jeremiah 15:7 - And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.

Haggai 2:17 - I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.

2 Chron. 28:22 - And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is that king Ahaz.

We need to be heeding the teachings of the following New Testament passages!

2 Tim. 2:23-26 - [23] But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. [24] And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, [25] In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; [26] And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Hebrews 6:4-8 - [4] For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, [5] And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, [6] If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. [7] For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: [8] But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

Hebrews 12:17 - For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

2 Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.


III. The Reprobate Finalize Their Contumacy In Their Enmity Against God - Unto Me, Saith The Lord

Isaiah 9:13 - For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts.

Jeremiah 3:7 - And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

It is unto the Lord that we need to return.
It is His goodness which should lead us to repentance.
His providential blessings should humble us, and draw us to love and serve Him.

Consider the teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism on the providence of God. How would you answer these catechism questions?

Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 10
Q27: What do you understand by the providence of God?
A27: The almighty, everywhere-present power of God,[1] whereby, as it were by His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth with all creatures,[2] and so governs them that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink,[3] health and sickness,[4] riches and poverty,[5] indeed, all things come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.
1. Acts 17:25-26
2. Heb. 1:3
3. Jer. 5:24; Acts 14:17
4. John 9:3
5. Prov. 22:2; Psa. 103:19; Rom. 5:3-5a

Q28: What does it profit us to know that God created and by His providence upholds all things?
A28: That we may be patient in adversity,[1] thankful in prosperity,[2] and for what is future have good confidence in our faithful God and Father, that no creature shall separate us from His love,[3] since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.[4]
1. Rom. 5:3; James 1:3; Job 1:21
2. Deut. 8:10; I Thess. 5:18
3. Rom. 8:35, 38-39
4. Job 1:12; Acts 17:25-28; Prov. 21:1; Psa. 71:7; II Cor. 1:10


Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 1
Q.1: What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A.1: That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death,[1] am not my own,[2] but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ,[3] who with His precious blood [4] has fully satisfied for all my sins,[5] and redeemed me from all the power of the devil;[6] and so preserves me [7] that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head;[8] indeed, that all things must work together for my salvation.[9] Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life,[10] and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live unto Him.[11]
1. Rom. 14:7-8
2. I Cor. 6:19
3. I Cor. 3:23
4. I Peter 1:18-19
5. I John 1:7; 2:2
6. I John 3:8
7. John 6:39
8. Matt. 10:29-30; Luke 21:18
9. Rom. 8:28
10. II Cor. 1:21-22; Eph. 1:13-14; Rom. 8:16
11. Rom. 8:1



Conclusion:

What is your only comfort in life and in death? Is this your confession?

Has the goodness of God led you to repent of your sins, and to live a life of repentance?

Will you right now, before you leave this place today, hear His call to repent, heed His command to repent, and turn from your sin to Him?


Footnotes:

1. Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language, 2 vols. (New Haven: S. Converse, 1828), reprinted in 1 vol. as Noah Webster’s First Edition Of An American Dictionary Of The English Language, 4th ed. (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1967), s.v. "reprobate".

2. Ibid., s.v. "contumacy".

3. Ibid., s.v. "yet".

4. H. A. Ironside, Notes on the Minor Prophets (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., Bible Truth Depot, n.d., 1983 printing of 1909 1st ed.), pg. 159, footnote.

5. Richard Chenevix Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, 9th ed. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., n.d.; 1976 reproduction of 1880 London ed.), pp. 257-258.

6. Ibid, pg. 259.

7. Ibid., pg. 260. John Kettlewell was an English author who died in 1695.