If you have your Bible this morning, turn to Amos 5. We will just be looking at a few verses in Amos 5.
I do not know how many times you have read or turned to this book of Amos. It is a very small book in the Old Testament, but it is for us today. As we get into it, we are going to see that it is talking about our time right now.
In Amos 5, we are going to start at verse 17. Then we will look at verses 17 through 19. We may get to verse 20, but I am not sure; we will see. Amos 5:17-20 reads as follows:
And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith JEHOVAH. Woe unto you that desire the day of JEHOVAH! to what end is it for you? the day of JEHOVAH is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of JEHOVAH be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
These verses that we just read are for us today. This is a warning that God is giving us. By the time that we get through these few verses, we are going to see that we need to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith, because this is what He is saying here.
Let us start off with Amos 5:17 as we try to dig into His Word. In Amos 5:17, He says:
And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith JEHOVAH.
Notice this word “all.” The vineyards are the churches. They are the churches and the congregations that we came out of. They still exist now. This is what the vineyards are, so let us see what God has to say about them.
Let us look at Matthew 21. God gives us a parable here in Matthew 21. We will start at verse 33. We will go from verse 33 to verse 46. Matthew 21:33-46 says:
Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
In this parable here, God is equating these vineyards with the churches of our day.
The Lord Jesus came to the synagogues and they wanted to kill Him, and they did. They did eventually kill Him, but we know that God was orchestrating everything. We know this.
Is this not like it is today? Is it not like this today? Look at the churches today. They have their own doctrines. They have a doctrine for this and a doctrine for that, but it is like silencing Christ or His Word. They do not obey His Word, and it is like they are killing us. When they silence the believers and do not give us the opportunity to say anything, then they are killing us. This is equivalent to spiritually killing us.
We are ambassadors of Christ; therefore, the same thing that happened to Him, in a sense, happens to us. We get pushed aside. People say, “No, I do not want to hear that! I do not care what the Bible says.” They are not even curious enough to ask, “Does the Bible really say this or that? What is wrong with these doctrines that we have? What is wrong with accepting Christ?” They look at us as if we are crazy when we explain that this is not in the Scriptures. They act as if we have things backwards.
So let us take a look at Ephesians 1. This is just one example, but there are many, many different doctrines that the churches have turned around to suit their own purposes. For instance, in Ephesians 1:6, He says:
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
There is a big difference when you are the one saying, “I am going to accept You into my heart,” when the Bible is saying the opposite. He is the One who accepts us. God has placed this right here, and yet many, many churches and congregations that you go into, they will tell you to say the sinner’s prayer, to invite Christ into your heart.
There you have it! First of all, this is disobeying the Word of God because we just turned everything around. Instead of giving the glory to the Lord, these people in the church think, “I got two people to accept the Lord.” They write this down or they might even say this out loud, “Ten people accepted the Lord!”
No, these are man’s precepts. Man wants to get that pat on the back, but this is all based on pride. This is just one example, but what happens is that this is like killing the Lord. It is like throwing Him out of the vineyard. This is like the men in the parable that we just read.
Let us take a look at 1 Peter 4:17. He says:
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Here God is telling us that there would come this time. This time started in 1988. May 21, 1988 is when this judgment started. So what we read about in this verse has already started and come to fruition, and it will end on May 21, 2011. But this has started already; it has begun already. So the vineyards are now under judgment; God has been judging them since 1988.
We began this study in Amos. Do you see how the Bible directs us? The Lord, by His Spirit, directs us through His Word. There is no man who could have written this! There is no way! People say this to you, “We cannot believe this, but we might be able to believe that.” No. God wrote the Bible. He wrote it.
Let us go back to Amos 5:17:
And in all vineyards shall be wailing…
It is no wonder that they will be wailing in the vineyards and wailing in the churches. It is no wonder, because God is judging the churches. He is judging them.
Let us take a look at a few places where this word “wailing” is used. Let us look at Jeremiah 6. I will start reading at verse 26. He says in Jeremiah 6:26:
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.
The same word for “wailing” in Amos 5:17 is this word “lamentation” here in Jeremiah 6:26.
Then we read in verse 27, Jeremiah 6:27-30:
I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way. They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters. The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away. Reprobate silver shall men call them, because JEHOVAH hath rejected them.
