A Famine of Hearing

Well, good morning, everyone! Good to see all of you again. Glad to be here. I really enjoyed the music. Franti and Tysure here this morning. Actually, Cook and Dunham. But that was really nice. Up there in the north, we don't even have a piano sometimes, so it's really nice to have that music. I appreciated Mr. Dunham's comment on washing his car. I hadn't washed my car for probably several, maybe it was over a month. I was just going to get dirty again once I used it. And it was so nice yesterday, and it really was bad. So I said, well, I'm going to run it through the car wash. It's supposed to be pretty nice tomorrow, you know, overall. Maybe I can get down and back home before it gets messed up again, but... Evelyn said, there goes your car wash.

Well, of course, we all know what happened this past November 8th. Not too far back. We now have a new president-elect, which surprised many and shocked others. Many were very elated. Others were kind of shocked and surprised, and were still probably a little bit upset about the outcome. But the theme in the model of his campaign, which many voters related to, and it resonated with many voters, was Make America Great Again, as you know. So I want to talk about that, because many Americans realize that today, much of our former greatness that we had, especially at the peak after World War II, and years after that, we reached a peak of greatness, so to speak, by the blessings of God. But many now realize that former greatness is starting to go the other direction. We're not kind of going the other way. But there are two key questions that the vast majority of Americans do not know the answer to. They don't know the answer is to, why did America become great in the first place? And why have we now lost that form of greatness? Another question Americans don't know the answer to is, how can that form of greatness be restored? What will it take in order to make America great again? To answer those questions, we have to go back several thousand years, and we have to go to the Word of God, and to the promises made to Abraham. So in the beginning of my sermon this morning, I want to briefly review that, but then I want to take it to a much deeper, much more personal level by asking this, what about all of us? What about God's Church? What about the spiritual people of God? How did God's Church become great in this end time? And why have we now lost a lot of that form of greatness that we had a number of years ago? What will it take to make God's Church great again? So today I want to address the answers to those questions from two perspectives. From the perspective of physical descendants of Israel, physical Israel, and from the perspective of spiritual Israel. From the perspective of the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and from the perspective of the spiritual descendants of Jesus Christ. The title for my sermon here this morning is, A Famine of Hearing.

Now before looking at physical Israel and how to make America great again, I want to begin looking at a prophecy in the book of Amos. As we know, Amos is one of the twelve minor prophets. He came from Tekoa, T-E-K-O-A, which is a small village in Judah, about ten miles south of Jerusalem, from what the commentary says.

He was a sheep-breeder, which it talks about in the very first of Amos, also in Amos 7, verses 14-15. So like David, he took care of flocks, and he also tended sycamore fig trees. Verse 15 of Amos 7. If you look at the commentary, this would indicate that Amos was not a wealthy man, that he had to work hard to make ends meet. But then God called him to be a prophet. He gave a warning message to surrounding nations that time, and then to Judah and Israel to the north of Judea. Of course, the ten times of Israel were to the north of Judea. Now, this prophecy of Amos is actually dated. Amos is one of the earliest of all the prophets. And it's actually dated. It tells us who was reigning in Judah and who was reigning in Israel at the time that Amos prophesied. So let's turn to Amos 1. And I'll begin in verse 1. Amos 1, verse 1, where it says, So the prophecy of Amos took place during the reign of Uzziah, the king of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam, the king of Israel. And it says here, two years before the earthquake, it must have been quite an earthquake, because all they do for this time when he wrote this is just referred to as the earthquake. That particular earthquake is also mentioned in Zechariah. It's mentioned in Zechariah 14.5. We're just talking about a future earthquake that will occur during the day of the Lord when the amount of all it should split into. Think about that earthquake. It's going to happen in the future. And speaking of this future earthquake in Zechariah 14.5, it says, You shall flee through the mountain... Excuse me. It says, You shall flee through my mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to us all. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of the Uzziah, king of Judah. Referring to this earthquake mentioned here in Amos 1, verse 1. Now, if you go to our United Bible reading program, the common days will date this earthquake approximately around the time of 750 BC. But if you go to our Bible reading program of United, it dates to the earthquake is occurring around 751 BC, 750 years before the time of Christ, or about 30 years before the fall of Israel to Assyria, which is about 721 BC. And two years before that would be 753 BC. So, the earthquake is somewhere in the vicinity of 753, it can't be exactly around that time, or about 30 years before Israel fell to Assyria.

