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The Harvester Podcast is brought to you by the Florida School of Preaching. Listen weekly to take a dive into biblical topics and thoughtful studies on things that matter to our eternal souls.
Welcome to the Harvester Podcast.
We are glad that you have joined us today as we continue our fifth season, majoring in the
minors, the minor prophets, that is, majoring in the minor prophets, as we will have a
whole season on each of the minor prophets and their relevance to us today.
I am one of the hosts, Brian Kenyon, and with me are...
Forest Antemesaris
Steven Ford.
And we are all preaching and working in Polk County among Churches of Christ, and we are
all instructors at the Florida School of Preaching or with the Florida School of
Preaching.
And so we are happy that you have joined us today, and we're gonna start with the Hosea,
and we are going through the minor prophets, and we're gonna give kind of a basic outline
of them, but not really an outline of the prophets necessarily, some of the shorter ones
we can, but we're gonna look at them, historical background.
look at the message, some of the reasons why judgment is going to come, and the silver
lining in the cloud, most of which has to do with Messianic Kingdom stuff, and so we're
going to look at that.
And we're just going to follow the order of the prophets in our English Bibles, starting
with Hosea and ending with Malachi and the prophets in between.
And so we're going to start with Hosea this episode.
Now some of these prophets we know more about than others, but Hosea is one of these minor
prophets that we do not know a whole lot about except for what is revealed in this book.
He is the son of Birei, and he is distinguished from other men of the same name.
Hosea, the major thing about him is his marriage and his family relationship.
That is the single most important element in the shaping of his person and his message.
he's a native of the northern kingdom prophesying to them the date of his prophecy can
pretty much be determined around seven fifty bc the reason why we can tell his time frame
is because he says he prophesied during the reigns of you zaya jotham eight as and has a
kya who were kings of juda
and during the reign of Jeroboam II, who was a king of the northern kingdom Israel.
And so he does give historical references to those kings in his prophesying.
And his prophetic career may have extended over a 40-year period, and the prophecies in
this book took place toward the end of the reign of Jeroboam II, and his ministry would
have overlapped with Micah and Isaiah.
Alright, now chapter 1 verse 2 sets it up for us.
says, And so that kind of sets up the maybe background of his prophecy.
And of course, religious, moral, and political
upheaval was the norm during hosias time and this hortam woods at least harlotry and
depending upon the translation of just read from the new king james translation and the
old king james has hortam here but it summarizes the religious condition of the nation
israel had prostituted herself if you will before the bail on
of the land chapter two twelve to thirteen will talk a little bit about that i'd allot re
in all the entailed was a way of life for the people and a lot of times i'd allot re would
involve you know fornication immoral sexual activity and of course other things that went
along with i'd allot re the people were morally guilty of swearing lying killing stealing
and i'd allot re adultery and hostess ends
these are listed in chapter four verse two chapter six verses eight to nine and chapter
thirteen now of course other sins as well but these are major list of them and the
prophetic period of hostages prophesying was one of political upheaval as well during the
reign of geroboam the second sometimes it's referred to as a quote indian summer in quote
type of thing where there are some
things going on during that time in the reign of jerebone the second gave way to the
instability of the final days of israel and her kings were cut off but during jerebone the
second it was kinda like a party atmosphere everything's good and a lot of times you know
in a culture when things are going well financially at least perceived financially
perceived you know getting along with the everybody else you know people let go of god
and you have this instability.
Or actually, you have people thinking that they have everything, they don't need God.
And certainly we see this kind of thing in American culture where we have lot of
blessings, a lot of material things.
Materialism kind of helps us to think we don't need God.
Can I just add, also, it leads to us thinking that we don't need God to some, and I think
to others it might even lend to the idea that we think that God is blessing us because we
have material stuff.
So when I'm doing this good, how do you know it's good?
Well, I got stuff, so God must be pleased with me, which is probably equally or more
dangerous if you think that God is pleased with your wicked behavior.
right.
sometimes we have that kind of reverse.
You know, we materialism can lead us astray through several avenues.
But the main thing we want to talk about by way of introduction is just to introduce, as
Hosea was told, to take a wife of Harlotry in chapter 1 verse 2.
We do need to address, you know, what does that mean?
take a wife of harlotry.
Well, there's three views that we want to just briefly consider, and the third view is the
one that I take on this.
But the first view is that literal, that Gomer was a practicing harlot at the time Hosea
is told to marry her.