This is what He has done to the churches of our day. He has rejected the churches.
Why? It is because of their different doctrines. They had not been set up to tell people the wrong things. They had been set up to bring people to the Lord. People heard His Word and the Lord used that Word to save an individual.
What has happened is that what they are hearing is pushing them away. It is driving them down the wrong path, and this is awful. This is God’s Word. He holds His Word over His Name! No wonder He has these horrible things to say about them!
These words have always been here, but God is opening up His Word today. He is opening up His Word, and so we now have more of His Word. It is the same Word, but we have more knowledge of His Word today in our day because we are in the last days. Basically, we are the last generation.
So we have to take heed. We have to know that God is telling us over and over and over again that He is finished with the churches. He is finished. He is finished with them, and so He has commanded, “Come out! Come out from among them!”
Let us take a look at another verse. Let us look at Joel 2. In Joel 2, I will start reading at verse 12. It says in Joel 2:12-14:
Therefore also now, saith JEHOVAH, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto JEHOVAH your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto JEHOVAH your God?
The word translated “mourning” in Joel 2:12 where it says:
…turn…with weeping, and with mourning:
This is the same word for “wailing” that is in Amos 5.
So it is not like it is a happy thing that God would disband the churches, but look at what they have done toward who God is. We have His Word. The churches were supposedly the caretakers of His Word.
What happened? How did they get so corrupt? You can go into ten different churches and you will find ten different ways of salvation. It is no wonder that people get confused.
Now God gets to the end. “His mercy endureth for ever.” His patience endures, but there comes a time when God cuts it off. He draws the line and says, “This is it.” They had all of this time to get it together, to just study His Word.
Even in the Old Testament times in the synagogues, they started going astray and adding their own doctrines to His Word. Today, it is so bad now that you do not even know which door to go through. So it is no wonder that God is saying, “Okay. This is it.”
We read again in Amos 5:17:
And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith JEHOVAH.
God is saying that He is going to pass through the vineyard. So He is going to pass through the churches. We have established that the churches are the vineyards, and now God is going to pass through. What is He going to do when He passes through?
Let us take a look at this phrase. Turn to Exodus 12. I will start reading at verse 11. He says in Exodus 12:11-12:
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is JEHOVAH’S passover. For I will pass through…
This is that phrase.
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am JEHOVAH.
He cannot make this any plainer. When He passes through, He is coming to bring judgment. This is exactly what He is bringing on the churches of our day. He is bringing judgment. He is passing through them.
If you noticed, this is the institution of the Passover when they had to kill a lamb and put its blood in a basin. Then they had to take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in this blood and then put this over the doorposts and over the lintel. Then God promised Moses and the nation of Israel that when He passed through the land and saw this blood, He would pass over that house. This was symbolical of salvation because He was saying, “You will not be destroyed.”
When He saw the blood, they would not be destroyed. Whoever did not have the blood on their doorposts and lintel would be destroyed. When we really look into this, this is what He did to the firstborn. This was just a picture of what He is going to do when Judgment Day gets here.
Believers symbolically have this blood over their doorposts and lintel because the Lamb would be the Lord Jesus Christ. They had to take, as it were, His blood and it was this blood that was protecting them from the destroyer. So this was all a type of salvation. But if you do not have the Lord Jesus Christ, that Lamb’s blood, over your house, you will be destroyed.
So God is telling us way back in the beginning of the Bible about salvation. He reiterates this again and gives us a little more information here in Exodus 12:23 where we will read a little bit more about this. He says in Exodus 12:23-27:
For JEHOVAH will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, JEHOVAH will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which JEHOVAH will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of JEHOVAH’S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.
The children of Israel were commanded to keep this ordinance, to keep this feast. But we know that the Lord Jesus is our Passover Feast. This feast day pointed to Him on the cross. He gave His life on the cross and then His blood was put over your house, over your doorposts and lintel if you are one of His children. So we can see how God was orchestrating the Gospel even way back there in Egypt and how this all ties in.
Let us go back to Amos 5:17 again:
And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith JEHOVAH.
Do you see how He is bringing this judgment on the churches? This is what verse 17 is talking about.
Then in Amos 5:18, He says:
Woe unto you that desire the day of JEHOVAH! to what end is it for you? the day of JEHOVAH is darkness, and not light.
