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Wednesday, January 8th, 2025
Wednesday after Epiphany

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Bible Commentaries
Amos 8

AmosAmo 7 AmosAmo ObadiahOba 1

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Verses 1-14

Intro:
1. In 1971 Donny Osmond once said, “One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunchgirl Ooooooh - Give it one more try before you give up on love - One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch girl – Ooooooh - I don't care what they say, I don't care what you've heard”.
  1. That is true in his context of - If one bad boy comes along don’t think that all guys are going to treat you that way.
  2. It isn’t true when we refer to a bad apple as SIN! – It WILL spoil the whole bunch girl!
2. Outline: Ripe Fruit!(1-3) Rotten Fruit!(4-6) Ripe Remembrance!(7-10) Removed Food!(11-14)
BAD APPLES! (1-14)
1. 5^th vision – The vision of a basket of summer fruit.
2. RIPE FRUIT! (1-3)
3. (1) Verse one seems nice! – We all lie summer fruit! But the Hebrew word & the context both show us God is speaking about end of summer fruit. fruit that is “too” ripe. We are talking about brown bananas. He means rotten fruit!
  1. If the Lord wanted to use an analogy today in our Valley I believe he would use a Basket of fish from Lake Elsinore this week!
    1. From a distance you would think great…fresh fish…Then when you get closer & notice it is not fresh, but instead they are bloated & not fresh!
4. (2) Ripe Fruit & Ripe Time!
  1. These words look & sound alike. And Amos used one to lead to another.
  2. Summer(ripe) fruit = a-keetz
  3. The end = ha-ketz.
  4. This Vision has one clear message…“The end is come & Israel, like summer fruit, has ripened for judgment.”
    1. As the farmer cuts off ripe fruit, so God will cut off Israel.
  5. Fully ripe…in their sins! – Ripe for Ruin!
  6. Q: What is more fragile than summer fruit? It is so beautiful, so refreshing, yet so readily corrupted & diseased.
  7. When the harvest comes, separation between good & bad is inevitable!
    1. Is.5:4 “What more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes?”
5. ROTTEN FRUIT! (4-6)
6. 3 charges against them:
7. (4) [1] They took advantage of the poor & needy!
8. (5a) [2] They were weary of religious duties!
  1. They complained about holy days interfering w/business!
  2. New moon – Lunar calendar.
  3. Sabbath – Nehemiah said, “In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions.” (Neh.13:15)
  4. Ephah(measures) small & shekel large – Lev.19:35,36 “'You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. 'You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
  5. Q: Didn’t our country ask the same questions about 50 years ago?
    1. [i.e. being open Sundays]
  6. Really, we should all weary of religious duty!...If that’s all it is!
  7. Now some just live for weekends, but others only live for their work!
  8. Q: Have you ever just “endured” your day of rest(Sunday)? - You just couldn’t wait to start making money again.
9. (5b,6) [3] They set excessive prices to gouge the poor!
  1. They cheapened their products & then raised the prices.
  2. What ever happened to “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might”?
10. RIPE REMEMBRANCE! (7-10)
11. (7) I will never forget…as opposed to “I will remember no more!”
12. Amos said:
  1. “Expect an Earthquake!” (8a) {see 1:1}
  2. “Expect an Eclipse!” (9)
  3. “Expect a Funeral!” (10)
  4. “Expect a Famine!” (see next section11-14)
13. REMOVED FOOD! (11-14)
14. My wrath will not only come via natural calamities, but also in the famine of Gods word.
15. (11) A spiritual food shortage! – A water of the Word drought!
  1. They would not listen to the Word when they had opportunity; therefore, He will take His Word away from them.
  2. Jesus spoke of His Word as our spiritual nourishment, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
    1. There is no substitute! – Some things just can’t be substituted for the original!
    2. (i.e.) Imitation Crab(Mikey). - Best Foods Mayonnaise! - Oreo Cookies(new peanut butter/choc.)
    3. There is no substitute!
    4. “When God’s people reject His word, He sometimes judges them by removing His word & leaving them to go hungry…as they live on substitutes.” (www)
  3. Q: What substitutes have you tried? What taste did it leave in your mouth?
