The sermon titled 'The God Who Can Keep His Threats and Promises,' delivered by Jamey Stout, explores the doctrine of providence as a dual-edged force in the lives of believers and non-believers. Drawing from Amos 9 and other scriptures, the sermon highlights God's providence towards both the wicked and the righteous, emphasizing that God will fulfill both His threats and promises. During the reigns of Ussiah and Jeroboam II, Amos prophesied against Israel's idolatry amid a period of prosperity, acting as a covenant watchdog for God. The sermon underscores the inescapable nature of God's wrath for idolaters and His protection for His people, with the prophet Amos serving as a mouthpiece to deliver God's judgment. It emphasizes that no one can escape God's judgment, and His threats against idolatry are backed by His sovereign power. The sermon invites believers to grow in the fear of God and the joy found in Christ, recognizing that true freedom is living as God intended. The sermon concludes with a call for repentance and faith, reassuring believers of God's steadfast mercy and providence.

What we just saw is exactly what the doctrine of providence is to do, right? In our lives, in our hearts, in our minds. So let's look to the Lord once again, if you've already turned to Amos 9, let's go to him and ask for his help. Lord I just thank you I just can't I just thank you so much for the privilege to open up your word with your people and Lord I just pray that you would help your servant and that you would help the hearer and that we would leave here Lord encouraged and strengthened because you are a God who will keep all your threats and you also keep all your promises to your people. We bless and praise you in Jesus name, amen.

Last time we were in Psalm 81 and we were looking at the last, the six paragraph on providence in our confession and that is God's providence toward the wicked, because the providence of God is a double-edged sword, and God's decree concerning the wicked and concerning the righteous will take place. And he will see to it that all the means are in step with what he's decreed. And so we looked at how that's kind of put in Psalm 81. Today we're looking at paragraph 7, and it's a pretty short paragraph, so I'd like to read it to you. As the providence of God doth in general reach to all creatures so after a more special manner it maketh his church and dispose or care excuse me care of it taketh care of his church and disposeth of all things to the good thereof.

And the passages cited is 1st Timothy 4 10, Amos 8 and Amos chapter 9, verses 8 and 9, and then Isaiah 43, 3 through 5. So that's why we're in Amos 9. And so we come to this prophet Amos. He prophesied during the reign of Ussiah and during the reign of Jeroboam II. And these reigns were marked by physical prosperity.

I mean it was it was a time of just great prosperity and got with the people there and the people of Israel and the people of Judah They were both kings that reigned for a very long time. Here's some of the characteristics here from 2 Chronicles 26-8 of Josiah's reign. Also he built towers in the desert. He dug many wells. He had much livestock both in the lowlands and in the plains.

He also had farmers and vine dressers and this is where we would find our prophet Amos, farmers. He was actually a fig tree dresser if you will in the mountains and in the carmel for he loved the soil that is you saw I loved the soil and then Jeroboam this is first saying Kings 14 23 20 and through 29 and Just a few of the verses from there just to kind of give you a flavor of what's going on during this time period. In the 15th year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, and he reigned 41 years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, he did not depart from all the evils of Jeroboam the son of Nabath. You remember what he did, right?

He didn't want the northern kingdoms, these ten tribes to come and worship at Judah because he was afraid that by going to Judah to worship that they would begin to now they would follow the son of David again. So he wanted to hold on to his authority and so he came up with this worship of the calves and put one at Bethel at the border of the kingdom and then one at the very top of the northern kingdom, Dan, and got his own prophets and all those things and you can read about that for yourself. So that's the type of worship that was going on in Israel, this idolatry. So he did evil in the sight of the Lord and then he made Israel to send this guy Jeroboam the Bat who Jeroboam the second is following but he also restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of Ereba. And so during this long reign, he was used of God to save the people of Israel.

God had mercy on his people that he had brought out of Egypt, even through this wicked king. He made war. It talks about in this portion in 2 Kings, his might, how he made war and how he recaptured for Israel from Damascus and Hamath what had belonged to Judah. So you can read about that. But it was times of great prosperity as far as materialistically.

