Many years ago at our home in Georgia we decided to pave our driveway. As I was raising a family on an Airman’s salary we certainly weren’t rich. Because of that, we decided to do the paving ourselves. A friend of mine was in the plumbing business, and he allowed me to have all the sand and gravel I needed. We just needed the Portland cement.

Portland is heavy, and I loaded about 800 pounds of it in the back of my father-in-laws Toyota pickup. As I headed down the road I heard a worrisome sound. When you overload the springs on a pickup it may be fine while it’s sitting still. But once you start moving every bump in the road makes the springs bottom out, and the tires scrub on the inside of the fender well. I was in danger of not only damaging the truck, but I could have blown a tire and been stuck on the side of the road. I worried about that rub, rub all the way home – especially because it was my father-in-law’s truck – but by the grace of God I made it. Paving the driveway is another story!

Weighing down a Toyota pickup truck isn’t that hard to do. But can you imagine weighing down God? Let’s read responsively:

Amos 2:6-16 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; [7] That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: [8] And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god. [9] Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. [10] Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. [11] And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD. [12] But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. [13] Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. [14] Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: [15] Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself. [16] And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.

Read with me again verse 13: Amos 2:13 ^(KJV) Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.

God is a Person, just as you and I are persons. He is a Person with a Capital “P”. He is the Creator, the Chief Person, the First Cause of everything. The Bible says of God that …

Psalms 24:1 ^(HCSB) The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD …

Everything belongs to God, and everyone belongs to God. God says in Psalm 50:10

“Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills”.

God is an IMMENSE Person. The Apostle Paul preached on Mars Hill …

Acts 17:24-26 ^(HCSB) The God who made the world and everything in it — He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. 25 Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. 26 From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. …

God is not just mighty, He is ALL Mighty. The Bible says:

The nations are but a speck of dust in the scales (Isaiah 40:15)
He holds all the oceans in the palm of His hand (Isaiah 40:12)
God never wearies, Nor is His understanding limited (Isaiah 40:28)
Yahweh is everlasting, the Creator (Isaiah 40:28)
The heavens are the works of God’s hands (Hebrews 1:10)
By His power are all things held together (Colossians 1:17)

God is IMMENSE. He is UNLIMITED. He is EVERYWHERE. God is ETERNAL. But God is a Person, and He can be hurt. When those whom He loves treats Him shabbily, He is hurt. God carries us, and loves to carry us in His arms – but not kicking and screaming.

This is why He said to His Old Testament people:

Amos 2:13 ^(KJV) Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. ……… What can press God down?

1 The THANKLESS Heart Of His Children Presses God Down.

A man always grumbled and complained over the food his wife placed before him at the dinner table. Then he would ask the blessing. One day his little girl asked, “Daddy, does God hear us when we pray?” He replied “Why, of course honey. He hears us every time we pray.” She thought about this a moment, then asked, “Daddy, does God hear what we say when we’re not praying?” He said “Why yes, sweetie, God hears every word.” Thewn this sweet child asked, “Then which does God believe – what we SAY or what we PRAY?”

God hears our every word. He has blessed us all. He blessed His Old Testament People, and God blesses us today.

Amos 2:9-10 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. [10] Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

a If You Are God’s Child, You Have Been Blessed Of God. God Has Destroyed GIANTS For You. God Has Delivered You From Egypt – A Picture Of The Lost World. God Has Given Us All Better Than We Deserve! Oh how good God has been to me in my life!

The “Amorites” were vicious and ruthless soldiers, feared by everyone in the land. The name “Amorite” means “mountain people” – and these people were giants among men. God describes them by saying “their height is like the cedars”. You may not know this, but the cedars of Lebanon grow up to 130 feet tall, and have trunks that are up to 8 feet and 2 inches in diameter. They are massive! The Lord said also “the Amorites are strong as the oaks”. Oak trees have a root system that goes as deep as 15 feet into the ground.

How many times has God been with us as we faced impossible odds – and conquered those odds for us. God is good! God is GOOD!

Jesus said in Matthew 5:45 ^(HCSB) … your Father in heaven … causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

God doesn’t just bless His children, but He also blesses everyone.

• The man who blasphemes God’s Name is given another day of breath, though what he speaks is like the smell of a sewer.

• God made us all in His image and in His likeness (Genesis 1:27), and God has not only given us freedom of will, and calls us to walk with Him. If we think back over our lives we can all remember times when God blessed us richly. Some of us can remember some Amorites – mountain like enemies – that God intervened and saved us from.

God has blessed us richly. We do not need to live for riches – we need to live for our bountiful God.

Matthew 6:31-33 (ESV) Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the {unbelievers} seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE ADDED TO YOU.

b God Has Been Good To Us. Have We Been Good To Him? Treat your Heavenly Father the way you want to be treated. God said to His Israel:

Amos 2:8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

Though God blessed His Children they responded by following false gods and goddesses. This is a tendency that we all at times seem to drift toward. Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden was that he listened to the word of the serpent instead of the Word of God.

Adam And Eve lost Paradise because they rejected the Word of Him that loves us so.
Israel lost the Promised Land because they chose to love lesser gods than He.
We lose blessings when we do not make our Father first in all we do.

The solution to greed and worship of lesser things is to cling to the Lord Who loves you, knowing He will never leave you. The greatest thing of all is to know in your hearts that God is your Portion and as your Portion He walks with you. God is the Gospel!

Hebrews 13:5 ^(HCSB) … Be satisfied with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.

