Hosea 9&10
Notes
Transcript
Find the “BIG IDEA” >> a. What is the author talking about? b. What is he saying about what he is talking about?
a. Talking about the coming judgement of Israel, their sowing unrighteousness and reaping destruction… Hosea 10: 13-15
b. “Turn or burn” is not such an unbiblical concept… >> God is hard on our Evil… We must seek Him in order to be saved from Him…
Find the FCF >>
1. What does the text say?
Talking about the coming judgement of Israel, their sowing unrighteousness and reaping destruction…
2. What spiritual concern(s) did the text address (in its context)?
The immense wickedness of the people of Israel, even hundreds of years past the time of the Judges, history repeats itself…
3. What spiritual concerns do listeners share in common with those to (or about) whom the text was written?
Hosea 10:3-4 … We have bought the lie that we are autonomous and independent beings…
[Kids Time!]
“What you intended for evil, God uses for good”
[Introduction]
You Reap What You Sow: Part 2
Hosea 9-10
[Introduce Text]
>> Today will be the second of our brief, two part section of the book of Hosea that I’ve named, You Reap What You Sow. Last week, we talked about bakers, birdies, and burros… But primarily, Hosea communicates this point to the people of Israel and Judah:
Being bad has BAD consequences
>> And how relatable is that to the human experience! But one thought I had shortly after our time together last Sunday was sparked in thinking about the recent murder of Charlie Kirk.
>> Now, I’m sure his murder doesn’t require much introduction for anyone with access to the news, the internet, or any one else with those things… But briefly, here’s my summary:
Charlie Kirk was a 31 year old man, husband for 4 and a half years to his wife, Erika, and father of two children; their daughter celebrated with her dad her 3rd birthday a few weeks before his death and their son turned one a few weeks before my son, Jett, turned one this year.
Charlie was outspoken for many social, political, and emotionally charged issues which he addressed most popularly with young adults on college campuses across the country. Most notably, though, was Charlie’s passion and devotion to speaking truth in love from a foundation of faith in Jesus.
>> Now, I bring up Charlie for two reasons…
>> The first is, his death has created a global ripple effect of awareness to the deep chasm that quietly and subtly separates us as a people from those to hold to faith in the one true God, the God of the Bible… and to those who do not.
>> Now, consider this: what’s more dangerous: The grand canyon you can see from miles away? Or an 8 foot hole disguised as solid ground? And yet I am reminded that the gaping “grand canyon” sized chasm between truth and lies in this cultural moment is not only there... is not only vast, deep, and deadly… but is softly excused as “common ground”. And Charlie’s death has awoken this reality to many.
>> The second reason is that the Bible makes this thematic claim in Hosea, that “Being bad has BAD consequences”… and yet a decent and arguably godly man was shot and killed last week. So, a question we will be considering today, along with our regular flow, is:
Does Being good have BAD consequences?
>> Open your bibles to Hosea chapter 9. Before we start, lets begin our time of worship in God’s True Word with prayer...
[Prayer]
[Main Point]
>> Our Main Point of the text today is that
God is hard on our Evil…
We must seek Him in order to be saved from Him…
>> Being Bad has Bad consequences because God is hard on our Evil!… and rather than escaping God’s wrath and judgement by drawing away from Him… The Word reminds us that our only hope is to seek Him to be saved from Him. We’ll see this Main Point drawn out
[Sub Point]
[Sub Point]
[Sub Point]
[Explanation]
Hosea 9–10 (ESV)
9 Rejoice not, O Israel!
Exult not like the peoples;
for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.
You have loved a prostitute’s wages
on all threshing floors.
2 Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
and the new wine shall fail them.
>> The reference to a “prostitute’s wages” and the “threshing floor” gives us evidence that Israel was engaged in this pagan practice of bringing prosperity to the people by the false god, Baal. And God is telling them, “this forsaking me for your worship of false gods… it will fail you”.
>> God is hard on our evil in that… He does not respond with provision for false worship. He doesn’t tolerate it. He doesn’t affirm it.
