Now open your Bible. Turn in your Bible to the
prophecy of Amos. We're going to read from Chapter
7 and in the verse 10, in case anyone's thinking, just in case
I'm not trying to be funny, where is Amos?
If you can find the book of Isaiah, come forward then to
Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel, come to the end of Daniel and
you'll get to Hosea. And after you get to Hosea,
you'll come to Joel and then you'll come to Amos.
So we're wanting to read from Amos Chapter 7, verse 10.
It's good to hear the rustling of the paper.
If you're having real difficulty, look up the index,
come to the page number under Amos chapter 1, and then you can
flick forward to Amos Chapter 7, Amos Chapter 7, verse 10.
Now let's hear the Word of God. And we're reading, of course
from the Authorised Version, Amos Chapter 7, verse 10.
Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam, king
of Israel, saying, Amos, hath conspired against thee in the
midst of the House of Israel. The land is not able to bear all
his words, For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel shall surely be LED away captive out of their own
land. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O
thou seer, go flee thee away into the land of Judah, and
there eat bread, and prophecy there, but prophecy not again
anymore at Bethel, for it's the King's Chapel, and it is the
King's court. Then answered Amos, and said to
Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was IA prophet's son,
but I was an herdsman, and a gather of Sycamore fruit.
And the Lord took me as I followed the flock.
And the Lord said unto me, Go prophecy unto my people Israel.
Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord, thou sayest
prophecy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the
House of Isaac. Therefore thus saith the Lord,
Thy wife shall be in harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy
daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be
divided by lying, and thy shall die in a polluted land, and
Israel shall go into captivity. 4th Of his land.
Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me, and behold a basket of
summer fruit. And he said, Amos, what?
See us die, and I send a basket of summer fruit.
Then said the Lord unto me, The end has come upon my people
Israel. I will not again pass by them
anymore. And the songs of the temple
shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God.
There shall be many dead bodies in every place.
They shall cast them forth was silence.
Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor
of the lamb to feel, saying, When will the new moon be gone,
that we may sell corn, and the Sabbath that we may set forth
weep, making the ifath small, and the shekel great, and
falsifying the balances by deceit, that we may buy the poor
for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes.
Yeah, and sail the refuge of the wheat.
The Lord has sworn by the Excellency of Jacob.
Surely I will never forget any of their works.
Amen. We know the Lord will stamp with
his own approval and divine blessing this reading of His own
precious and infallible word. And we do welcome you here this
evening. We thank you for coming, and we
pray the Lord will richly bless us as we fellowship together.
Now my text this evening is taken from Amos chapter 8 verses
one and two. Thus hath the Lord God showed
unto me, Behold the basket of summer fruit.
And he said, Amos, what see us thy And I said, a basket of
summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The
end has come upon my people of Israel.
I will not again pass by them anymore.
They have entitled this message Spiritual lessons from the
basket of summer fruit. Let's think first of all of the
prophet that is addressed if you look at chapter 8 verse one.
Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me underline the word me
and he said, Amos, what seest thy and I said a basket of
summer fruit. Now let me point something out
to you that Amos is one of the most unlikeliest men called,
chosen and commissioned by God to be a prophet of the Lord.
He was a contemporary of Isaiah, the evangelical prophet of Hosea
and Joel, and they had this one thing in common, that they were
all called, chosen and commissioned to be prophets of
the Lord. I'm sure that people were
surprised when they heard that Amos was among the prophets of
the Lord. Most likely he was probably
surprised himself. What do we know about him?
Well, if you turn to chapter 1 and look with me at verse 4, we
read the words of Amos who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa
which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of
Judah and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joaz king
of Israel two years before the earthquake, Tekoa was his home.
Tekoa still exists to this day as part of the territory of
Judah. And from chapter 1, verse one,
we we learn he was working as a herdsman there.
In other words, he was a man of the land.