And so it alleges that Gomer was one of the sacred prostitutes of the fertility cult,
which, you know, is plausible that there would be prostitutes of that cult or that
religion or that idolatry.
However, there's problems with this view that I think render it inadequate.
Number one, it assumes that the only women from whom Hosea could choose were practicing
harlots.
Number two, God would seem to contradict His own word that forbade the union with
practicing harlots, and He mentions this especially in Exodus 20 verse 14, Leviticus 19,
29, Leviticus 20 verse 5, and verse 21.
Leviticus 20 verse 5 and chapter 21 verse 14.
And then, of course, in 1 Corinthians in the New Testament, he does forbid his people from
interacting with harlots, 1 Corinthians 6, 15 through 18.
And so I don't think that view is correct.
The second view is called allegorical or sometimes extended parable.
And this view says that there was no such marriage that ever actually took place.
but rather it was a story or parable, as some would say, used to illustrate God's love.
And of course, some of this, they would say that, you know, since Gomer means completion,
it's allegorical for, you know, representing God's completion and sin.
Others would say that Gomer's mother, Deblayem, in chapter 1, verse 3, may be defined as
raisin cakes, which were a type of sacrificial offering in pagan worship.
And so they would say that she only represents the extent to which Israel declined in her
relationship to God.
However, some problems that rendered this view inadequate.
Number one, the narrative is straightforward and gives us no hermeneutical reason to
reduce it to a mere story.
Secondly, would inspiration lead us to believe something that took place when it really
did not take place?
Because we do have the names of Hosea's wife and children.
are given.
We do have the price that he paid for the woman beloved of her friend to be bought back in
chapter 3 verses 1 through 3, and these seem to indicate a factual account.
Think also of the degradation of character that would have occurred if God called Gomorrah
a harlot when she was not.
And so this view takes away from the purpose, the power, and the strength of Hosea's
object lesson.
and so i do not think that that view is is accurate and then a third view it's called
modified literal or sometimes is called enacted prophecy and that this view states that
gomer was not a practicing harlot at the time who see is told to marry her but then later
in the marriage she became one she was as homer hayley might say she was a daughter of the
age that is one brought up
under the influence of idolatry and in whose character would have been planted the seeds
of immorality.
And so she was not a cult prostitute in any official sense when Hosea married her, but was
an ordinary Israelite woman who later became an adulteress and a prostitute.
And this would definitely fit the graphic descriptions of her adultery in chapter 2, verse
2, and verse 5, and verse 10.
And these graphic descriptions would seem out of place if her behavior was a standard
practice for all Israelite women.
And one uh way the land can be full of whoredom is through the literal act of idolatry.
And that's why Leviticus 19.29 pronounces judgment upon uh harlots, because if it's
allowed to continue, the whole land would be full of harlotry.
Of course, it still has to be reconciled.
You know, how can the command to marry a wife of whoredoms be reconciled with the nature
of God?
And of course, I think about, you know, marriages today, you know, it always...and we
mentioned this actually when we talked in the season, we talked about last season on the 1
Corinthians 7 about the expediencies of marriage, that, you know, it's best for a
Christian to marry a Christian.
you know all things considered all else being equal is best though sometimes not possible
but even when christians mary christians those marriages don't always work
It doesn't um
i mean one of the spouses may go nuts and and uh...
idolatry or whatever that she may have had or he may have had that inclination all along
just the way he or she was raised but you know this easy to fake something for a little
while and then when stuff is going you know they go back to that and so you know that i
can see that happening in this situation with those here and go more as well but we do
know that god is omniscient
And therefore, God could know that Gomer would be a harlot one day, although she was not
at the time, of the command.
And so foreknowledge, we know, does not necessarily mean predetermination.
In fact, it does not.
I like to always give the example of Jesus knew ahead of time that Judas would betray him,
but Jesus certainly did not make Judas betray him.
And so it's obvious that Hordoms were rampant throughout the land.
from Hosea chapter 411, Hosea chapter 413, and so it should be of no great surprise that
Gomer would later become a harlot.
And so that's one way can be reconciled with God's nature.
Also, another way could be reconciled with God's nature, you know, not saying this
happened either, but Hosea may not have written this account until after the events
occurred, and so he would know at that time that she was a harlot, even though the command
from God would not have come across.
to marry harley and so either way it does not contradict with god's nature
And I think as you're reading that, it made more sense to me because I was thinking,
because obviously she becomes a harlot and then chapter three, Hosea has got to go and
redeem her and buy her back.
Right?
