Now our text today taken from the book of Amos, chapter four, verse twelve, prepare to meet thy God. By way of introduction, I want to remind you again that Amos was a prophet of the Lord. And these prophets of the Old Testament times were men who were raised up by God. They were emergency men. men who could bring the message of God to the people at a time of crisis. Time and time again these people had drifted away from the standards that had been set by God. And when they drifted away from God, God would raise up his prophets and send them with his message. Now Amos was one of these men. He was a poor man to begin with. He was a herdsman, man who looked after sheep or goats, worked out in the farms. One man said he was old farmer, Amos, but perhaps he wasn't so old. He may have been quite a young man. I think he was. But here was a man who looked around upon his nation. He was impressed with the condition of things that prevailed. And because he was impressed with these conditions, he had a burden upon his heart. Now it's so easy for a person to close their eyes to facts. It's so easy to stick our head down in the sand and pretend that everything is all right, when deep down in our hearts we know that things have gone all wrong. For example now, I remember on one occasion being in a certain northern city when an accident took place right at an intersection. I happened to be sitting in a room just two houses away from where the accident took place. Naturally, when we heard the crash, we ran out to see what it was. Very soon there was a whole crowd of people gathered round with policemen. There was one policeman moving amongst the people to get witnesses for the accident. He approached me very kindly. He said, Sir, did you see this accident? I said, No, Constable, I didn't witness the accident. He says, Where were you? And he got quite curt. He said, how do you happen to be here if you didn't see the accident? I looked at the man and said, look, sir, I was in that house just two doors away. I heard the sound and we rushed out to see what it was. All I saw is the same as what you are seeing now. How it happened, I don't know. He looked at me, he said, it's a strange thing. All this crowd of people here, And I can't find one person who was a witness to this accident. Now, you know the answer to that, don't you? It was just a matter. There were people there on the street for it was a busy intersection. But the point was this. No one wanted to be involved. No one wanted to be incriminated as a witness. Now, but isn't it true? You look around you today and you see things that are not right. Yet in spite of it all, people are trying to close their eyes and saying, well, I don't see it. But, you know, Amos was not a man like that. Amos lifted up his eyes, so to speak, and he looked over his nation, and he began to arrive at certain conclusions. He saw that things were wrong, and it's obvious he gave himself to meditating upon this and considering this thing in the presence of God. What we like to call, he had an exercise of heart. When a man's heart is exercised before God, on behalf of his people, you can rest assured that is the man that God is going to use in order to bring his message to the people. So he had prepared this man, Amos. Amos responded, as it were, to the call of God, and Amos brought the message of God to the people when they were in what we might call today a backslidden condition. And he's saying in his message, Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you. And so he brings his message, which was not at all a palatable message. But it was a truthful message, and he was bringing his message to the people. Now it's when we come to chapter four that we arrive at this text. But when you come into this chapter, you'll discover there are certain steps that lead upward to this great point. Back in chapter four and verse six, he says... I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places. Yet have you not returned unto me, says the Lord. Now kindly take note of that complaint made by God. Yet have you not returned unto me, says the Lord. You find that statement repeated again at the end of verse eight. Yet have you not returned unto me, says the Lord. You find the same words again at the end of verse nine, and yet again at the end of verse ten, and again at the end of verse eleven. So we have five different times. that God's message comes to the people, Yet, have you not returned unto me, says the Lord. It's God's complaint against his people. God is anxious for his people to turn again to him. Have you ever thought of that story called the parable of the prodigal son? Have you ever thought of the father in that story? how that father worked on at home while his boy was away from home. I'm quite sure that day by day that man looked out from the window of his house. He would look down the track, down the roadway, anxiously waiting for the return of his boy. Because when that day came, when the boy returned, the father saw him in Iran to meet him. It seems to indicate he was on the lookout. There was a spirit of expectancy, expecting his boy to return. In the same way I'm suggesting to you that when you read down through this chapter and you have this recurring statement, yet have you not returned unto me, says