But Amos is going to put his finger on the spiritual decay, and he's going to rub that sore, and he's going to unmask it as a covenant watchdog of God. That's what these prophets were as they blow the whistle on God's people who are mouthing one thing and then living another. And he is going to go after the northern kingdom, this Judean. And so let's kind of think about Amos a little bit who's our prophet. We find out as he's in his preaching ministry from Amos 7, 14 through 15, a little bit of a bio that Amos gives to a idolatrous priest, Amosiah, as Amosiah is telling Amos to be quiet and not to prophesy at Bethel.

And so this is Amos's answer to him in 7 14 through 15. Then Amos answered and said to him, I was no prophet nor was I a son of a prophet. In other words He didn't belong to the school of the prophets. But I was a sheep breeder and a tender of sycamore fruit. Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock.

And the Lord said to me, go prophesy to my people Israel. So here's this Judean. And He's probably a prosperous shepherd and fig tree or fig tree dresser and he's called of God. He gets a word from the Lord to go to the northern kingdom. Probably a pretty daunting task.

I tell you brothers and sisters, we all have a word from the Lord, do we not? We've got 66 books. And whatever your occupation is, let us be faithful to share the word of God in these ways that God has placed us. And so here he's sent to the northern kingdom as a prophet of God, a mouthpiece of God to blow the whistle on their covenant breaking. And he does so.

And so it just brings us to our passage, chapter 9, and Let's read the text and then we will delve into it together. I saw the LORD standing by the altar and He said, Strike the doorposts that the thresholds may shake and break them on the heads of them all. I will slay the last of them with the sword. He who flees from them shall not get away, and he who escapes from them shall not be delivered. Though they dig into hell from there, my hand shall take them.

Though they climb up to heaven from there, I will bring them down. And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel from there I will search and take them though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea from there I will command the serpent and it shall bite them though they go into captivity before their enemies From there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them. I will set my eyes on them for harm and not for good. The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell there mourn. All of it shall swell like the river and subside like the river of Egypt.

He who builds his layers in the sky and has founded his strata in the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth, the LORD is his name. Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to me, O children of Israel, ' says the Lord. Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Kaptur, the Syrians from Ker? Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord.

For surely I will command and will sift the house of Israel among all nations as grain is sifted and is sieved, yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword who say the calamities shall not overtake nor confront us. On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David which has fallen down and repair its damages. I will raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old. That they may possess the remnant of Adam and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord who does this thing.

Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowmen shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows seed, the mountains shall drip with sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captives of my people Israel. They will they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them They shall plant vineyards and drink from them and they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I Will plant them in their land and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them, says the Lord." We'll only make it to verse 10 today, but we will seek to do that. First of all, brothers and sisters, I think the main point in verses 1 through 10 is the inescapable wrath and protection of the all-sufficient God.

I think that's the point. And that's what we're going to be looking at, the inescapable wrath for the idolater. But the inescapable protection of our God for His people. Because of who He is. And I think that's what our prophet here before us is going to lay before us.

So this thread runs through verses 1 through 10. First of all, the wrath of God for idolaters is inescapable. This is in verses 1 through 4. I saw the Lord standing by the altar. This is now the fifth vision in Amos.

And with this vision, immediately I was asking, as I'm saying, what altar are we talking about? You know, we've got this idolatrous shrine going on in Bethel and Dan, you know, and then the whole context is the shrine's coming down. It's gonna fall. It's done. Idolatry's coming crashing down.

And you know, there was different opinions and whatnot, but one thing's for sure, God didn't show up here to be worshiped. He showed up here to bring down judgment on the heads of those who are committing idolatry. And since it is a message to the Northern Kingdom that is practicing and following the sins of Joash the son of Nabat who raised up this idolatrous worship to hold onto his own power, and by the way, isn't that a picture of Satan? He doesn't care how he gets worshiped as long as it's not the true and living God getting worshiped and so he'll come as Allah to you or he'll come as whatever you put in the place he doesn't care Just as long as he steals the rightful glory from God. And so it is with this king with a picture of a satanic heart to hold on to his power.

And so here he is. I take it to really be a picture of him bringing down these shrines, This one in Bethel here. And so what does he tell them to do? This is God's wrath against idolatry. First of all, we see that it's Adonai, Lord, that's being talked about.