A young boy fell down a flight of stairs when he was a baby, shattering his back. When he was seventeen he was asked “How many years have you been in hospitals?” to which he replied “Thirteen”. The interviewer said “Is that fair? Aren’t you mad at God?” The boy replied “No, not at all. I could have died. God has all eternity to make it up to me”. God can and will bless the thankful heart. He tells His children by faith:

1 Corinthians 2:9 ^(NET) … Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him.

To those who love God He has a glorious land awaiting, something beyond our imagination. But just like the Promised Land, this land is reserved for those who love the Lord. God will not bless the bitter, thankless heart, for such hearts are ultimately self destructive.

2 The WANDERING Heart Of His Children Presses God Down.

Amos 2:4 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:

a Judah “despised the Law of the Lord and would not keep His commandments”. A Biblical Family always has ORDER. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

There is ONE Head of Israel and ONE Head of the Church, and that Head is Christ.

Christ demands that His people keep His commandments. He is the Head of the Household of Faith. He is the Possessor of the ALL. He knows best. Judah thought that since they stayed near the Temple and were faithful to attend Church as it were that God would bless them. God told Judah:

Isaiah 29:13-14 ^(HCSB) … Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip-service — yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship consists of man-made rules learned by rote — 14 therefore I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will vanish, and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden.

Religion without a relationship with the God of Scripture isn’t right nor righteous. God is only honored when WE who are saved walk with Him, doing His Will.

Jesus said – John 14:15-18 If ye love me, keep my commandments. [16] And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; [17] Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. [18] I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

When we love God and do as He says God comes to us and guides us through this life. While Israel followed God He made Himself known in Pillar of Fire by night and Pillar of Cloud by day. When we heed His Word He speaks to our hearts!

b God Always Knows What Is Best For Us. When we turn from the command of God and make life about ourselves we hurt not only ourselves – but others as well. God said:

Amos 2:6-7 …. because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; [7] That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:

When God’s people become ME rather than HE oriented, we stop being light in the midst of darkness. It is God’s people who sold the righteous for silver.

It was JUDAS ISCARIOT – one of the Twelve Disciples of Christ Who started out desiring money rather than Christ. He progressed to open greed, and finally sold Jesus the Righteous for 30 pieces of silver. In the end he HUNG HIMSELF in a terrible manner. To walk away from God’s Living Word brings a terrible punishment!

The Bible warns us that:

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The unrepentant heart filled with sin is like lungs filled with water or arthritic hands trying to lift a tremendous weight. God wants us as His Children to be blessed in this life and in the life to come. To wander from Him is to wander into briars. To wander from His Word is to choose rocks over bread, starvation over fulness. Jesus has told us:

John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

3 Though God Is Pressed As A Cart Loaded With Sheaves, He Does Not Break. He Bears The Load. He bore the load on the Cross. He bears the load because He loves us. Though Israel rebelled against God, God never turned His back on Israel. Though they:

Amos 2:12 ^(KJV) … gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

twisted and tried to shut off the Word of God, God bore with them.

God is pressed, but never does He break. The Apostle asks us the question:

Romans 8:33-39 (NET) Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

WHO. WHO shall separate us from the love of God? NOT GOD, BUT US. We can refuse His salvation. We can walk from His arm of protection. When my children were young I would hold their hands or carry them in my arms as we crossed a busy road. They all at times struggled – sometimes kicking – to get away from me so they could do as they wished.

God loves you and longs to embrace you in His everlasting arms. Do not fight Him. Do not wrestle free of His loving protection.

He bears the burden of sin, calling all to walk with Him. None of us deserve the love of God – but He loves us and calls us to His side. The Bible says that God knows all things, and knows that not all people will accept the salvation that becomes ours when we receive Christ. Yet nonetheless God offers salvation and family relationship to all. Sin is a barrier that stands between us and God, a barrier we cannot overcome – but God did. The Scripture says:

Isaiah 53:4-6 ^(KJV) Surely {Christ} hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus was weighed down with our sins, like a wagon loaded with sheaves.

The Bible says that He was stricken – beaten by man. He was smitten – beaten by God. He was afflicted – our sins were poured out on Him and judged. Yet He never broke! Jesus Christ bore our sins, and bears them still. We stand before God holy and blameless (2 Peter 3:14) because Jesus Christ took our blame. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Jesus Christ was shamed terribly on that Cross. He said:

Isaiah 50:6 ^(KJV) I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

The great preacher C.H. Spurgeon said “He hangs in extremity, for God has forsaken Him; His enemies persecute and take Him, for there is none to deliver Him. They mock His nakedness; the point at His agonies. They look and stare upon Him with ribald jests; they insult His griefs and make puns of His prayers. He is now indeed a worm and no man …” Our Lord Jesus was crushed, pushed down under the weight of our sins – but He did not break. He groaned as a cart would groan. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me” (Matthew 27:46). When He said “I thirst” (Psalm 69:21; John 19:28) they didn’t give Him cool water, but jammed a sponge filled with vinegar mixed with gall in His face. He still didn’t break. When our sins were paid for He said “It is finished” (John 19:30), perhaps the three most beautiful words in the English language.

It is finished, dark sins are done.
It is finished, the Son has won.
It is finished, I am set free.
It is finished, Christ died for me.
It is finished, He rose again.
It is finished, with Him I’ll win.
Walking with Christ We Always Win!

Pastor David

All that God Requires Is That We Receive The Son and We Shall Be Blessed. The power of life is in the Son of Life. Receive God. Receive Christ! Walk in His Word and by His Spirit. When we walk apart from God ….

Amos 2:14-15 ^(KJV) ….. the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: 15 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and [he that is] swift of foot shall not deliver [himself]: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.

God is the Gospel! Receive Him. Walk in Him. Follow His Word. Do as He says and you will be blessed, for we are promised …

John 1:12 ^(KJV) But as many as received {Christ}, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name …

Receive Christ. Walk in Him, and you will be blessed!

May the Holy Spirit lift your hearts to God through His Word.