He was looking after the sheep and the oxen and the goats and
the camels, A countryman. And he was sent to Israel to
preach to the Northern Kingdom. Now if you come with me to
Chapter 7, we read there in verse 10 about a man by the name
of a Messiah. He was a false prophet.
He is called the priest of Bethel, and he sent to Jeroboam
king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in
the midst of the House of Israel.
The land is not able to bear all his words.
Now Bethel is in the northern Kingdom of the territory of
Israel. This is the days of Jeroboam,
the son of Nebad, who called Israel the sin.
Bethel by this time is the apostate centre of religion, and
into that apostate centre came Amos.
And he faithfully preached a message against the king.
And the message was this, that Jeroboam's going to die by the
sword, the northern Kingdom will be LED away into captivity.
And he stood in the King's Chapel or in the King's court.
Now look at verse 12. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O
thou seer, now is it not interesting?
And he told him, Go, flee thee away into the land of Judah.
In other words, go back to where you come from, and there in that
land your homeland, eat bread and prophecy there, but prophecy
not again anymore with Bethel, for it is the King's Chapel or
the King's sanctuary, and it is the King's cord.
Now listen to Amos's reply, verse 14 name.
Amos then answered Amos and said to a Messiah, I was no prophet,
neither was IA prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a
gatherer of Sycamore fruit. And the Lord took me as I
followed the flock. And the Lord said unto me, Go
prophecy unto my people Israel. Now you see Amos is saying to
him that I was not a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was a
herdsman. I was looking after the sheep,
the goats, the cattle, the camels.
I was also a gatherer of Sycamore fruit.
In other words, he he worked in the farm part time and also he
looked after the fruit of the field at other times.
But he says from that place the Lord took me and the Lord said,
go prophecy against Israel. He was an ordinary man.
He was a man from the country. He was a hard working man, a man
who was a tender of the sheep and the cattle, a man who also
gathered fruit for a living. Now get the picture?
Amos is one of the most unlikeliest men that God uses,
and yet he's a country, ordinary hard working man called into
God's work and God uses men like that.
God often calls ordinary men into his work.
God uses a hard working man to bring his word forth to preach
in the land of Israel. He was not pretending to be from
the ruling class. He was not pretending to be from
royalty. He was not pretending to be from
a great theological school. He was a simple hard working
man. And this is who Amos is.
I want you to see that. A shepherd, a gatherer of
Sycamore fruit, and yet God called him to be a seer and go
preach and prophecy unto my people, Israel.
I can remember years ago when we were at the Bible college down
in Lawrence Town, Doctor Maureen Geiler from Ohio came.
He was asked to do the devotional lecture one day in
the place of the Reverend Austin Allen.
He quoted from Charles having Spurgeon that day.
And the quotation was this. Let each man be himself.
And he pointed out that God calls different men to preach.
I remember the reference well. I wrote it down for you.
See your calling, brethren, First Corinthians chapter one,
verse 26. How that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise. And God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and
base things of the world, and things which are despised that
God chosen. Yeah, and things which are not
to bring to naughty things that are that no flesh should glory
in his presence. And one of the things that
Doctor Geithner brought out in that lecture was this.
A preacher should not go beyond his own experience.
Let me illustrate. Suppose I was to tell you now I
want you to fast for 12 hours everyday and I want you to spend
12 hours in prayer everyday. If you want to go to your room,
get on your knees 12 hours every day, seven days a week.
And then after that I want you to go out and also give out 1000
tracks every day. I'm telling you to do this and
that as a spiritual exercise in the reading of the scriptures.
But here's the point, if I don't do it as your pastor, then I
can't expect you to do it. I have to give the lead.
I have to set forth an example. And that's exactly what the
point means. A preacher should not go beyond
his own experience. Remember we read in the book of
Ephesians and Ephesians chapter 5 and it says this, Be there for
followers of God as dear children.
Be there for followers of God as dear children.
Paul had set an example and he called them to be followers of
God as dear children. Amos was the most unlikeliest
person to be called into God's work, and yet Amos was a man
given a divine revelation. If you go back to our text,
think of these words. Thus hath the Lord God showed
unto me. Now what had God shown him?
