Like Priest, Like People
Notes
Transcript
A Few Things to Discuss ...
A Few Things to Discuss ...
War in Ukraine and ‘Operation Atlantic Resolve’
America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundation of government … She has uniformly spoken among them, though often to heedless and often to disdainful ears, the language of equal liberty, of equal justice, and of equal rights … She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when conflict has been for principles for which she clings, as to the last vital drop that visits the heart … Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.
She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the powers of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom … She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
Sound of Freedom, Sex Trafficking, and the Mainstream Media
If there was one issue American society, mainstream media, and Hollywood should be able to agree on, I would think human sex trafficking would be high up on the list.
Headlines from the past two weeks:
“QAnon and ‘Sound of Freedom’ Both Rely on Tired Hollywood Tropes — The Washington Post
“‘Sound of Freedom’ — The QAnon-Adjacent Thriller Seducing America” — The Guardian
“‘Sound of Freedom’ Is an Anti-Child Trafficking Fantasy Fit for QAnon”
As a direct result of policies implemented by the Biden Administration:
In 2021, people from over a 150 countries tried to cross the southern border.
Fentanyl has caused an overdose crisis in the United States
Cartels switched from human smuggling to human trafficking through debt bondage.
Mexican citizen - $2500 a head
Central American - $3000
Chinese - $5000
Russian or Middle Eastern - $9000
These numbers are just to cross the border, not counting the price of the trip to get to the border.
These individuals are indebted (30% interest?) for years or decades to come
“Separation of Church and State”
The phrase ‘separation between Church and State’ is found in none of our founding documents. The phrase comes from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802:
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.
Introduction
Introduction
15 “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. 17 “But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. 19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Like Priest, Like People ...
The Church who forsakes its course of action trains a people who stumble at every decision. (vv. 4-6)
The Church who relishes in sinful prosperity provides a people only with spiritual scarcity. (vv. 7-11)
The Church who seeks unbiblical affirmation equips a people only for the destruction of the nations (vv. 12-19)
I. The Church Who Forsakes Its Course of Action Trains a People Who Stumble at Every Decision (vv. 4-6)
I. The Church Who Forsakes Its Course of Action Trains a People Who Stumble at Every Decision (vv. 4-6)
A. Let no man contend
The hierarchy of blame lies first not with the people, but with the priests who were to instruct them.
9 So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing. 12 “Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law. 13 “Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”
So that they may hear, learn, fear, and observe
So that the next generation will understand and be equipped
B. Those who contend with the priest
The people’s sinful actions are evidence against the priests’ direction.
This does not mean the people are excused from their actions
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
C. Stumble in the day … in the night
We except someone to stumble in the dark but to walk on sure footing in the light. The priest and prophet will stumble at all times.
D. My people are destroyed
The priests of God were held to a high standard. So, too, are the leaders of Christ’s Church today.
1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.
II. The Church Who Relishes in Sinful Prosperity Provides a People Only With Spiritual Scarcity (vv. 7-10)
II. The Church Who Relishes in Sinful Prosperity Provides a People Only With Spiritual Scarcity (vv. 7-10)
A. The more they increased, they more they sinned
The greater affluence the priests’ gained, the greater their sin became.
Recognize wealth and prosperity is not evil.
10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Notice that it says the love of money, not money itself.
23 And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” 26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Notice the disciples’ response to Jesus’ statement. Who then can be saved?!
A. I will change their glory into shame
The glory, fame, and power that the priests’ had accumulated for themselves through ungodly conduct, God would take away.
1 Righteous are You, O Lord, that I would plead my case with You; Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with You: Why has the way of the wicked prospered? Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease? 2 You have planted them, they have also taken root; They grow, they have even produced fruit. You are near to their lips But far from their mind.
Sometimes, the wicked seem to prosper in the temporal, but God makes clear they will meet their just reward in the eternal.
B. They eat up the sin of my people
Sin here means ‘sin offerings.’ So, in other words, the priest would were happy if the people came to give sacrifices because they received a portion of the sacrifice.
However, remember that Israel is not serving God. Through Jeroboam II, pagan idols were established to keep the people of Israel from returning to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice. So, the only reason the priests have their position, their title, is because they are engaging in a religion of sin.
C. Like people, like priest
The priest’s would receive no favoritism from God. They would be treated just as, if not worse than, the people.
D. They shall eat, but not have enough
Nothing in Israel would prosper, but specifically with the priests. The belief was that Baal provided fertility for everything: the land, the animals, and even the birth of children. God is declaring it is only by the Almighty that anything prospers.
III. The Church Who Seeks Unbiblical Affirmation Equips a People Only For the Destruction of the Nations (vv. 11-19)
III. The Church Who Seeks Unbiblical Affirmation Equips a People Only For the Destruction of the Nations (vv. 11-19)
A. Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart
Heart refers to a person’s reasoning ability, their character, and their strength of will
Continued sin will give way to ruin and cloud our judgment
Continued sin enslaves a person. There are two truths the bible teaches are simultaneously true, paradoxical:
Repentance for sin is always a possibility
Corruption can so enslave a person so that repentance becomes a practical impossibility
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
B. My people ask for counsel from their wooden idols
The people have so clouded their discernment, that they now seek guidance and wisdom from wood and rocks. They viewed them with a sense of piety, with a sense of reverence.
C. They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops
This draws our attention to the ‘high places’ that we read about in the books of Kings and Chronicles
Their shade is good
The high places accommodated the desires for comfort of the people
D. Therefore, your daughters commit harlotry
Because the priests’ continue to affirm the people’s actions, sexual perversion has taken over.
Harlotry, once again, is both metaphorical and physical. Because the priests’ affirmed the people’s desires, the people prostituted themselves spiritually to pagan gods. Also though, the women were prostituting themselves physically in the ritual rights.
This is not a sexist passage. The culture of the day took adultery by women very seriously, often applying a double standard for the women. We see an example of this with Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38.
God rhetorically asks how he can only punish the women, for there is a supply/demand problem created by the men.
OnlyFans supply/demand problem in our culture
Divorce supply/demand problem
E. Let not Judah offend
Hosea pleads that Judah would not follow after its northern counterpart, Israel. He warns them not to go to the sacred places of Gilgal, Bethaven (Bethel), or to swear an oath by the Lord.
Israel’s apostasy is affecting not only their nation, but the nations around them.
F. Israel is … like a stubborn calf
A stubborn calf refuses to go where its owner leads. How can the Lord effectively shepherd a people who refuse to listen?
G. Ephraim is joined to idols
One commentator says this is similar to saying Israel is spellbound or bewitched by idols. They are in a trance of moral confusion and are to be left alone.
H. Their drink is rebellion
The people drink all they can and then turn to sex
Not only that, but the nation’s rulers (the cultural, political, and religious institutions) praise the people’s shameful actions.
Target, Bud Light, Trans-Activists on White House Lawn
I. The wind has wrapped her up in its wings
The entire nation has been wrapped up in its self-indulgent, pagan lifestyle, but it will soon come to realize the gods they serve offer nothing but destruction.
Conclusion
Conclusion