Right.
Which almost makes sense because he never has to do that in chapter one.
So it almost makes sense that they would get married and then she would fall into the
harlotry and then he's got to go buy her back.
Right.
Yes.
And if you think about if this is supposed to parallel God and Israel, Israel didn't start
as a harlot.
Right.
So at first Israel was faithful and everything and then went into harlotry.
Obviously, God is heartbroken for lack of a better term because of the sin.
But then there's a redemption that has to take place for the people to come back.
So it seems like if they parallel each other, which I think is the whole point of the
object lesson, that there's not a harlot to start, becomes a harlot, and then is redeemed
and shown that steadfast love and all that different kind of stuff.
Yeah, that's especially true, I think, given the background of Israel, the Northern
Kingdom, because remember the Northern Kingdom, of course it started with the division
there, but remember Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, set up that
false system in the Northern Kingdom, and every single king of the Northern Kingdom fell
for that system, and they were not a good king at all in that Northern Kingdom, and thus
they were eventually taken away into idolatry.
But even the Northern Kingdom was God installed that.
Yes.
Because of the sins of...
Right?
Verse two also says, for the land hath committed great whoredom departing from the Lord.
And so if there's a departure, well, what are you departing from?
You're departing from the relationship.
so I think that those clues, like you just mentioned for us, the use of that term there
also points to the fact that there was a relationship that soured on Israel's part.
And so there needs to be this kind of reconciliation, well, redemption that he goes
through.
You can't depart from something you were never at.
And it's not like God went and found this pagan nation who are already steeped in
wickedness and paganism.
said, hey, I'm going to get you guys, and I'm going to start from here.
That wasn't necessarily the parallel that we're looking at with Israel.
And you gotta think, the Lord knows Israel's gonna fall into idolatry when he establishes
the kingdom, right?
And they're part of that covenant relationship, but he knows they're gonna be unfaithful.
And then, so I think there's a lot of parallels there.
Yeah, absolutely.
And then when we think about his family, I want to mention his children in here, because
they're pretty significant as well.
In Hosea chapter 1 verse 3, so he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblam, and she
conceived and bore him a son.
Then the Lord said to him, Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the
bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of
Israel.
It shall come to pass in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of
Jezreel." Now, Jezreel, the name means scatter or sow.
And uh scatter is a bad way, a bad thing, which is going to be indicative of judgment that
will come.
But uh sow is scattering with a purpose.
And so that will be brought up later on as a fulfillment of things.
And then, verse 6, she conceived again and bore a daughter.
Now, some would point out that here, uh the first child, in verse 3, she conceived and
bore him a son, but in verse 6 it says she conceived again and bore a daughter.
The him is not there, though it may be implied, and so sometimes people will look at that
say, well, here's someone else got her pregnant, which may indicate the whoredoms, may
not.
The Bible itself doesn't say here, but...
the name of that child, call her name Leruamah.
For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them
away." And so Leruamah means no mercy, and it's indicative of the no mercy that God will
have in judging the northern kingdom and taking them away into captivity.
Verse 7, "'Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah,
will save them by the Lord their God and will not save them by bow nor by sword or battle
by horses or horsemen.
And then a third child, now when she conceived and weaned Ruehema, Lo Ruehema, she
conceived and bore a son, then God said, Call his name Lo-Ami, for you are not my people
and I will not be your God." And so we have the children.
And so one means scatter, one means no mercy, and one means not my children, you are not
my people.
Now very early we have this silver lining in verse 10, yet the number of the children of
Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured or numbered.
And it will come to pass in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people,
there shall be said to them, you are sons of the living God.
Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and
appoint for themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land, for great will be
the day of Jezreel." And so there is here a reversal of those names sometime in the
future, but we do find in 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 8 and 9, 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 8 and
9, we see a fulfillment.
of that prophecy in the New Testament.
For there Peter writes, in a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, they stumble, being
disobedient to the word to which they were also appointed.
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special
people, that you may be proclaimed the praises of him who called you out of darkness into
his marvelous light.
who once were not a people, and that is Loamme, but are now the people of God, who had not
obtained mercy, lo ruammei, but have now obtained mercy.
And so the church, those who are called out of darkness and delight, uh those are the
fulfillment of those children's names.
And then of course they are mentioned in Romans
8, or excuse me, 9, 25 through 28, where Paul is talking about in those three chapters, 9,
10, and 11, you know, where does Israel fit into all of this?
And he mentions that prophecy in those verses as well.