And at this time Israel was on the decline, but probably still had some prosperity, pretty good prosperity at that time, although it may have been showing some signs of decline. And it's interesting, I just thought about this, that well, at that time, maybe some may have even been looking for a king who could make Israel great again by taking it back to his former glory that it had under kings David and Solomon.

But the prophecy I want to focus on is in chapter 8. And prior to that, let's note some significant passages here in the book of Amos. Amos 3. Amos 3 verse 1. Quite a few of them actually here in Amos 3, some very familiar passages. Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which are brought up from the land of Egypt. It says, You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

In the context here, You only have I known means You only have I chosen. You know, when God called Israel out of Egypt, He gave them a unique calling. He developed a unique covenant marriage relationship with Israel. And they were His own special people. And He chose them for a special purpose, to be a light to other nations. So God had an exclusive relationship with Israel, whom He called all the land of Egypt.

As I said, they were called His own special people, with whom they would have a personal marriage-covenant relationship with. God upheld His part of the covenant. He remained faithful to Israel. But Israel did not uphold their part of the covenant. They were not faithful to God. Amos 3, verse 2, You have only have I known, or You only have I chosen, of all the families of the earth.

Therefore I'll punish You for all Your iniquities, because You have broken that marriage covenant, been unfaithful. And then it goes on in verse 3. It says, Can two walk together, and let's say You're agreed. The next two verses answer that. Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den if he's caught nothing? Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth where there is no trap for it? Will a snare spring up from home on the earth if it's caught nothing at all?

Can two walk together unless they are agreed? No, no, no, no. There has to be some agreement. You can't keep walking together indefinitely unless you have some agreement with one another. Or otherwise you'll end up partying. Then the other coin, verse 6, If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there's calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it or brought it about or allowed it? The answer there, of course, is yes and yes. And then verse 7, Sure, the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets.

Of course, we are God's servants today. And God has revealed His secret, His plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, and His understanding of His truth and His Word to all of us. We understand God's plan of salvation. We understand God's Word. And we know why America has become great. We know how we became great, who made us great. And we know why America is losing its greatness now. And we are doing everything, and I'm talking about the work of the United Church of God and also others of God as well.

We are collectively doing everything within our means to make the truth of God available to the people of the world, especially to those here in the United States. For our part, the United Church of God, we have a Beyond Today television program. It's a good program. It comes on every week. Thousands watch it. We have the BT Daily that many people watch every day. Very good 6-7-8 minute program. We have the Beyond Today magazine, which goes out to thousands of people.

They read those articles and are good articles. So I have a question then. Why then are not more minds being opened? And why then are not more people coming to God's Church? Not too many. Now and then, maybe, but not too many. Yet so many people, it's there. Another significant package is Amos 4.12, which I'll just quote the last part of, where it says this, because Israel did not return to God. Even though there were numerous warnings.

Ancient Israel, I'm talking about, now they were warned over and over again, but they didn't return to God. So a latter part of Amos 4.12 says, Prepare to meet your God, because they wouldn't listen.

They wouldn't heed the warnings. So finally it got to the point where he says, God said, Prepare to meet your God. Oh Israel. Now one final passage before going to Amos 8, and that's Amos 7. Let's go to Amos 7, beginning in verse 7. Thus he showed me, God showed Amos, He showed me, and behold the Lord stood on a new wall, made with a plumb line. He had this vision of God standing on a wall, made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, Amos said, I see a plumb line.

So then the Lord said, behold I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. Referring to Old Testament Israel. And I will not pass by them anymore, because I will not pass by their iniquities anymore. Verse 9, Because the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, And I will rise with a sword against the house of Jeroboam.

Again, as we just related, Jeroboam was the king of Israel at that time. Of course, a plumb line is a tool of a builder. It's a line with a weight on the end of it. When held against a wall, it will measure the wall's vertical accuracy or trueness.

