Sermon 215

📖 SERMON 215 — REFORMATION OR FAMINE

Text: Amos 8:11–14 (read vv. 1–14)
Date: October 30, 1949
Preacher: G. S. Kok

INTRODUCTION

Tomorrow is Reformation Day, when we commemorate the great Reformation of the sixteenth century under Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and others. It is fitting to consider the importance of that Reformation and the need for Reformation today. Amos warned Israel of a coming famine — not of bread or water, but of hearing the Word of the Lord.

SUBJECT: REFORMATION OR FAMINE

I. THE NATURE OF THE REFORMATION NEEDED

A. Israel had forsaken the Word of God

1. They separated from Jerusalem to worship at Dan and Bethel.
2. They rejected God’s Word and worshiped as they pleased.
3. Their views of God and salvation no longer harmonized with truth.
4. False prophets encouraged their departure.
5. Salvation was sought in outward ritual rather than repentance and faith.
Forsaking God’s Word was the root of all their religious and social evils.

B. The Roman Catholic Church before the Reformation had forsaken God’s Word

1. Scripture became a closed, hidden book.
2. It was no longer the final rule of faith and life.
3. Human tradition replaced divine revelation.
4. The true doctrine of salvation was lost:
   a. Justification by works replaced justification by faith.
   b. Human righteousness substituted for Christ’s righteousness.
   c. Salvation taught as purchasable through indulgences.
5. Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice was obscured.
Before the Reformation, Scripture had been dethroned.

C. The need for Reformation today

1. Churches again depart from the Word of God.
2. Many base their hope of salvation on unscriptural foundations:
   a. Personal goodness.
   b. A vague belief in God’s love without repentance or faith.
   c. Material contributions or “dues.”
3. God’s Word is disregarded in homes, schools, politics, and morality.
4. God’s law is rejected or mocked.
5. The Bible must be reinstated as the Word of God and the rule for faith and conduct.

II. THE FAMINE TO BE AVOIDED

Reformation is the alternative to famine — God’s ultimatum.

A. The nature of the famine

1. Not a famine of bread.
2. Not a famine of water.
3. A famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
Like the wartime blackouts — radios turned on, but no sound. People will listen, but God will not speak. Man does not live by bread alone; when God no longer speaks, people perish.

B. The famine fulfilled in Israel

1. They ignored God’s pleadings and warnings.
2. God withdrew His Word.
3. Prophets were told, “Leave them alone.”
4. When they later longed for the Word, it was too late.

Their tragic searching:

1. They wandered from sea to sea seeking a word from the Lord.
2. Young people fainted spiritually because their fathers had rejected God’s Word.
3. They fell before dumb idols.
This was the famine Amos foretold — and it came.

C. The present threat

1. Today the Word of God is again despised.
2. Unless America reforms and takes God’s Word to heart, she will face a famine — of truth, righteousness, and spiritual life.
3. Unless churches return to the Gospel and faithfully preach Scripture, the church itself will perish.

CONCLUSION

During the Reformation, God raised up men who called people back to the Word — and the famine was prevented. Imagine the darkness that would have engulfed the world had the Reformers been silent or had people refused to listen. Now imagine the darkness approaching if our nation, churches, and families do not return to God’s Word.

When the light of Scripture goes out, civilization collapses, hope dies, and confusion reigns. How tragic that America, calling itself a Christian nation, has removed God’s Word from its schools, and that even Christians attack schools that teach obedience to the one true God.

The call stands clear: Reformation — or famine.