And so we have that family background, and that pretty much sets the stage for Hosea's
prophecy.
Yeah, I think you have a lot of almost hints that this is looking forward to the new
covenant.
It seems like oftentimes in the prophets when you have Israel and Judah coming together,
that's a look toward the new covenant.
It seems to me, you know, there's just my own opinion, I guess.
whenever you see Israel growing exceedingly in number, right, it's a reference usually to
the new covenant because that's where you and that's I think part of what Paul's saying in
Romans nine, 10, 11 is
you the gentiles being drafted in where you know you think israel's fading away israel no
israel's exploding and yet growing you know because the true israel of god is what you got
stock
And I think that's the exact reference here in verse 10 that I just read.
Your number, yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea,
which cannot be measured or numbered, which kind of takes us back to Abraham, the promise
to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, which of course is fulfilled in the Messianic kingdom.
All right, so some lessons.
We want to look at this.
know, and Hosea's a huge book, and so we'll kind of go straight to the lessons, but we'll
look at some of the passages as we go through this.
But uh one lesson that we get from Hosea is that God's love is truly, truly great.
God's love is great.
And uh in Hosea chapter 11, and of course there's another prophecy in there, Hosea chapter
11, verses 1 through 4, we'll just read the 1 through 4, When Israel was a child I loved
him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
And you remember that verse right there is...
referred to in matthew chapter two when jesus is coming back out of about of egypt go back
to nazareth after being warned by god to flee to egypt to escape harrods wrath who is
having the children the babies killed but in hosier levin verse two as they called them so
they went from them they sacrifice to the bales and burn incense took carved images i
taught the frame to walk taking them by their arms
but they did not know that I healed them.
I drew them with gentle bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from
their neck.
I stopped and led them, but they did not.
And so God loved them in spite of their unworthiness, in spite of how they turned their
back on them, God still loved them.
Also, Hosea is the love story of God from the Old Testament.
Comparable with John 3 16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and
the parable the prodigal son in Luke 15 11 through 24 Israel was prodigal Israel turned
against God But God still loved them and so God's love of course does not Negate his
justice, you know sin must still be punished the wages of sin is death That was true the
Old Testament as well as in the New Testament
but the gift of God is eternal life.
And so, God loved Israel despite how they turned against him.
And accountable people must either repent or perish.
Luke 13, verse five, yeah, verse five, well, verse three as well.
But God's love is truly great.
And of course, that love was expressed, again, in chapter three.
uh
Verse 1, "'Then the Lord said to me, Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is
committing adultery just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel who took to
other gods and love raisin cakes of the pagans.'" And so Hosea went and bought her back,
et cetera, but the very fact that God didn't give up on Israel but told Hosea to go back
symbolized
through what Hosea did in buying back his wife, but that's a huge love that was expressed
by God.
Which is kind of funny because there are some who would be critics of the Bible who would
say, you know, this God of the Old Testament was mean and he was uh harsh and all these
sorts of things.
ah And you did see some immediate justice uh meted out on Israel and Judah and various
other nations at the times.
Excuse me, but those examples are not without equally brilliant
examples of God's mercy.
I mean, when you see the depravity to which uh Israel and Judah was sinking their history,
and then you find God saying, listen, I want to reason with you.
I want to redeem you.
I want to bless you.
I want to pour out all those blessings that I told Abraham about.
I want to do all these things to you.
don't mean, I just don't see any way that you can not see love just dripping from every
page.
You mentioned chapter three and at the end of chapter two,
there's like this view toward this new covenant, this new relationship to these renewed
vows almost so to speak where he says in like certain verse 18, in that day I'm gonna make
a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, with the fowls of heaven, with the
creeping things of the ground.
I'm gonna break the bow and the sword, the battle of the earth will make them to lie down
safely.
And he continues that sort of speech all the way down and then verse 23 where it ends that
chapter, and I will sow her.
unto me in the earth and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy and I will
say to them which were not my people thou art my people and they shall say thou art my God
and so it's even like right in the as chapter 2 is kind of going in the very beginning of
it God is like I'm going to meet out justice on you I'm gonna pour out judgment on you and
literally a few words later it's like but
there's gonna be a better day.
So even in his judgment, it's almost like how a literal parent, an earthly parent would
talk to their child.
You want to discipline them, you need to discipline them because of their behavior, but it
doesn't mean you throw out the proverbial baby with the bath water.
You still love them and you still want them to be everything that you had hoped for them
to be.