So I've got a saying here, when he measured the morality of Israel and their society, it was shown to be so far from true that the whole construction had to be torn down. There's no way to repair it. It had to be torn down, and the wall had to be torn down and started over again.

And you have to wonder, is it getting that way today in America? Has it gotten so far off track and so far away from God and so far going the wrong direction that there's no way to correct it? There's no way for any president and cabinet, no matter how much they try to make America great again. Is it going to have to collapse and then start over? Is that where we are today in our society? Now turn to the main passage I want to focus on, which is Amos 8, verse 11. It says, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

And that's my title, a famine of hearing.

Now, look at this verse very carefully, and notice what it says, and notice what it doesn't say. It does not say there will be a famine of the Word of God. It doesn't say that. It says there will be a famine of hearing the Word of God, which indicates what? It indicates the Word of God will be available and will be accessible, but that people won't hear those words. Not that they won't hear them with their ears, but that they won't hear them with careful focus and attention in a way that would cause them to change the way of their life, to change and go in the other direction.

And you know, it's interesting because you look at our society today, what we're doing, how God's Word is going out there, not only here, but all over the world. But very few people hear those words in a way that will cause them to internalize them and cause their lives to be changed and start going in the other direction.

That's what we see happening today, especially here in the United States. Thousands watch it to be today telecast. They read the Beyond Today magazine, plus many publications and broadcasts of other Church of God groups. But only a very few respond with any lasting commitment. Today, we have a famine of hearing.

A famine of hearing in a way that convicts people to change the course of their life, that gets to their heart and causes them to change. Many hear the words, but they never act on those words. The result is that our nation is going to continue to go into decline. And people will continue to have to ask, as I've heard this on the news, and say, Why? Why are we going into decline? How can someone change this around?

We want somebody to change it around. That's why they like to trouble it. Maybe he can change the course of this nation. He's like, we'll change our morality. But people are asking, Why? What's happening to our nation? How great it was? Now look where we're going. Many Americans realize something is wrong, and that we have lost our former greatness, and that we're going in the wrong direction.

Many are searching for the answer. We want to point something out by the next verse. They're looking in the wrong digression, and they're going in the wrong places to find the answer, as we are told in the very next verse.

If you look at it carefully and analyze it. Verse 12 of Amos 8. Here's how they're going to look for the Word of God. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east. They shall run to and fro, seeking the Word of God. But they shall not find it. Why? It's there. Why won't they find it?

Not because it's not available. It will be because they're searching in the wrong direction. Notice in this verse, carefully, notice the one direction that is missing. The time this was written, the location from where it was written, from the perspective of Judea, from sea to sea, would be from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, or from east to west. The next line then says what? It says, and from north to east.

Doesn't that seem a little strange? Who would not expect it to say from north to south? From east to west and north to south? But it says it says north to east. See, the only direction they will not go is south. Now, why not? How does not going south tie in to a famine of hearing? How do those two facts relate here in these two verses? What was to the south? To the south was the city of Jerusalem and the temple of God. From the perspective of ancient Israel, it was to the north.

They shall run to and fro, seeking the Lord, but shall not find it. Why? Because they wouldn't go in the right direction. And they wouldn't go to the only place where the Word of God could be found, to the temple of God. Think on it spiritually. Who today is the temple of God? We are. God's people, God's churches are the temple of God today. All of us. We are the temple of God. And we have the true words of God, and we have the answers and solutions to the problems facing all people today.

They may not be looking for those answers, but they are looking in the wrong direction. And they are unwilling to go where they actually need to, to where the temple was, and where it is. Because of that, we now have a famine of hearing. Now, you think of a normal famine, a famine of bread, as it mentions here in verse 11, and a thirst for water.

Those kind of famines are readily recognized, and they can be recognized as a tragedy if they occur over long periods of time, like they are even now in California or other places. You know, you can have those kind of famines, water, and so on, and it goes on. That can be looked at as being a tragedy. But when it comes to a famine of hearing, that's not recognized as being a tragedy.

But it is a great tragedy, isn't it? Because without hearing and acting on God's Word, and without divine instruction, our nation will only stagger toward this demise.

Again, Amos 8, 11, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

The famine of hearing, not that the words of God are not being heard or made available, but they're not being heeded.

