Listen to the Word of the Lord!
Amos 7: 7-15
Pentecost 8 (Proper 10)
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for the eighth Sunday after Pentecost is the Old Testament reading Amos 7. I am sure you have heard the old saying, “Know your enemy.” A sports team will study the film of the opposing team to learn their plays and identify their strengths and weaknesses. In the business world, a company will study its competitors. In a much more serious matter, you should know your ultimate enemy. Your enemy is the old evil foe. His name is Satan. What are the aims and goals of Satan? What is his agenda? What are his strategies and tactics? It is important that you know your enemy.
Well, the devil wants to see all manner of wickedness and suffering. The more of that, the happier he is. But the center of what he’s about is unbelief. He wants to keep unbelievers in unbelief, dead in their sins. He wants to entice, and draw believers away from their Lord and Savior, away from faith to unbelief. He wants all people to be slaves to sin with death and hell as the only future.
With an enemy like that our only hope is in the Lord. So we have to ask this question. What does the Holy Spirit want? The Holy Spirit wants to create and sustain faith in our heart. The Holy Spirit wants to tighten the bonds between you and your Savior, Jesus, the Messiah, to help you become a stronger, more mature Christian, to grow in Christ. He wants you to be saved and to be restored. How does the Holy Spirit do that? By means of the Word of God. He works through the Word of God proclaimed in its truth and purity. Through the Law of God, He leads sinners to contrition and repentance. Through the promises of God fulfilled in Christ, He creates and sustains faith and gives joy in the Lord. The Holy Spirit works through the Word of God.
Therefore the devil’s simple goal is to prevent sinners from hearing the Word of God. He wants to keep you from hearing, really listening, and taking seriously what the Lord Almighty has to say. Satan’s agenda is to prevent you and others from hearing the life-giving Word of God Himself, your Maker and Redeemer. We see his tactics recorded in the Bible. One approach is to fill the world with countless false voices in an effort to drown out the Word of God. Throughout the history of ancient Israel, we hear about the false prophets. The false prophets would tell sinners what they wanted to hear and as a result they were popular. It allowed sinners to only listen to themselves and thus remain in their sins. The Word of God is not the only voice in the world. There are many other competing voices that are trying to draw us away from God. Which voice are you going to listen to?
Another common approach that Satan uses is to silence the proclamation of God’s Word. The prophets and apostles were often persecuted, beaten, imprisoned, and martyred. Elijah was constantly threatened. Jeremiah was put in prison. John the Baptist was beheaded. All the apostles except for John were martyred. Yet, God’s Word was not silenced. The writings of the prophets and apostles were inspired and preserved by God. We can hear and study them to this day. God will not be silenced.
Yet, we must understand that Satan strives to prevent sinners from hearing the Word of God. We see an example of this in our Old Testament reading from Amos. After the death of Solomon the nation of Israel spit into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. King Jeroboam of the north did not want the people to go to the temple in Jerusalem to worship the one true God and so he set up his own sanctuaries, one in Dan and the other in Bethel. All the kings of the northern kingdom followed in Jeroboam’s footsteps by continuing to promote a false religion. God sent Amos to the northern kingdom to call the people to repentance. Amaziah was the priest in Bethel and a false prophet. Amos spoke the Word of God. He proclaimed God’s judgment and called the people to turn to the Lord. Amaziah was another voice. He told the king and people what they wanted to hear thus encouraging them to remain secure in their sins. Not only did Amaziah speak falsely but he also tried to silence Amos, the true prophet of God. He told King Jeroboam II that Amos was a traitor and then he tried to intimidate Amos by telling him to go home.
That is how Satan works. He floods the world with false voices, and he tries to silence God’s Word. We see that happening in our day. All around us are false religions that deny the one true God. All around us are false ideologies that deny God and cause all sorts of suffering for people. Perhaps the most dangerous are the voices that are more subtle, the ones we hear every day molding us to be worldly. So many voices are vying for our attention, on TV, the computer, digital devices and the radio. We are bombarded with so many messages telling us to listen only to ourselves.
Not only does Satan flood the world with many false voices but He also tries to silence the Word of God. That is why those who boldly proclaim the Word of God can sometimes face intimidation and ridicule. In our own life we will be tempted to ignore the Word of the Lord. It happens every Sunday morning when you face the temptation to skip church to do something else. How about you? Do you want to hear the Word of God? Or do you find ways to discount it and ignore it? Do you dismiss it as irrelevant and boring? Do you have more important things to do with your time than to hear and read God’s Word? Is your life so busy and swamped with daily duties and activities that you don’t want to listen to what God has to say to you? Know your enemy. The old evil foe wants to prevent you from hearing the life-giving Word of God. Satan wants sinners to listen only to themselves.
Amaziah wanted to silence Amos, but it did not work. Amos was called and sent by the Lord God to proclaim the Lord’s words. Amos remained and kept on proclaiming the Word of God. He announced God’s judgment against Amaziah and all of Israel. The Word of God spoken by Amos was written down and preserved. To this day, now over 2,700 years later, we can still read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the Word of God spoken by the prophet Amos. What this true prophet of God said came to pass. The northern kingdom of Israel was wiped out by the Assyrians because the people refused to repent. Then a century later, God raised up the Babylonians to destroy even Jerusalem. But that is not the end of the story. For Amos also proclaimed that the Messiah would come into the world. That also came to pass. In the fullness of time, Jesus came into the world. Jesus our Savor who laid down His life at the cross to atone for our sins and to bring us redemption. Jesus who rose from the dead to defeat death and bring to us everlasting life. Jesus our Savior who gives us peace with God.
The Word of God remains. God will not be silent. He does not hide Himself in secrecy, but He speaks to us. We see that through the Scriptures, beginning in Genesis 1. The true God speaks in human langue so that He can be heard and understood. The true God is not deceitful but open and transparent. He reveals His will and ways in clear human language. The Lord wants His Word preached and proclaimed. He wants His Word to be read, studied and inwardly digested. Listen to what the Lord Almighty has to say. Only His Word can lead you to daily repentance. Only His Word can sustain your faith in Christ. Only His Word can guide you and restore you. Only His Word can lead you to eternal life. Despite so many confusing voices including your own, listen to what the Lord God has to say. Listen to the Word of the Lord. Amen.