It's the same word used in Isaiah 6. By the way, in Isaiah 6, we find out from John in John 12, 41 that this is none other than the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ when Isaiah saw His glory and spoke of Him. He's standing by the altar and here this prophet has this vision. He's talked about the idolatrous worship before in this prophecy in Amos 5, 4-7. He says, For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, Seek me and live, but do not seek Bethel, nor enter Gilgal, a neighboring town, nor pass over to Beersheba.

For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing. Seek the Lord and live. Least he break out like fire in the house of Joseph and devour it." Listen to this word. "...with no one to quench it in Bethel." There's no true priest in Bethel to quench the fiery wrath of God against you? No sacrifice at Bethel is going to do you any good because there's no priest there that could do you any good, but aren't you glad that we have a high priest who's the sacrifice himself who satisfied God's wrath for all eternity against his people.

That's amazing. There's no one to question in Bethel God tells these people through Amos and then he talks about their conduct. For you who turn justice to wormwood and lay righteousness to rest in the earth. He does it again in Amos 5 1 through 24. I hate, I despise your feast days.

I do not save your sacred assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments, but let justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream." And then what does God command at this idolatrous temple? Strike the door post. It's literally the top of the pillar.

Strike the top of the pillar. And then he goes for the bottom. That the thresholds may shake. This is an expression using the contrasting parts from top to bottom. It's like I'm going to knock you out head to toe, right?

There's not going to be anything left. The odd dollar tree is coming down. That's our God's message as he uses this expression from the top of the post to the bottom where the threshold would be it's going to be struck strike it he says break them let this shrine come down on the head of them all this is the command of Adonai And then he in the first person as he gives this command now says, I will slay them with the last of them with the sword. And Brothers and sisters, that's the way of God. Though He uses secondary means every time.

Who are we staring in the face when it comes to the way God deals with people? We're staring at God. Aye! Though it might be the sword of the Assyrian, God stands behind the Assyrian. And he is using him as the rod of his fury because he is the God who is sovereign over all things.

There's no one like him. And so here he is. And Here comes this point that he's going to make here about God's wrath against idolaters as inescapable. You can't run and you can't hide from God's judgment. That's his point.

You can't run and you can't hide. I mean, what happens when omnipresence, when omnipotence and ultimate sovereignty is armed against you. Well there's no hope. There's no hope. So this is where he goes.

He who flees from them shall not get away and he who escapes from them shall not be delivered." And literally if we were just trying to put this into an English way, it would be, He will not flee from them who fleece. He will not escape from them who escape. You're not running. It's inescapable. Amos has said something like this earlier in chapter 2 verse 13-16.

Behold I am weighed down by you as a cart full of sheaths is weighed down. Therefore flight shall perish from the swift. The strong shall not strengthen his power, nor shall the mighty deliver himself. He shall not stand who handles the bow. The swift, the foot, shall not escape, nor shall he who rides a horse deliver himself.

The most courageous men of might shall flee naked in that day, says the Lord, " says Yahweh." And then he's just gonna go. I mean, once again we have this from bottom to top or top to bottom and the whole point is there is no place in all of the universe that you could go to escape God Jonah couldn't do it either could he so he says though They dig into hell from there my hand shall take them though they climb up to heaven from there I will bring them down and though they hide themselves on top of carmel from there I will search and take them though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea from there I will command the serpent and it shall bite them though they go into captivity before their enemies from there I will command the sword and it shall slay them." Each statement here begins with the though or the if. And then this attempt, failed attempt to try to get away from the ever-present God, who by the way is not just present. He is sovereign at the bottom of the sea commanding the serpent to bite them.

There is no place where the sovereignty of God in all the universe is not exercised. So it is a fool's errand to try to get away from this God and hide from him And so he says from hail she'll God's hand as low as you can go Will take them from heaven God will bring them down from the top of Carmel. God will search and take them from the bottom of the sea. God will command the serpent and bite them from captivity. God, in control of those who have taken them captive, will cause the sword to slay them.

There's no place we can run. There's no place that we can hide from God. And then lastly, he finishes this up, I will set my eyes on them for harm and not for good." This is Romans 8 turned on its head. Brother John Snyder once said and I can't remember if it was the weight of his majesty or the Behold your God one. But he was, I think it was the weight of his majesty and he was talking about this.