God had given him 4 visions. The basket of summer fruit was
the last. 1 Chapter 7 verses one to three.
He saw a plague of grasshoppers. Chapter 7, verse four, he saw a
judgement of fire upon the field.
Chapter 7, verses 7 and 8, there was the test of the Plumb line.
Plumb line was used to measure. And then chapter 8, verses 1 and
2, the 4th vision, a basket of Somerford. 4 is the number of
completion. 4 visions, one after the other.
It's like being invited into an art gallery.
Here's a plague of locusts, here's fire, here's a Plumb
line, and here's a basket of summer fruit.
Nothing coincidental. Don't easily dismiss this.
Amos has been shown. This Amos has been privileged.
It's remarkable that the Lord has revealed what He is going to
do. And who does he reveal it to?
He reveals it unto His prophets. Remember what he says in Amos
chapter 3 and in the verse 7. Surely the Lord God will do
nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants, the
prophets. See, the mind of Christ, the
mind of God, has been given to the prophets, and God revealed
his mind to Amos, one of his prophets, through these visions.
And he told them, through these visions, go prophecy unto
Israel. Amos, why are you here in
Bethel? This is the King's Chapel.
This is the King's court. Here's the answer.
Because the Lord God have sent me, He has shown me these
things. I have come to reveal them unto
you. I've been given this remarkable
privilege. You see, he's a man, a most
unlikely man called into the work of God, but he's a man
given a divine revelation. He sees and knows the mind and
will of God. He must as a man with a word
from God, a personal word. That's why God has chosen him.
That's why God has called him. God commissioned him.
Go prophecy Chapter 7 verse 15 unto my people.
The word prophecy means to preach, and he whom God calls
God equips. Think of Amos coming as a man
with a word from God. God had made him to see, and yet
God also had made him to hear his word.
I often think of what and Asiah said in Chapter 7 and in the
verse 12, O thou seer. He knew, like Samuel, that Amos
was a true seer of God in the land.
He was part of a long line of seers, as I've said, all the way
back to Samuel, and he could look back to the past as a seer.
He could look to the present time, he could look to the
future, his immediate future and his day and generation, but also
the apocalyptic future that was coming, things which will come
to pass in the land of Israel. I tell you something else about
him very quickly. He was a man of prayer.
Did you know that Amos interceded when the Lord showed
him the plague of locusts, Chapter 7, verses 2 and three?
Do you know that Amos prayed again when God showed him the
fire devouring the land? Verses 5 and 6?
It's strange. When God showed him the vision
of the Plumb line, there's no mention of prayer.
Nor when he showed him the basket of fruit, there was no
mention of prayer. What did that mean?
He left off praying. He wasn't going to pray for
Israel any longer. Why?
Because the judgement that was coming was real.
It was sure and certain. And if you look at chapter 8
verse 2, it says, Amos, what seest thy and I said a basket of
summer fruit. Then saith the Lord unto me.
Then as Houghton, it means at that time the end has come upon
my people of Israel. I will not again pass by them
any more. Amos, whom God called and chose
and commissioned was an ordinary man to stand in the gap for God,
an unlikely man given and shown a divine revelation, a man with
a a unique message, a word from God, a man of prayer, and yet a
man who was faithful with a message about judgement to come.
And that's the type of man that Ulster needs.
That's the type of man we need in our pulpits in the free
Church. That's the type of man that's
needed in every pulpit in every church.
And that's the first point, the prophet that is addressed.
Notice secondly, the portrait that is presented.
If you go back, it says in verse one, thus hath the Lord God
showed unto me and behold, what a basket of summer fruit.
You can underline that. And come to Chapter 2.
And he said a follow up. He must what see us thy and I
said a basket of summer fruit. Now what does the summer fruit
speak of? Think of the portrait that is
presented. A basket of summer fruit.
What does the portrait represent?