16. (14) In that day their idols at Dan & Beersheba will do them no good.
17. Let’s talk about FRUIT!
18. Q: What fruit picture would God use today in describing your spiritual life?
  1. Q: What fruit itself might you be likened to & why?
  2. Q: Or, what level of sp. growth would He say you are at? {a bud, growing, firm, ripe, rotting, or rotten?}
19. The Lord has a lot to say in Scripture about fruit & fruit trees.
  1. In fact he said, “by their fruits you will know them!” (Mt.7:20)
  2. We know beautiful fruit is the sign of a healthy tree.
20. Let’s look remind ourselves what biblical fruit is & how to bear it!
21. Fruit Facts?
22. We know there are 2 classes of fruit, good & bad. “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”
  1. Sin produces smelly fruit in your life.
  2. The H.S. produces His fruit in your life.
  3. Jack fruit vs. a peach I had this week.
    1. Jack Fruit – Smelliest fruit. Banned from restaurants in Iloilo.
    2. Peach – was cold, perfectly ripe, satisfied me the partaker.
23. In Gal.5:22,23 we 1^st notice “fruit” not “fruits”!
  1. Unity, like a bunch of grapes!
  2. ALL of these should be found in ALL Christians!
    1. Diff. from gifts (1x1 to diff. people)
  3. Quick definition by Donald Grey Barnhouse. “Love is the key. Joy is love singing. Peace is love resting. Long-suffering is love enduring. Kindness is love's touch. Goodness is love's character. Faithfulness is love's habit. Gentleness is love's self-forgetfulness. Self-control is love holding the reins.”
  4. 3 categories:
  5. Love, Joy, Peace = Inner Attitudes sourced in God.
  6. Long-suffering, Kindness, Goodness = Relational Qualities expressed to others.
  7. Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control = Personal Qualities that guides individual conduct. (Chuck Swindoll pg.121; Galatians commentary.)
    1. Little girl thought it said “Remote-Control!” (we wish)
24. Fruit Wasting!
  1. We know fruit is wasted if it’s left on the tree!
  2. (i.e. Love) What if you have love…but don’t give it away?
  3. Fruit is meant to be: touched, picked, displayed, smelled, tasted, & eaten.
  4. Fruit only helps your physical body when it goes beyond the tree.
  5. Likewise, sp. fruit only helps the body of Christ when it goes beyond ourselves.
25. Fruit Bearing!
  1. We are not called upon to produce the fruit, but simply to bear it. (Roy Hession in The Calvary Road. Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 13.)
  2. Q: Ever see a fruit tree straining or bearing down to grow fruit?
  3. Do not confound work and fruit. - There may be a good deal of work for Christ that is not the fruit of the heavenly Vine. (Andrew Murray, Leadership, Vol. 8, no. 4.)
  4. We are all controlled by some outside force! (LAB notes)
  5. Some by the Law – yet they are condemned by not being able to keep it.
  6. Some by sin – & they are destroyed by their own evil actions.
  7. Some by the H.S. – & thus they produce the fruit of Galatians.
  8. If we want this fruit to develop in our lives we must recognize these all are found in Christ.
    1. Thus the way to “grow them” is to join our lives to Him!
    2. Jn.15:4,5 “"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
  9. So, fruit is a natural product of the Spirit rather than of man; made possible by the living relationship between the Christian & God.
26. Fruit Timing!
27. It is said in praise of the tree(firmly planted by the rivers of water) that it brings forth its fruit in its season. (Spurgeon said…)
  1. Good men should aim to have seasonable virtues.
    For instance, a forgiving spirit is golden if it displays itself in the moment when an injury is received.
    It is but silver if it shows itself on speedy reflection.
    And it is merely lead if it be manifested only after a long time of cooling. (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon, (Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc, 1990))
28. Fruit Filling! (no, not those little fruit pies!)
29. Q: How do we know if we are "full of the spirits fruit”?
  1. Picture a water-saturated sponge. If you push down with your finger even slightly, water runs out onto the table. We immediately know what fills the interior pockets of the sponge. The same is true of ourselves. We can tell what fills us on the inside by what comes out under pressure.

return to 'Top of Page'