And he was using Romans 8 and he said, if God is against you, What does it matter who is for you? That's the point, if God's against you. What does it matter who's for you? And He is against all idolaters. And my friend, you know we're all born that way.

We must be born again. And if you're not, God is against you. His eyes are set on you for your harm and not your good. And there's no escaping him. But as we see at the very end of this chapter who does he bring before us?

I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen. You see whether you're in the Old Testament or the New Testament, all eyes are on the Christ. And He is your only refuge. And it's in Him that God's eyes are set on us for good and not for harm. And him alone.

The wrath of God for idolaters is inescapable. And then Yahweh, or Yahweh through Amos pulls back the curtain and says, let me just make sure you know that I'm able to keep all my threats and he gives us a window into how awesome he is and he does that in verses 5 through 6. Yahweh can back up his threats. Number one, the Lord God of hosts. This is who we're dealing with.

This is who's speaking. Adonai, the master, the sovereign master of the universe. Yahweh, the great I AM WHO I AM. Here's how Calvin puts it. In a word he is Jehovah, whose being is in himself alone.

And you exist only through his power. And whenever he pleases, he can withdraw his spirit. And then vanish must the whole world, of which you are but the smallest particles. Since then he alone is God and there is in you but a momentary strength and since the great power of God the evidences of which he affords you through the whole order of nature is so conspicuous to you How is it that you are so heedless? And we now, he says, perceive why the prophet exalts so striking a manner the power of God.

There is one Hebrew lexicon, the one who is the absolute and unchangeable one, The existing, ever living, self consistent and unchangeable. And it is the Adonai Yahweh of hosts isn't it? I think our Lord as he is going to the cross, when Peter wants to stop he pulls out his sword and what does our Lord tell him? In Matthew 26, 53 through 54, or do you think that I cannot now pray to my Father and He will provide me with more than 12 legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must be thus?

Brothers, I don't think we have a clue of the myrids upon myrids of God's army. He is the Lord of hosts. He's got myrids of myrids of warrior angels and it just takes one to knock out how many Assyrians was it? I can't remember the number. Just one.

He further describes as Amos himself gives meaning to what he means by the Lord God of Hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts And all who dwell there mourn. This was two years before the earthquake, he says in verse one, and I just wonder if maybe this is now in reference to the earthquake that is now taking place as he's put these prophecies to pen, could be. And subside like the river of Egypt. One study Bible says the Nile River was Egypt's primary source of water. The river usually followed a predictable cycle rising to flood the fields before receding again.

And so what's going on here at God's touch the earth goes up and down. It is nothing more than a basketball in the Almighty's hand. He can do with it as he pleases just by the mirtash. Of course he speaks anthropomorphically. In Psalm it's his voice.

So just he's bringing before us The fact that the God who is threatening is a God who can keep his threats because of the type and the being that he is. He further says, he is he who builds his layers in the sky. It's literally His steps. He builds His steps in the skies. And then He goes to earth.

He has founded His strata in the earth. And so as far as you can go upward by looking at creation, as far as you can go downward by looking at the earth, You see the undeniable power of the Creator God Yahweh who is speaking here. It is the weight of God that causes His threats to hold sway over us. And it is the weight of God that causes his promises to be believed. It is a God like this that you can take to the bank, he's going to keep every bit of what he said.

And that's what Amos is bringing before us. And so He says, who calls the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth. The mere call of his voice and the waters of the sea do his bidding. And then he finishes this window, the Lord, Yahweh is his name. He can back up his threats.

We've seen as you go through Amos you see him do this two other times as he brings God before us so that we know that he who is speaking and Amos who had bears his authority should be listened to. 413, for behold, he who forms mountains and creates the wind, who declares to man what his thought is, and makes the morning darkness, who treads the high places of the earth. The Lord God of Hosts is his name. Also in 5, 8 to 9, he made Pleiades and Orion. He turns the shadow of death into morning.

And now we see that with the empty tomb, don't we? Isn't that awesome? And makes the day dark as night. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth. The Lord is his name.

He reigns ruin upon the strong so that fury comes upon the fortress. And this is why Amos in his prophecy says things like this, Amos 3.8, the lion is roared, who will not fear? It's when you and I see God all right that we'll see self all right. And when that takes place, we'll tremble at His Word. We won't be able to be the same.