You see, the basket of summer fruit is always associated with
the harvest, and I believe that it's associated with the final
harvest of the year. The final harvest in the Land of
Israel has to do and is connected with the Feast of
Tabernacles. It's the last Jewish feast in
the yearly calendar. Remember the Feast of Passover,
blood sacrifice of the Lamb, the feast of Pentecost 50 days
later, the pouring out of the Spirit, and in the climax the
feast of the Tabernacle corresponds to our September or
October in around that period. And it represents this, that the
harvest is all safely gathered in, and the gathering in of the
harvest is a time of great joy and rejoicing, but it's also a
time of great joy and reminiscing.
You see, when they looked in the basket of fruit, it reminded
them of something. It reminded them of this, that
preparation had to be made before the winter.
And it's not exactly what Paul said to Timothy, second Timothy
four and two, do thy diligence to come before winter.
And has God not made preparation for us?
You think of the personal work of Christ.
Christ was born for us. Christ lived the sinless life
for us on our behalf. He died an atoning death.
He was bodily rose again for us. He ascended.
He stands at God's right hand as our prophet, priest and king.
You've got to think about the reality of a second coming again
into this world. All the preparation has been
made and that help us to think of the cross work, the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me.
And the chief question is this. Are you prepared to meet God?
Are you prepared for God's eternity?
Do you know and love Christ as Lord and Saviour?
Why? Because the winter is coming.
How will you fare in the winter of suffering?
How will you fare in the winter of ill health?
How will you fare in the winter of devastating news?
Suppose you're lying up in the hospital and you're told we've
got to amputate one of your legs or your two legs, or you get
news that just leaves you better and bruised in that sense,
because it's hard to suffer, especially when you get bad news
about your own ill health. This is what the portrait
represents. This is what the portrait says.
It speaks of preparation before the winter.
The basket of summer fruit is always associated with the final
harvest of the Feast of Tabernacles.
I want you to think not only of what the portrait speaks, but
the way the portrait speaks. What is this basket?
What's in it? Summer fruit.
They think of the beautiful fruit that is represented in
that basket. I can tell you it's delicious,
but I can tell you this, before the fruit was ever put into the
basket, the seed of that fruit, regardless of what kind of fruit
it is, had to be sown in the soil, had to be cared for, had
to be nurtured. And then God, remember, caused
the rain to fall, the sun to shine, the wind to blow, and
then the fruit eventually grows in the trees.
I was coming through Armagh, especially in the Round Lock
Gaul yesterday, and I was noting the the 100 of hundreds of apple
trees that were in the various orchards.
And you see the gospel. The gospel, as I said this
morning, is a message of God. But that gospel has been
nurtured by God from the very beginning.
Think of the first gospel promise.
What was it? It was Genesis chapter 3 and
verse 15. And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.
It shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel.
You see? Think of Adam and Eve, their
life in the garden. They worked in Eden.
Adam was the chief gardener, Eve was the helper.
They tended to the trees. They give names to all the
animals. How long were they there?
A few months, a year, a few years, I don't know.
But they were put in probation, they were tested, the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil. God told them not to eat of the
fruit of it, For in the day that thou eatest thereof I shall
surely die. Genesis 2 and 17 But you know
that they sinned. You know that they failed in a
state of sin and misery, and you know about the first gospel
promise. Remember what God did.
God killed an animal. God shed the blood of that
animal, and I believe it was in the sight of Adam and Eve, and
they could have the smell of death.
They got the sight of blood. And remember what we read.
But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth a
son made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And how did God do it? Speaking of Christ, But he was
wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes
are we healed. The beautiful fruit is
representative, but think of the beautiful fruit ripened.
Did you pick it up there? I believe this basket of fruit
is really Sycamore fruit because he says in verse 14, but I was
an herdsman and the gather of Sycamore fruit.
I I know very little about Sycamore fruit.
I've only learnt this. How do you ripen Sycamore fruit?
