Essex Remembrancer Amos 8:11 Behold, the days come, said the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water… What an awful mystery envelops the subject of the origin of evil. It is enough for us to know that sin has entered into our world. And it is the moral murderer of mankind. I. THE STATEMENT OF A PRIVILEGE. "Hearing the words of the Lord." The possession of the oracles of God and a faithful dispensation of the Gospel are privileges far surpassing every other description of good under the sun. 1. Glance at the Jewish dispensation. A dispensation means a dealing out. There are three great dispensations with regard to the children of men — the dispensation of the law, the Gospel, and judgment. The whole system of the Old Testament may be summed up in "hearing the words of the Lord." 2. Look at the Christian dispensation. II. THE INTIMATION OF A FAMINE. What constitutes a famine of "hearing of the words of the Lord"? 1. Where the means of instruction do not actually exist. 2. Where the means exist, but the instruction is not given. 3. Where the means of the instruction are unconnected with the Divine blessing. III. THE AWFUL CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH A FAMINE. 1. It presses upon the nobler principle of our nature. 2. It removes the great preventive of crime. 3. It dries up the only source of comfort. 4. It leaves man without a hope beyond the grave.Learn — (1) A lesson of gratitude for your distinguished religious privileges. (2) Be humble before God for your abuse of such exalted privileges, (3) The hearing of the Gospel will be of no avail without the teaching of the Holy Spirit. (Essex Remembrancer.) Parallel Verses KJV: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: |
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