And as I studied this and thought about what does God want to accomplish in my heart and the heart of his people. Well brethren, I believe he wants us to grow in the fear of him. The fear of Him and also the joy of Christ. Because it's this being who's reconciled us to Himself and His Son. I mean this is the One who takes on flesh and dwells among us.

It's awesome to behold. It's awesome. So the Lord God has sworn by His holiness, by what separates them from all others, as he would say through Amos in Fort Hamas 4 2. Well brothers and sisters, no presumption will exempt sinners from judgment. We see this in verse 7.

Are you not like the people of Ethiopia? And it's really the word sons, which is the same word he's going to use here, O children of Israel, O sons of Israel, says Yahweh. Here's the Cushites, probably as one commentator put it, the most distant people known in Israel at the time. Are you not like those people To me? He says in Amos 6.2, go over to Kalne and see and from there to Hamath and the great then go down to Gath of the Philistines.

Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory? Here's the presumption of God's people. Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt? Ah, but you're not the only one who experienced some type of exodus, right?

The Philistines from Kaptur, the Syrians from Kura, that's a heavy blow isn't it? To take this exodus that God gave them and say guess what I also took the Philistines from Kaffur and the Syrians from Kerr. You see brothers and sisters, we can never use the grace of God for a cloak of sinfulness. For a cloak of sinfulness. We do not take the grace of God and turn it into licentiousness.

And this is what they did. They let their privilege and what God had done for them become a license to sin. But I will tell you my brethren that's not freedom at all. No. What does the grace of God do?

The grace of God liberates a man, a woman, a boy or a girl to live for God. To go from being a slave of sin to being a slave of God, to be what I was created to be. True freedom is to be what God created you to be and that is to be a worshiper of Him and He does that through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He frees a man. Ah, That's freedom indeed.

Oh, if he left us where we were, well, we know where we'd be. So, The grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness, not embrace ungodliness. But my brothers, and this is where the framers of our confession have used this text, and rightfully so, Because our God in judgment remembered mercy. And that's in 8 through 10. And specifically 8 and 10.

I mean 8 and 9, excuse me. Behold, the eyes of the Lord God, Adonai Yahweh, are on the sinful kingdom. Look, God says, the eyes of Adonai Yahweh, the Lord, knows the character of Israel. And guess what type of character it is. What does he say?

Sinful kingdom. Sinful kingdom. And then we move from third person, this view of God's all-seeing eyes to first person and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. No presumption on the part of the wicked will stay God's wrath against them. I don't know what you're comforting your heart with if you're outside of Christ, but my friend, do not presume upon God.

Repent and believe the good news and be saved by His almighty hand. Yet, look at that. Oh, boy, don't we love those little words in the Bible? Just three little words that just changed the whole course in history, right? Yet.

Or that word, but. Here it is. Yet, I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob says the Lord. The only thing that can stay God's hand of wrath is his own mercy. Harmon in his commentary says the introductory accept places a restriction on the preceding clause.

So it's a but God moment as you would have in Ephesians too. But God. You know he talks about us being dead in trespasses and sins And if we left there'd be no hope, right? But then there comes the but God who is rich in mercy wherewith he has loved us, right? And he raised us up with Christ.

By grace you've been saved. Here's our but God here in the Old Testament. Not to destroy I will destroy. It's actually the same verb use. It's kind of like what he says to Adam.

Remember he says to die you will die if you eat of this fruit. Well here he's now saying to them I will not destroy. To destroy I will not destroy Or I will not destroy. I think that's an infinitive. To destroy, I will not destroy.

So he's emphatically saying, and that's our text says, I will not utterly destroy. That word utterly is coming because of the choice of the verb here. Now as you think about your Old Testament and our covenant keeping God, this is things that have come out as you think of Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26, 44 through 45, just a snapshot of the cursings and blessings passages that we have there. Yet for all that when they are in the land of their enemies I will not cast them away nor shall I abhor them to utterly destroy them and break my covenant with them. Why?

For I am the Lord their God but for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors who might brought out of the land of Egypt and the site of the nations that I might be their God. I am the Lord. Amos will end this section with this, this reassuring word to God's people. He says, as he brings back to them the hope and confidence that they have that God's going to keep his sure mercies to David and he says to them at the very end says the Lord your God. Isn't that beautiful?