If it's untouched by a tool or human hand, when you go to eat
it, it'll be better. You'll not be able to eat it.
It'll be thrown away. What you have to do with
Sycamore fruit is you have to take a little tool and you have
to score the surface. In other words, you have to mark
the fruit. The fruit is only sweet to taste
when it is bruised by a human hand.
You think of our Lord Jesus in the cross.
Without the shedding of blood. There's no remission.
And when the Bible talks about him being bruised, that's what
it means from Genesis 3:15 to Isaiah 43, right all the way
through to 1st John chapter one verse 9.
The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all said,
if the Sycamore fruit is only ripened by bruising, then we've
got to think of our Lord Jesus being bruised in Calvary,
suffering the terrible consequences of sin.
For on behalf of sinners doing this for you and me, I remember
a man in Calvin. He was invited to a gospel
mission. He swore to the preacher, I'll
never darken the door. I want nothing to do with your
gaudy or gospel. And then the third week of that
mission going on, he run out of the house, having got his
dinner, jumped on his tractor, give a big shout.
They had to go out and carry him in.
He broke a couple of desks on his back.
He lay on traction. The wee preacher went to see
him. We call him John.
And he said to John lying in the bed, you know, John, the only
time pigs look up was when they're the brother of their
back. You're a pig farmer.
You know that God has put you in your back, John, because God is
speaking to you and he was spoken to you.
And after getting out of hospital, he started coming to
those gospel meetings. The mission was long over, but
the faith mission was still there in the weekly meeting.
And that man came to faith in Christ.
See it? Sometimes God has to bruise and
break the Sinner. Many individuals are unable to
sleep. Many individuals are suffering
ill health, frailty if they're freedom.
And what does that teach us? Why do these things happen to
us? Why do we get ill?
Why do we get sick? Why do we have colds and flus?
Why, why? Why do we feel unwell many
times? Well, is it not the teachers
that we're not here forever? Is it not the teachers that were
dependent on Him? For in Him we move and live in a
being? Does it not teach us that God is
his own way of speaking? Just to remind us I'm still
here, you know I haven't gone away.
Does it not remind us that we need the Lord one day?
We're accountable to Him. Think of the beautiful fruit not
only representing the beautiful fruit ripening, but think of the
beautiful fruit revealing. What does fruit reveal?
Does it not speak of prosperity? Are we not encouraged to eat
fruit? Fruit is good.
I hope you love apples and bananas and blueberries.
I do, and every time I think of the fruit, I think of God
supplying our temporal needs. Fruit is good for you and I
encourage you to eat fruit, but also think of God supplying our
spiritual need. It's fruit.
And every time I think of fruit, I I think of the fruit of the
spirit In Galatians chapter 5, verse 22 to 25, a nine fold
fruit. See Amos was different from a
Messiah. A Messiah was a man of the
world, a man of flesh, a man with the works of the flesh.
But Amos was a sea of man. He was sanctified, sustained,
and satisfied. And the basket of beautiful
fruit revealed the prosperity and blessing of God to you.
But think of this and have to be quick.
Think of the beautiful fruit rotting.
Do you know the bowl of fruit you bring into the hospital to
someone who's ill? Or the bowl of fruit that comes
at the harvest time? Or the basket?
It doesn't last very long. Sure it doesn't.
If you were to take it home and say, you know what, that's
beautiful, I'm not going to open that.
I just keep it for a while. Well, what would you discover?
Put it in the good room and go in and look at it.
Leave it for a week. It begins to perish.
It begins to go off. You can sit for a time, you're
given a window of opportunity to partake, but if it's not eating,
it becomes putrid. If it's not eating, it's
perishable and a basket of fruit rapidly spoils.
There's a a very quick deterioration.
There's a time to partake. And like a basket of spiritual
fruit, God is saying my people have spurned me.