And because the vast majority who do hear the Word of God, they don't allow those words to penetrate into their minds and into their hearts to facilitate a change, to cause them to repent and go in the right direction, and start applying God's laws in their lives.

So we do not have a famine of the Word of God, we have a famine of hearing, a famine of really hearing and heeding the Word of God.

You know what a few of us said, focus on today.

I said they're focused on materialistic things, on choosing for themselves what is right and what is wrong, on situation ethics, on not having to be held accountable for anything in their lives.

And that is a big part of the reason why we now have a famine of hearing.

So that then is a prophecy in the book of Amos that directly applies to all of us today, and to our people today in the United States of America and around the world.

Next question. How did this prophecy apply to ancient Israel, and how does it apply to the Israel of today?

First, how did ancient Israel become great?

Let's go back to Genesis 12, where you can clearly read the answer.

Genesis 12, verse 1, Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country and from your family and from your father's house, go to a land that I will show you.

And if you do that, I will make you a great nation. I will make you great. I will make your descendants great again.

I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great.

And you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you and who curses you.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.

Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.

The ancient Israelites were, of course, the descendants of Abraham, and they became a great nation because of this promise that God made here to Abraham.

But to prove this was a promise that would not be performed by their own doing, God purposely closed Sarah's womb, as we know, so he couldn't have any children.

Let's go to Genesis 15, verse 1.

After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in his vision, saying, Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield. I am your exceedingly great reward.

But Abram said, Lord God, what were you going to give me?

See, an old childless, and he and Sarah have been married for many years with no children, no descendants.

And the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.

Then Abram said, Look, you have given me no offspring.

Indeed, one born of my house is my heir.

And then, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body, from your wife Sarah.

She shall be your heir.

Excuse me, he shall be your heir.

Then he brought him outside and said, Look now toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to number them.

And he said, To him, so shall your descendants be. Now, if you've been in Abraham, would you believe that?

So many descendants, you can't even count them all?

Verse 6, a stouting verse.

And he, Abraham, believed the Lord, and God accounted it to him for righteousness.

What an encouraging, encouraging scripture for all of us.

If we live by faith, as Abraham did, or as I should say, as he learned to do, because he had to grow in faith, didn't he? He had to learn it.

And if we do that, and can you believe God and God's promises?

He says, God can account that for us, for righteousness, even though we of him by ourselves have no righteousness.

But if we absolutely believe God, believe his promises, even though they seem to be impossible to fulfill, God will fulfill them.

And he said, I'm going to account that for righteousness, for that person who's going to override all of that person's faults and shortcomings, because they believe me.

And they hang on to that promise.

Of course, eventually God did keep his promise to Abraham, even if Tresseira was well past childbearing age, being 100 years old, to show Abraham and Sarah, and all of us, that this was totally God's doing.

And when Sarah again was about 100, she gave birth to Isaac, who gave birth to Jacob, Joseph after him, whose descendants then became the nation of ancient Israel.

But of course, as we know, after the death of King Solomon, the northern ten tribes of Israel, they rebelled.

And the kingdom of Israel became divided into two kingdoms, Israel to the north and Judah to the south.

And as I said, Amos was among the earliest of God's prophets, warning the nation of the ten tribes of Israel as to where they were headed 30 years before their fall to Assyria.

But as Amos himself revealed to Israel from God, they refused to heed those warnings, because they brought on themselves a famine of hearing.

Does the book of Genesis foretell anything about modern-day Israel?

So of course, you look at modern-day Israel, does it say anything about that? Let's go to Genesis 49.

And Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, Jacob called his sons. Jacob is very old now at this point. He's losing his vision. He's getting close to death.

So he called his sons and said, Gather together that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days.

So God's not going to give a prophecy of latter-day Israel, a latter-day descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel, your father. So this now is prophetic of how the various descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would fare in the last days, being up to the return of Christ.

And the primary descendants being Joseph's two sons, even Manasseh, as related to Genesis 48, the previous chapter, when the last days became the nations of Great Britain and the United States of America.

Here's how they became great nations. How did they become great? It tells us right here.

Genesis 49, going to verse 22, Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well. His branches run over the wall.

The archers have bitterly grieved him, shouted him, and hated him. And we were hated by many nations today, aren't we?