Verses 1-14

Intro:
1. In 1971 Donny Osmond once said, “One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunchgirl Ooooooh - Give it one more try before you give up on love - One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch girl – Ooooooh - I don't care what they say, I don't care what you've heard”.
  1. That is true in his context of - If one bad boy comes along don’t think that all guys are going to treat you that way.
  2. It isn’t true when we refer to a bad apple as SIN! – It WILL spoil the whole bunch girl!
2. Outline: Ripe Fruit!(1-3) Rotten Fruit!(4-6) Ripe Remembrance!(7-10) Removed Food!(11-14)
BAD APPLES! (1-14)
1. 5^th vision – The vision of a basket of summer fruit.
2. RIPE FRUIT! (1-3)
3. (1) Verse one seems nice! – We all lie summer fruit! But the Hebrew word & the context both show us God is speaking about end of summer fruit. fruit that is “too” ripe. We are talking about brown bananas. He means rotten fruit!
  1. If the Lord wanted to use an analogy today in our Valley I believe he would use a Basket of fish from Lake Elsinore this week!
    1. From a distance you would think great…fresh fish…Then when you get closer & notice it is not fresh, but instead they are bloated & not fresh!
4. (2) Ripe Fruit & Ripe Time!
  1. These words look & sound alike. And Amos used one to lead to another.
  2. Summer(ripe) fruit = a-keetz
  3. The end = ha-ketz.
  4. This Vision has one clear message…“The end is come & Israel, like summer fruit, has ripened for judgment.”
    1. As the farmer cuts off ripe fruit, so God will cut off Israel.
  5. Fully ripe…in their sins! – Ripe for Ruin!
  6. Q: What is more fragile than summer fruit? It is so beautiful, so refreshing, yet so readily corrupted & diseased.
  7. When the harvest comes, separation between good & bad is inevitable!
    1. Is.5:4 “What more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes?”
5. ROTTEN FRUIT! (4-6)
6. 3 charges against them:
7. (4) [1] They took advantage of the poor & needy!
8. (5a) [2] They were weary of religious duties!
  1. They complained about holy days interfering w/business!
  2. New moon – Lunar calendar.
  3. Sabbath – Nehemiah said, “In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions.” (Neh.13:15)
  4. Ephah(measures) small & shekel large – Lev.19:35,36 “'You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. 'You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
  5. Q: Didn’t our country ask the same questions about 50 years ago?
    1. [i.e. being open Sundays]
  6. Really, we should all weary of religious duty!...If that’s all it is!
  7. Now some just live for weekends, but others only live for their work!
  8. Q: Have you ever just “endured” your day of rest(Sunday)? - You just couldn’t wait to start making money again.
9. (5b,6) [3] They set excessive prices to gouge the poor!
  1. They cheapened their products & then raised the prices.
  2. What ever happened to “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might”?
10. RIPE REMEMBRANCE! (7-10)
11. (7) I will never forget…as opposed to “I will remember no more!”
12. Amos said:
  1. “Expect an Earthquake!” (8a) {see 1:1}
  2. “Expect an Eclipse!” (9)
  3. “Expect a Funeral!” (10)
  4. “Expect a Famine!” (see next section11-14)
13. REMOVED FOOD! (11-14)
14. My wrath will not only come via natural calamities, but also in the famine of Gods word.
15. (11) A spiritual food shortage! – A water of the Word drought!
  1. They would not listen to the Word when they had opportunity; therefore, He will take His Word away from them.
  2. Jesus spoke of His Word as our spiritual nourishment, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
    1. There is no substitute! – Some things just can’t be substituted for the original!
    2. (i.e.) Imitation Crab(Mikey). - Best Foods Mayonnaise! - Oreo Cookies(new peanut butter/choc.)
    3. There is no substitute!
    4. “When God’s people reject His word, He sometimes judges them by removing His word & leaving them to go hungry…as they live on substitutes.” (www)
  3. Q: What substitutes have you tried? What taste did it leave in your mouth?
16. (14) In that day their idols at Dan & Beersheba will do them no good.
17. Let’s talk about FRUIT!
18. Q: What fruit picture would God use today in describing your spiritual life?
  1. Q: What fruit itself might you be likened to & why?
  2. Q: Or, what level of sp. growth would He say you are at? {a bud, growing, firm, ripe, rotting, or rotten?}