>> And as we read on, we get more imagery of their impending exile, verse 3:
3 They shall not remain in the land of the Lord,
but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.
4 They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
and their sacrifices shall not please him.
It shall be like mourners’ bread to them;
all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
it shall not come to the house of the Lord.
5 What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,
and on the day of the feast of the Lord?
6 For behold, they are going away from destruction;
but Egypt shall gather them;
Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;
thorns shall be in their tents.
>> God is harsh on evil in that He will not remain
Deuteronomy 26:12-15
>> “Nettles” = Thorns
7 The days of punishment have come;
the days of recompense have come;
Israel shall know it.
The prophet is a fool;
the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
and great hatred.
8 The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
and hatred in the house of his God.
>> Regarding the prophets,
Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah:
>> This is in reference to the horrors committed in Gibeah in the days of the Judges… see Judges 19:22…
he will remember their iniquity;
he will punish their sins.
>> “Loss of spiritual discernment” (v. 7-10)
10 Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
in its first season,
I saw your fathers.
But they came to Baal-peor
>> Man… yet another gruesome story… Phinehas, grandson of Aaron spears a dude and his pagan wife, while Israel is “binding itself” to Baal of Peor… see Numbers 25
and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
and became detestable like the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12 Even if they bring up children,
I will bereave them till none is left.
Woe to them
when I depart from them!
>> Their “glory” is their birth, pregnancy, and conception!
13 Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm planted in a meadow;
but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.
14 Give them, O Lord—
what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.
>> Good night… harsh words. But Just.
15 Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;
there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all their princes are rebels.
>> Gilgal —> see Hosea 12:11; was a southern kingdom city… Not good dudes
16 Ephraim is stricken;
their root is dried up;
they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
I will put their beloved children to death.
>> “Declining birth rate” (v. 10 - 16)
>> So difficult… Does God condone the death of children?? How do we address this??
17 My God will reject them
because they have not listened to him;
they shall be wanderers among the nations.
>> “Abandonment by God” (v.17)
———————————————————————-
Chapter 10
10 Israel is a luxuriant vine
that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
he improved his pillars.
2 Their heart is false;
now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord will break down their altars
and destroy their pillars.
3 For now they will say:
“We have no king,
for we do not fear the Lord;
and a king—what could he do for us?”
4 They utter mere words;
with empty oaths they make covenants;
so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds
in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
for the calf of Beth-aven.
>> tremble = “Will have anxiety over”
Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests—
those who rejoiced over it and over its glory—
for it has departed from them.
>> Reminds me of Revelation 16, when the people of the earth mourn the destruction of evil…
6 The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria
as tribute to the great king.
Ephraim shall be put to shame,
and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.
7 Samaria’s king shall perish
like a twig on the face of the waters.
8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
shall be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle shall grow up
on their altars,
and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
and to the hills, “Fall on us.”
>> The image of “hiding in the hills” at the coming of God’s wrath/day of judgement. Why do they run? Their evil is exposed, they can’t withstand the righteousness of He who come to judge the living and the dead…
9 From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;
there they have continued.
Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?
>> See Hosea 9:9, Gibeah from Judges…
>> “the war against the unjust...”
10 When I please, I will discipline them,
and nations shall be gathered against them
when they are bound up for their double iniquity.
11 Ephraim was a trained calf
that loved to thresh,
and I spared her fair neck;
but I will put Ephraim to the yoke;
Judah must plow;
Jacob must harrow for himself.
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the Lord,
that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
>> This is the turning point, the exhortation (v. 12)… and the final warning of this section of Hosea (v. 13-15).
13 You have plowed iniquity;
you have reaped injustice;
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
and in the multitude of your warriors,
>> Therefore…
14 therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people,
and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;
mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
because of your great evil.
At dawn the king of Israel
shall be utterly cut off.
[Application]
[Conclusion]
>> On September 6th, days before his assassination, Charlie Kirk posted this one sentence on X:
Jesus defeated death so you can live.
>> Abide is Bible Believing church.
“What you intended for evil, God used for good”