This verse right here should make the hair on the back of your neck stand up! First of all, we know that the rapture and that the first day of judgment is the same day. So this is like a two-sided coin.
If you are a believer, you long for the day of the Lord, the day of Jehovah. Like I said, this is like a two-sided coin because this is a day of darkness for the unsaved but it is a day of light for the saved, and yet it is the same day.
So here He says in Amos 5:18:
Woe unto you that desire the day of JEHOVAH!
But all of His children desire the day of Jehovah, and yet He is saying, “Woe unto you!” This is a warning to us right here. Why would He be saying “woe unto me” if I am waiting for Him to come back?
You see, if your salvation is based on the precepts of men, this is not going to be a happy time, a joyful time. Now we see why He is saying, “Woe!” He is talking to those who think that they are saved. He or she really thinks that they are saved because, “I accepted Christ. I paid my dues. I worked on the Usher Board and because of all of that standing around I did for all of these years, of course I am saved! Yes, I am waiting for the Lord to come back. I am waiting for Him. Come back, Lord Jesus!” But the Lord knows all about this. He knows exactly what is going on.
So way back in the book of Amos, He is speaking to these people who are in the vineyards. We started off talking about the vineyards, which are the churches, and He is saying:
Woe unto you that desire the day of JEHOVAH!
Let us substantiate this with Scripture, as far as what He is talking about here. Let us turn to 1 Thessalonians 4. In these verses here, we want to show that this is the day of the rapture. In 1 Thessalonians 4, I will start reading at verse 16. It says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18:
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
People who are still in the churches read this and their first response is, “Glory be when the Lord comes back. I cannot wait until He comes back because He is going to take me back with Him!”
If you are a true believer, this is a joyous time. Do not misunderstand me. This is a joyous time for the believer. We will see the Lord Jesus Christ. We will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and we will forever be with the Lord.
I think the Bible says this in 1 Corinthians. This is like a sister verse to what we just read here in 1 Thessalonians 4. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. We will start in verse 51. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53:
Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So this is talking about the same event, which is the rapture of our bodies. He talks about those who are alive, about what happens to them, and He talks about those who have been asleep or who have passed on. They will rise first and then we which remain and are alive will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
Either way, we will be up in the air with the Lord—either way. If we pass on and are saved, this is what is going to happen. If we are alive when May 21, 2011 gets here, then we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. This is what the Lord expounds on in 1 Corinthians 15, and so this is a joyous time for the believer.
But salvation is based on Christ alone, His Word alone. In other words, salvation is of the Lord. We have nothing to do with our salvation. If your salvation starts off with, “All I had to do was,” then there is a problem. You can finish this any way that you would like. You can finish it by saying “be baptized” or “speak in tongues” or “accept Christ.” We went through accepting Christ, but we could go through a whole list of different things.
These are precepts of men, but God is warning us that we must know that salvation is of the Lord, 100%. If you have been brought up with the Bible, then basically when you were young—for those of us who are as old as I am—you were taught things in the church that you went to. You sat there and they taught you the doctrines of that particular church or denomination that you went to, and you trusted them.
This is the way it is for people who are still in the church. They would rather put their trust in the doctrines of the church from which they were taught, rather than in what God is teaching. This is where the crossroad is, and so God gives the command to come out, “Come out!” This is why only the true believers will come out.
I am not saying that there are no true believers still there. There may be quite a few there. I do not know. I am not in charge of this—God is. This is His plan. He is doing this, and so we just have to leave this alone. And just because you have come out does not necessarily mean that you are a believer either. “I came out and so, therefore, I am a believer.” No, it does not mean this either.
The bottom line is are you are going to obey what God has to say or are you going to believe what your church is teaching you? Who is right? Who has the corner, so to speak, on truth?
They will read a verse like “the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth,” but they need to be careful with this verse. They have to be careful with this verse because God is the pillar and ground of truth. It is not the churches, because how can you have ten different churches teaching ten different things? There is something wrong with this. However, God in His Word teaches the same thing. He teaches the same thing over and over and over again.
So we know that our salvation is based on Christ and His Word, and Christ and His Word are one. We cannot separate them. There is nothing that we can do to become saved.
We will close here.