That's what changes it all. This God is your God. What do you have to worry about? Well, I'll tell you, not one single thing. Not one single thing.

Romans 11.1. This is, I think, a great commentary on what we've got going on here. I say that has God rejected his people? May it never be. That's unthinkable Paul says right.

May it never be. What's Paul's case in point himself? For I too am in Israelite. The son of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin and listen to what he says next God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew listen we all know that not all Israel is Israel, but there's an elect in Israel. And to them, God gives precious promises to stay their hearts.

You see, men like Jeremiah and Daniel, they had to go through the captivity, didn't they? But they were spared from the evil of the captivity. And whereas it destroyed others, their faith came out beautiful, didn't it? As it does in our own lives, as God's providential hand brings us through trial after trial after trial after trial, till we get to that celestial city and we hear him say by his own grace. Can you imagine it?

Well done. Oh, what a king we have. There's no one like this great king. No one at all. So, How sure is this I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob?

Well this is the declaration of Yahweh, the one who is the great I am who I am. Verse continuing now in this illustration that he's going to give of the grain and the seed, for surely I will command and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations. So Yahweh is now illustrating what he said in verse 8. And he says, for surely in our new King James, and it's for behold, for look, I will shake around as you think of that sieve where they shake the grain and the bad falls out. Or it might be the good fall, I might have that wrong, but anyway, what we do know is that there is a separation that's going on here in the text and the separation is one where the wicked are surely going to be damned and the righteous are surely going to be saved.

And that's the point of the text. And so here we have God keeping his covenant. Then the Lord, this is Deuteronomy 28, 64, then the Lord will scatter you among all nations from one end of the earth to the other and there you shall serve other gods which neither you nor your fathers have known." And so that's what I love about the prophets and Amos being one of them they're not here to preach us some new message and that's what I love about our preachers. They're not here to preach something new. No, they're going back to the tried and true and they're going to bring what we know thus saith the Lord upon our hearts and minds.

That's why this is a good place to be. You know, I don't want no innovative preacher. I want a preacher that's just going to preach the Word of God. Amen? So keep it up, brethren.

Okay? Keep it up. We love you guys. Appreciate you. So listen to what he says as he talks about this.

His grain is sifted and sieved. Look, yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground. Oh, how glorious is God, the almighty God's preservation of his people. It's awesome to see isn't it? And here we are the Church of Jesus Christ and the gates of hell have not prevailed against us and nor will it ever.

And then I think this is why I think the confession has nailed it in quoting these two verses in confirmation of this doctrine of providence being the greatest assurance of His people, but also the most terrifying news to those outside of Christ. And that's where our prophet ends, all the sinners of my people will die by the sword. Those who say, the calamity will not overtake us, It will not come near to us. Listen. It will.

It will. The providential hand of God will make sure that every unrepentant sinner finds their place in hell. And the providential hand of God will make sure that every one of you who will repent turn from your own way and trust and rely and fall upon the grace of God in Christ because that's who Amos will point you to at the very next verse is that ultimate son of David. And the Gentiles who will be called by my name, my friend, he's calling you. He's calling you out.

To not stay in your sin. And with the call comes all the power and all the goods necessary, all the repentance needed, all the faith needed. It's all been purchased by the blood of the king. My dear one, Why would you face the wrath of God for eternity when you have one whom God put forward as a propitiation, the satisfying sacrifice that a propitiated, satisfied God's wrath against you come to Him? And you will not be disappointed.

And you will have the hand of God's good providence upon you and no matter which way it turns in your life it will always be for the good and always for the glory of his name. What a God we have. Shall we thank him together? Father in heaven, these truths to us are just the balm of Gilead to our hearts and we thank you for them. We thank you Lord God.

And Father we also know that a preached message is not the end of the story. That was the easy part Lord, But now comes the living of it. And that's where I need your help in all of it. But I need your help, Lord. And I know my brothers and sisters do too.

So I ask you that tomorrow, when Monday's staring us in the face and a new day's dawned, we would remember that there's new mercy for this day too. And there's a Father reigning over us and brother love binding us and the Spirit of the living God guiding us through the word. Oh Father, for these precious gifts that we know will be the means to take us home, we bless and praise your name forever, amen. You are dismissed. Thanks for watching!