the Lord. It seems to me, as you read down through this passage, that God is so anxious, his heart seems to be burning. ready for the return of a prodigal nation. He wants the people to come back to him, which seems to suggest to us, of course, that they have turned away from God. But I want to draw your attention to something else here. In order to get the people to return, God has been dealing with them. In plain words, the hand that chasens has come down upon them. God's chastening rod has fallen upon the nation. Now remember, it's not that God takes any delight in having to chasten those who are disobedient, but the idea of God's chastening hand is simply this in order to effect the spirit of repentance so that they would turn back again to God. If you turn away, my friend, from the God of your salvation, you can expect God's hand to come upon you in chastisement. God will deal with you in such a way that he wants you to be exercised about your condition and about your state so that you will repent and turn again to God. Notice what he does first of all. In verse six it seems to be He brings fan on the land. He gives them cleanness of teeth and want of bread. You see, the idea here is this. There is a lack of necessities. God seems to have withheld the very things that were the necessities of life. That means they wouldn't have any. They would just have sufficient to get by with. He says, I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. and want of bread in all your places. And so there was a shortage, you might say, of the necessities of life. Yet in spite of all that ye have not returned unto me. Now the thought is this, that when there was a shortage, when there was a famine, they should realize it was God who promised to give the rain and the sunshine, the seed time and the harvest, Then why wasn't God supplying these things? There must have been a reason for it. It was because they had refused and rebelled, and the hand of God was upon them. Yet there was no exercise that way, and they did not return unto the Lord. And so he goes on again, and he gives them a drought. There's lack of rain, lack of water. There wasn't enough water in one city. And the people of one city looked over to the other, and they said, We'll move. And so the inhabitants of two cities moved into one, and still there was not sufficient. And when there was lack of water, there was the drought. And remember, it's God that gives the rain, and He can withhold the rain. And in spite of the fact there was the lack of rain, He said, Still you're not exercised. There's no sign of repentance. You have not returned unto me. Now he goes still further, and the hand comes upon them again. He says, I have smitten you with blasting and milled you when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased. The pomelearn devoured them. Plain words, here now there's a blight. In the first place there was the lack of necessity. In the second place people get envious of what other folks have had in the other cities and they move from one city to another. But here there is the reversal of prosperity. There's a blight. They look out on the fields and they see everything growing fine. But all of a sudden they discover that the mildew comes and destroys what is growing. There's a blasting. and the vineyards and the fig trees and the olive trees, when they are increasing, then suddenly they are blighted. Yet in spite of all this, ye have not returned unto me. They should have been on their knees before God, confessing their sin and asking God for his blessing. And so for the third time God's hand comes upon them, and yet they would not return unto the Lord. Now the fourth thing is more severe. 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. In plain words, they have been involved in war. The young men have had to leave home. Their young men have gone out and have lost in the battle. They've been slain with the sword. And what happened in Egypt was this. You remember at the time of the Passover, the children of Israel were delivered by the firstborn in Egypt. In all the Egyptian homes where the blood was not applied, the firstborn was slain. Now the very judgment that came upon their enemies in the land of Egypt has now been turned upon them. Your young men have I slain with the sword. When that happened, then they ought to have been thinking of God and thinking of turning again to God. Here there was a visitation of bereavement. They were losing their firstborn, their sons, their young men were being taken away in death, in war. Yet in spite of that, Yet have you not returned unto me, says the Lord. Now perhaps you're saying, as you listen to me, well, that's all right. That's what happened years ago in the nation of Israel. And it's to Israel he's saying these things, yes. But what about the principle of it? Isn't the principle still true today? There are countries today who have passed through this same experience. Nations today are facing this thing. In fact, the whole world is facing famine, so they tell us. We ourselves have faced drought from time to time. We have had a blight. We have had the pestilence. And now for the fifth time, God comes to his people with another message. He says, I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. Now, I