My people have spurned me and forgotten me and forsaken me for
a life of sin. And even though I've called them
through my servant to repent and get right with me, they've
refused. And the window of opportunity is
fast closing. The time to partake will soon be
over. And if they don't partake, then
like that basket of rotten fruit that's rotting, they will be
like rotten fruit in my sight. There's a limited time to come
to Christ today. If he will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts. Come now, let us reason
together. Thus set the Lord.
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.
I want you to think, thirdly, of the punishment that has
prophesied. I've already told you the basket
of summer fruit speaks of the end of the harvest.
It it speaks of the end of the period of God's grace and mercy.
It speaks to us that God's judgement is real and the
children of Israel were right for judgement.
He says in verse 2. The end has come upon my people
of Israel. I will not again pass by them
anymore. You see, this is a dramatic
figure. This is an illustration of God's
judgement. Israel was right for judgement.
I will not come again. Pass by them.
In other words, I'll not be divinely intervening.
I'll not listen to intercession and prayer.
Why did he most leave off praying when he saw the vision
of the plum line, the vision of basket fruit?
It's not mentioned. No prayer been offered.
Why? Because the harvest has passed.
It's the end of the line for the Northern Kingdom.
God's judgement is slow and sure.
It is certain. And it came 40 years later with
the invasion of the Assyrian army into the Northern Kingdom.
See the good news of the Gospels, the saver of life.
But the good news of the gospel, if it's rejected as a saver of
death unto death, we can apply that to the individual.
We can apply that in the life and witness of the church in
Psalm 9 verse 17 it says the wickets will be turned into hell
and all nations that forget God. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew
chapter 10 verse 28 fear not them which can kill the body,
but rather fear him that the party through both body and soul
into hell. What were these people guilty
of? Our time has gone.
Read the chapter. They were guilty of oppressing
the poor. Chapter 8 and four.
They were guilty of acting the part of a hypocrite. 8:00 and
5:00. They were guilty of idolatry.
They had a great loaf for money, the ones that the Sabbath over,
so they could go out and trade. These were days of deceit, days
of honesty, days when they sold men and boys and girls and young
people in in into slavery. And what was the result?
Verse 11 Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will
send a famine into the land, not a famine of bread nor thirst for
water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
They wanted to replace the word of God and it's not what's
happening in our day. 10 commandments abandoned.
It's not what's happening with the Lord's Prayer.
Little of the word of God in society, in churches and in
homes. Many of God's professing people
know very little of the word of God.
It's a per state. The punishment that has
prophesied. Let me finish, our time is gone.
I want you to think of two men walking down the road.
They come out of a gospel meeting.
One was called Duncan. The other man's name I don't
know. But they come to a fork on the
road. We call him Johnny.
And Duncan says to Johnny, what are you going to do?
And Johnny says to Duncan, what are you going to do?
And Duncan says I've got home to get saved, come to ask Christ to
be the Lord and Saviour. Well, I think I leave it away.
Johnny went on about his business, became very
successful, very wealthy, ended up as an old man in a nursing
home. Duncan, he went on home, came
into the farmyard. Mother's light was on.
He presumed Mother was still up reading the Bible and praying
for him. He went into the barn, he got
down to his knees, baled hay, and he cried unto God for mercy
and salvation. That Duncan was the Reverend
Duncan Campbell and caught used in revival a very ordinary man
from a country background. The other man, Johnny, was in
the nursing home. One day there was this young
girl from the Faith Mission come in to conduct a meeting in that
home. She conducted the meeting.
Johnny was there, and she would round them all with the wee
gospel tract. We tract for you, Sir.
We tract for you, dear, to give them the wee gospel tract.
You know what Johnny said to her?
Away with that. I don't want that.
I made my decision with Duncan at the crossroads when we parted
as young men years ago. It was not a terrible tragedy.
He lived with the knowledge that God had left him alone to pursue
his own way, and God was not speaking to him.
That's a terrible tragedy, terrible place to be.
The punishment that has prophesied, the prophet that is
presented and the portrait that is presented.
May the Lord bless this word, this basket of summer fruit to
our hearts. You've been so patient.