You Can'T Outrun God and Get by

We're going to camp out in the book of Amos today, friends. I like reading about Amos and I'm enthralled by his powerful ministry. Amos was a country preacher.

I believe country preachers are some of the best preachers you can find because when you hear one of them, you're going to hear something good because of their connection to nature. They have their feet on solid ground. They don't run from a fight because they're not scared of anybody.

Maybe it's because country folk know how to handle themselves better than some city slickers. They can run a trout line and fire a gun and aren't afraid of defending what is right. Well, Amos was a country boy who became a fiery preacher.

He was a sheep herder by trade and Amos began his public ministry on the heels of an earthquake and it's fitting to him for his ministry was a shaking ministry. He came and looked at the status quo of Israel's religion and he shook it up. He called out their sins.

He listed God's grievances against them. He issued a warning that Israel can't escape the Lord. The title of my message today, friends, is You Can't Outrun God and Get By.

My text can be found in the book of Amos in chapter 9. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. People fall into several categories in life. Some folks are rich.

Others are poor. Some are in between. Some folks are ambitious and seek recognition.

Others shy away from the public eye. Some are intelligent intellectuals and others are not so bright. Some folks don't believe in God.

Others do. Some folks have a religion but they don't have God. Some people are powerful and have made a name for themselves in the world.

Others are just plain nobodies. But when the rubber hits the road, there are only two real categories of people in the world, friends. The saved and the lost.

Those who have found Christ and rest securely beneath his blood. And those who are outside of Christ who one day he'll be their judge. But no matter what, friend, the truth of the matter is you can't outrun God and get by.

I'm going to prove that point to you today, friends, because I'm going to be honest with you today because I care about your soul. I'm going to speak plainly today like a country preacher. As we say in the South, I'm going to give you the oil straight from the can.

So I say you can't outrun God and get by. You can put that down, big, plain and straight, friend. If you try to outrun God, he will catch up to you.

God will catch up with you because number one, God has a long reach. It says so in Amos 9.2. Though they dig into hell, then shall my hand take them. Though they climb up to heaven, thence I will bring them down.

Yes, sir, God has a long reach. You just going to try to climb up to heaven, friend, on a rope of sand of an empty religious profession, and he will yank you down before you get there. Secondly, God has excellent eyesight.

It says so in verse 8. Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom. You can't hide from God, friend. You may go in your room and lock the door and do your evil, and he is watching you all the time.

The eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and that means his eyes are on you, friend. He is staring you down at all times. Whether you realize it or not, he's got his eye on you.

Your sins are exposed before him. God has excellent eyesight. Number three, God has detailed records.

It says so in verse 9. For lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall to the ground. Amos is a country preacher, and he uses agricultural parables to get his point across. Amos here is using the illustration of a sieve to show how God would sift out every evil thing and every little detail of sin that has been committed because he keeps detailed records on every one of us, and that means me, and that means you, friend.

Not one deed will pass through the sifting, for all falls under his intense scrutiny. Yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth, so says the word of God, meaning no sin of yours will slip by unnoticed. There's a day of sifting coming, friend, and it's fast approaching.

You can't outrun God and get by, Hebrews declares, and as he disappointed unto men, wants to die, but after this the judgment. If you've not trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, friend, do so before it's too late. Soon he will come in judgment on this world, when his anger shall burn as an oven, and then you shall meet him as your judge, and shall not the judge of all the earth do right.

You can't run away from God, friend. You can't get away from him. You cannot hide, it says so in Amos 9.3, and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence, and though they behead from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them.

No, sir, you cannot run God and get by. In Numbers 32.23, it declares, behold, you've sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. Yes, sir, God keeps detailed books.

If you don't believe me, friend, turn in your Bibles now over to the book of Revelation. Go ahead, friend, turn over to chapter 20, and take a look what God has to say there about keeping detailed records, beginning in verse 11 and following. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every man, according to their works.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Picture that fantastic scene in your mind, friend. Think of it now.

You have tried to outrun God, but to no avail. There you will stand before him at a future judgment, where he will sift you like a sieve. Picture that heavenly courtroom scene.

There you have God's throne, pure and white, God's majesty, terrible to behold. Even the earth and the heaven flee from his face, and you have God as a judge, sitting over man's accountability to him. Did sinful man break his unbending law? Sure he did, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

This is a universal judgment that every mother's son will face, because you can't outrun God and get by. No, sir. Picture that courtroom scene in your mind now, friend, where God is the judge, and if I may so speak, the angels are the bailiffs, the devil is the prosecuting attorney, and he points his bony finger at you and accuses you of sin.

Prove you broke God's law, for all sin is transgression of the law, and the sentencing of the law must be carried out upon all guilty lawbreakers. There I stand. The books are opened.

Cases are reviewed. Evidence is presented, and the verdict comes in. Guilty, guilty, guilty.

The angels come with their chains to bind me, hand and foot, so I'll be cast into that burning lake of fire. I can even smell the sulfur from it. I can hear the crackle of its swirling flames.

But just then, a figure appears in the back of the courtroom. It is my defense attorney, my advocate, Jesus Christ. He rushes up the aisle and stands right beside me and throws his arm around me and announces to the judge and to everyone there, set him free.

He's with me. Christ suffered and died on Calvary, and he was buried, but he rose again and ascended back into heaven, where he now sits at the right hand of the Father, and he earned that right by way of a bloody cross. My only hope is when Christ's life is laid down and applied to me.

The remedy for sin must be applied. I must get to Christ and find refuge beneath his redeeming blood. The lesson of this message today, friends, is you can't outrun God and get by, don't ever forget it, but you can get to Jesus for forgiveness of sin.

He is the pearl of great price. We're selling off for and losing off for, so he may be gained. Come to him now, friend, in repentance, confessing you are a sinner and own him as your Savior and Lord.

Come to that bloodstained Savior from sin and surrender all you are to all he is, and he is Lord. Well, I'm going to sing a hymn now, friend, and if God's been dealing with you through this message, don't delay. You come, you come and surrender you're all to this Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from glory, how he gave his life on Calvary to save a wretch like me. I heard about his groaning, of his precious blood's atoning, then I repented of my sins and won the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever.

He sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew him, and all my love is due him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.