want you to notice two things here. First of all, there is the picture of divine destruction when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Nevertheless, over against this, there is a marvelous providence. You have been plucked out like a firebrand out of the burning. Now, let me remind every listener today, God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. because of their sin. Their sin went up from those cities like a stench into the nostrils of God. And God tolerated their sin and their iniquity until it was full. And then, as it were, God said it's time. There's only one thing left. Judgment must be brought to bear upon them. And God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Abbot says, God, I have overthrown some of you. just as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. But however, in spite of that, here's the divine providence, ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. My friend, can you think today of places that have been destroyed? Can you think of all the earthquakes that have taken place throughout the world? Can you think of some of the cities that have been destroyed in these earthquakes? the people who have lost their lives and lost their homes. Yet here you are, you're still here in the land of the living. It hasn't come to you yet. Yet, in spite of it all, while you're like a firebrand plucked out of the burning, yet have you not returned unto me, says the Lord. Oh, my friend, listen, if God's hand moves like this, time and time again, yet men will not listen to the warnings of God. Now here is the last word. Says Amos, there's only one thing left. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel, because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. Ah, here's the thought of preparation. You see, there were warnings. Time and time again God gave warning. But there was no work of repentance. There was wickedness. And wickedness was on the increase. But they're not saying any word of regret. They're not regretting this wickedness. They're glorying in it. There was waste. But no waiting upon God. Now they have sown the wind. And they're going to reap the wheroen. You see, according to what a man sows, that shall he also reap. And so, says Amos, there's only one thing left for it. Now prepare to meet thy God. You may put this off for a given time. You may think everything's going fine. I remember a way back many years ago, in a certain nation, after World War II, they were facing difficulties. And someone suggested to Prime Minister that they ought to call for a day of prayer and call the nation to its knees to pray. His answer was this. We don't need a day of prayer. We'll get out of this difficulty ourselves. Ah, my friend, look, if the day ever comes when we think we can get on without God, may God have mercy upon us. You may try to live your life without God, but sooner or later you'll have to meet God. And if you've got to meet God, then why don't you prepare to meet thy God? Let these words sink into all our hearts today. Meet thy God. For meet God we must. Isn't it then a mark of wisdom, if we would prepare to meet our God? Remember this, God has made every preparation for meeting you. God has even appointed a day in which you'll judge the world in righteousness. And God has appointed the man who shall sit upon the throne and judge. God has appointed the very terms of the judgment. God has made every preparation. God has also made every preparation for you to return to him. Just as the prodigal's father welcomed him, God is willing to welcome you. God has made every preparation for the sinner to come back to God. He has made every preparation whereby the backslider, even the Christian, the one who professes to know the Lord, but has drifted into sin and not enjoying the salvation. God has made every preparation for you to repent and turn again to him. Listen again to these words. Prepare to meet thy God. There is an old story of a king of bag on days. and his crown, or as he was known then, the jester, who sometimes said very foolish things and sometimes made very wise utterances. One day the jester had said something so foolish that the king, handing him a staff, said to him, Take this and keep it till you find a bigger fool than yourself. Some years later the king was very ill and lay on his dead bed. His courtiers were called. His family and his servants also stood round his bedside. The king, addressing them, said, I am about to leave you. I am going on a very long journey. I shall not return again to this place. So I have called you all to say goodbye. Then his gesture stepped forward, and addressing the king, said, Your Majesty, may I ask a question? when you have journeyed abroad visiting your people staying with your nobles or paying diplomatic visits to other courts your heralds and servants have always gone before you making preparations for you may i ask what preparations your majesty has made for this long journey that he is about to take alas replied the king i have made no preparations then said the jester Take this staff with you, for now I have found a bigger fool than myself, the man who had made no preparation. Oh, my friend, as you listen to my voice now, don't be like him. Don't do such a foolish thing. Prepare to meet thy God.