But his bow remained in strength.

And they did remain in strength, didn't they? So that the allies of Great Britain and the United States, as allies of World War I and II, prevailed against an enemy that sought to destroy them and hated them.

Why did we prevail in World Wars I and II?

And by whose hands were we made strong?

But his bow remained in strength, and his hands were made strong. How?

By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.

God made our nation great, and we are made great by the mighty hand of the God of Jacob.

Verse 25, by the God of your Father who will help you, and by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, with blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breast and of the womb, as we have been blessed in this nation in all these ways, brought on by God and God's promise.

The blessing of your Father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.

They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.

What's happening now?

Now our nation is turning away from God, and away from our former values.

I understand. We understand that they've never really understood the true God, but yet they have had godly values.

They have had God's Word, and some have studied God's Word, and they've tried to apply a lot of those values.

Many have in the early part of our nation.

But now it's going the other direction.

Of course, in Great Britain, it's already totally gone the other direction.

You realize, I heard this in the news the other day, and it was a dumb founding.

They said today, in Great Britain, more worshippers go to mosques than to Christian churches.

As God warned in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, if we turned against God, all of our blessings and greatness would be removed.

That's not beginning to happen.

See, to make America great again, we as a nation would have to return to God and to our Christian roots.

Because only God can make America great again.

But the thing is, in the future, He will.

He is going to make the descent of Israel great again in the future.

What about spiritual Israel?

What about the spiritual descendants of Israel?

What about God's church?

How might Amos 8-11 apply to spiritual Israel?

Could there be a famine of hearing involving the people of God?

You know, look what's happening around the world today, as we all do.

It certainly does appear we're living in a time of the end.

How much time that will be? I don't know. I have no idea. Probably going to go past my time, but we don't know. But even though I have no idea how long it's going to be before Christ will return, how long will it be before the people of God will be consoled to buy from Christ gold, refined in the fires? We'll get to it in a moment.

Refined in the fire of great tribulation. Because before America will become great again, some of God's people will need to be refined.

And I think we're in that process now. God is trying to refine all of us, so we become more like Jesus Christ.

The book of Revelation deals with the coming day of the Lord, with the time leading up to God's direct intervention in affairs of mankind, leading up to Christ's return.

Let's go there to the book of Revelation here for the final part of this sermon here this morning.

Let's begin in Revelation 1. Revelation 1, verse 1.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants, things which must shortly take place, and he sent and signified by his angel or his messenger, the servant John, who brought witness to the Word of God and to testimony of Jesus Christ and to all things that he saw.

Blessed is he, verse 3, who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it.

The time is near. Blessed are you who hears the word of this prophecy.

So this revelation then involves hearing. Blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy.

What kind of hearing is this referring to? Blessed are you who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep.

They act on that hearing. They keep those things.

To be blessed, you have to keep those things which are written in it. For the time is near.

So blessed are those who keep these things. The hearing involves an active response.

It involves acting on and keeping what they hear in order to be blessed.

Now, why is it so important in the context of the time of this revelation of Jesus Christ here, the time it's referring to, why is it so important to understand this and to hear this? It says, because in the latter part of the verse, because the time is near.

Time will sometime run out someday.

Verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, or as it should be, as echoed in the book of Joel.

I was in the Spirit on the day of the Lord.

John here receives a vision which prophetically projects him into the coming day of the Lord, into the time when God is going to directly intervene in the affairs of mankind leading up to the return of Christ.

And I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, or on the day of the Lord, and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.

And what you see right in the book and send it to seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Taliah, Desea.

So Revelation 2 and 3 record God's messages to those seven churches, or to those seven church eras, as we have sometimes looked at it, as it could be applied prophetically.

Let's go to Revelation 3, verse 7. And to the angel or messenger of the church of Philadelphia, write.

Philadelphia, as we know, means brotherly love.

And that is one of the main things over the years that we have struggled with, how to truly, truly love our brother, not just our brothers in the church, but also people of the world.

We struggle with that as a church.

To have brotherly love for all people.

I think we've all grown in that area. We've gone through a lot of trials. I think we've grown in that area.

Over the past number of years. But I think there's probably still room for improvement as well.