19. The Lord has a lot to say in Scripture about fruit & fruit trees.
  1. In fact he said, “by their fruits you will know them!” (Mt.7:20)
  2. We know beautiful fruit is the sign of a healthy tree.
20. Let’s look remind ourselves what biblical fruit is & how to bear it!
21. Fruit Facts?
22. We know there are 2 classes of fruit, good & bad. “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”
  1. Sin produces smelly fruit in your life.
  2. The H.S. produces His fruit in your life.
  3. Jack fruit vs. a peach I had this week.
    1. Jack Fruit – Smelliest fruit. Banned from restaurants in Iloilo.
    2. Peach – was cold, perfectly ripe, satisfied me the partaker.
23. In Gal.5:22,23 we 1^st notice “fruit” not “fruits”!
  1. Unity, like a bunch of grapes!
  2. ALL of these should be found in ALL Christians!
    1. Diff. from gifts (1x1 to diff. people)
  3. Quick definition by Donald Grey Barnhouse. “Love is the key. Joy is love singing. Peace is love resting. Long-suffering is love enduring. Kindness is love's touch. Goodness is love's character. Faithfulness is love's habit. Gentleness is love's self-forgetfulness. Self-control is love holding the reins.”
  4. 3 categories:
  5. Love, Joy, Peace = Inner Attitudes sourced in God.
  6. Long-suffering, Kindness, Goodness = Relational Qualities expressed to others.
  7. Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control = Personal Qualities that guides individual conduct. (Chuck Swindoll pg.121; Galatians commentary.)
    1. Little girl thought it said “Remote-Control!” (we wish)
24. Fruit Wasting!
  1. We know fruit is wasted if it’s left on the tree!
  2. (i.e. Love) What if you have love…but don’t give it away?
  3. Fruit is meant to be: touched, picked, displayed, smelled, tasted, & eaten.
  4. Fruit only helps your physical body when it goes beyond the tree.
  5. Likewise, sp. fruit only helps the body of Christ when it goes beyond ourselves.
25. Fruit Bearing!
  1. We are not called upon to produce the fruit, but simply to bear it. (Roy Hession in The Calvary Road. Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 13.)
  2. Q: Ever see a fruit tree straining or bearing down to grow fruit?
  3. Do not confound work and fruit. - There may be a good deal of work for Christ that is not the fruit of the heavenly Vine. (Andrew Murray, Leadership, Vol. 8, no. 4.)
  4. We are all controlled by some outside force! (LAB notes)
  5. Some by the Law – yet they are condemned by not being able to keep it.
  6. Some by sin – & they are destroyed by their own evil actions.
  7. Some by the H.S. – & thus they produce the fruit of Galatians.
  8. If we want this fruit to develop in our lives we must recognize these all are found in Christ.
    1. Thus the way to “grow them” is to join our lives to Him!
    2. Jn.15:4,5 “"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
  9. So, fruit is a natural product of the Spirit rather than of man; made possible by the living relationship between the Christian & God.
26. Fruit Timing!
27. It is said in praise of the tree(firmly planted by the rivers of water) that it brings forth its fruit in its season. (Spurgeon said…)
  1. Good men should aim to have seasonable virtues.
    For instance, a forgiving spirit is golden if it displays itself in the moment when an injury is received.
    It is but silver if it shows itself on speedy reflection.
    And it is merely lead if it be manifested only after a long time of cooling. (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon, (Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc, 1990))
28. Fruit Filling! (no, not those little fruit pies!)
29. Q: How do we know if we are "full of the spirits fruit”?
  1. Picture a water-saturated sponge. If you push down with your finger even slightly, water runs out onto the table. We immediately know what fills the interior pockets of the sponge. The same is true of ourselves. We can tell what fills us on the inside by what comes out under pressure.

return to 'Top of Page'

AmosAmo 7 AmosAmo ObadiahOba 1

Copyright Statement
These files are the property of Brian Bell.
Text Courtesy of Calvary Chapel of Murrieta. Used by Permission.

Bibliographical Information
Bell, Brian. "Commentary on Amos 8". "Bell's Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/cbb/amos-8.html. 2017.

Bible CommentariesAmos 8

Bell's Commentary on the BibleBell's Commentary

Verses 1-14

Verses 1-14

Bible Commentaries
Amos 8