As indicated in verse 8, we have all gained a little strength in that area.

And we have persevered through many trials that we've gone through, and we have done that.

How are you sitting here? You've gone through many, many trials to still be here today.

You've persevered. Many trials, many uncertainties, and many of you have persevered through many losses, personal losses.

Verse 10, Revelation 3, Because you have kept my command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of trial which have come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, as you have been for many years, many of you. Hold fast. Don't know what ever happens because you let go of what you have.

Hold fast what you have, that no man can ever take your crown. Don't let a man take your crown.

Follow Jesus Christ. Follow God's Word. Don't follow any man.

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar of the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and I will write on him my new name.

So a great reward awaits those who learn brotherly love and who persevere to the end.

Then we come to what many see as being the final era of God's church.

Verse 14, And to the angel or messenger of the church of the Laodiceans write, The word Laodicea is derived from two Greek words.

One meaning people, Laos, the other meaning justice, according to many commentaries.

That is justice in the sense of executing justice or executing a judgment or just decision.

So Laodicea can mean justice people or people who receive a just judgment or just decision.

What is God's just decision regarding these end-time people of God?

Verse 15, I know your works, but I know that you're not really hot or cold.

I wish you were one or the other.

And you really didn't understand anything at all, or that you really acted with conviction with what you understand. I wish you either caught or holed. But because you are then lukewarm, you're neither hot or cold, I'm going to bomb it or spew you out of my mouth. I'm going to have to let you go for a while. You can learn some things.

I'll make a just decision on how you can become hot.

In what way were they lukewarm?

Well, they were lukewarm spiritually. That's the indication. They were lukewarm in their spiritual relationship with God and in their conversion.

Why?

Why were they lukewarm? Verse 20.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears, here's the word here again, hear in a way that they're going to respond to that knocking, respond to that hearing, those words. If anyone hears an X on my voice, and opens the door to me, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me.

So the insinuation here is that Christ is right there close by for all of us, knocking on the door, knocking on the door to our hearts, I could say.

He wants into our hearts. He wants our hearts.

He wants our hearts and minds.

He wants to open our hearts to him.

He wants us to open to him our innermost feelings, our innermost struggles.

Take him to him daily.

He wants into our hearts and he wants to come in and dine with us, so his heart can become our heart.

But the insinuation here is that some of those end-time people of God here don't have ears to hear.

They have a famine of hearing because the insinuation is that they don't respond to letting in.

What just judgment or just decision is then rendered because of that? Verse 17, Because you say, I'm rich, I know God's Word, I can quote Scripture, I go to church every week, I'm okay spiritually.

Because you say, I'm rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing, I don't really need any more improvement, I'm doing pretty good.

And you don't know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, and blind, and naked spiritually.

You need to be spiritually dressed with the white clothing of Jesus Christ, with the righteousness of Christ.

Because you say, I'm spiritually rich, I don't need any help from you, I don't need any of your words, then what will God do as a result of that? Verse 17, Because you say, I'm rich, then on verse 18, I call to you then to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be spiritually rich.

And you might have white garments, that you might be clothed with the very righteousness of Jesus Christ, that the shame of your nigguness may not be revealed, and not your eyes without a sail, but you can really see, see your own condition, in some cases. I'm not judging anybody here, I'm just saying, this applies to all, this applies to me.

And then Christ gives some very encouraging words, saying in essence, it's not too late to change.

Verse 21, To him who overcomes, who comes to really react on his God's word, I will grant him, I will grant to sit, I will grant to sit, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my father in his throne.

He who has a near to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

So, Christ, it's never too late.

But you know, it's easy to let down.

We all have, I have.

But these are very, very fundamental times we're living in.

I think it's a time as never before to really cry out to God for his help.

But that then is why ancient Israel became great, and why it lost its greatness, and why modern day Israel, and why the United States of America became great, and why we're now losing that greatness, and also why God's church became a great, God made us great, and why we may have lost much of that greatness today, is all because there has been a famine of hearing.

They have hearing in any way that would result in true repentance and true change.

So it's prophesied in Amos 8, 11, Behold, these are coming, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread nor of thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

I think we're now living in that time, in a time when there is a famine of hearing.