And so you just see the brilliance of God's love in this passage.
Yeah, and usually as a parent, after I have to discipline my children, I usually give a
little promise in there too at the end.
Well, you know, we'll go out someday and you know, whatever, fun, know, little child,
which I think, I never thought about that till now, but that's following God's example in
this case.
And so we have the silver lining in the cloud right here.
or even a hug, like my son always wants me to hug him after I discipline him, you know,
just cause it's that reaffirmation of that didn't change the relationship.
You know what mean?
The discipline's required, but I still love you.
You're still my son.
I'm still your dad.
Discipline doesn't change it, it reinforces the relationship.
think about Hebrews, know, God disciplines the ones that he loves.
You if you didn't care about your son, you know, I don't care, go play out the shit.
Here's 20 bucks, see you later.
But God's like, no, I absolutely want the best for you, because I've got these promises
that I made, I'm going to keep, so I need you to get where you need to be so you what
you've got to get.
We try to model that as parents and for the three of us as fathers to issue out
discipline, but to make sure it is
bridled, I guess I use that word, bridled with love so that the one being disciplined
knows that this is what makes a relationship good and strong.
It helps me to be what I need to be.
Yeah, and you you see the, you know, sometimes it's translated steadfast love that Hebrew
word has said or something like that, you know, where God has that covenant faithfulness
and that love of even when you've been unfaithful, he's still if you repent and come back,
God will accept you and God will.
There's a full restoration possible, you know, and even in the New Covenant.
I mean, that's true.
We're obviously if if God didn't love us, Christ wouldn't have died for us.
But even then,
When people go wayward, it's not like that's, that doesn't have to be the end of the
story.
You can still come back and be received and the father will run out to meet you and all
that different kind of stuff because that love is always there.
Yeah, and that's a good point.
It brings us to our second practical lesson from Hosea, and that is knowledge of God is
essential.
Knowledge of God is essential to know God, that He will always forgive us if we truly
repent, always.
And one of most famous verses probably in Hosea is chapter 4 verse 6, where it says,
people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, or for lack of knowledge, because you have
rejected knowledge.
I also will
will reject you from being priest for me because you have forgotten the law of your God I
also will forget your children now this knowledge is not just ignorance but it's a
knowledge that's and I like what Peter says in second Peter 3 verse 5 talking about the
scoffers for this they are willingly ignorant and because he says right here you are
destroyed for a lack of knowledge because you have rejected
knowledge.
And so when we reject knowledge of God, then that's the kind of knowledge he's talking
about.
Now why would people want to reject God's knowledge?
I think Romans one talks about some of that, know, suppress the truth and unrighteousness
where we get to live however we want to live and do whatever.
And yeah.
i think that's the number one reason today what people don't want to hear from god uh...
because they know if they hear from god they have to here either say god doesn't exist or
they have to change continue and people don't want to do that you see this all the time
and personal evangelism bible studies with people
And it's not just when he's saying the knowledge of God, they've rejected knowledge.
It's not just like they've rejected like encyclopedia information.
It's not like you guys have just rejected these books I've given you or this information.
It's like you guys have rejected your knowledge of me, your knowledge of my nature, your
knowledge of the promises, your knowledge of discipline, and all those things that are
tied up in the person and the mission of God.
They've rejected all of that.
And so,
As a result, going back to like you guys mentioned, Romans and Peter, you've rejected all
that I've promised, I've said all that I am.
And so as a result, you get the other side of it.
You get the judgment and justice, which is also a reminder of who he is.
And so they'll be, they rejected it now, that same knowledge, guess, will be reconfronted
to them.
Just kind of reminds me, like as a parent, you know.
When I was a little boy, I get these spankings to remind me who was in charge.
You know, what the rules were.
And with just a few of those, I was reminded very easily and very quickly, you know, what
the rules were and what my position was.
What should my response have been based on who my parents were and what they were
providing for me and the respect I should have had for them.
What should my response have been?
And though they didn't say that every time, you know, with each lick of the belt, you
know, I remembered, eh I'm not the boss here.
I've got somebody I'm accountable to.
Yeah, and I how many prophets did God send it the northern kingdom?
I don't I mean more than one, you know, mean, it's not like it was just Hosea I mean, so
they had opportunities to they knew better that opportunities to do better chose not to
and I looked up that Hebrew word Rejected knowledge and also means to spurn or despise,
know, so that as that extra element of it's not just like over ignorant It's we don't want
to know or we know and we don't like it
kid, kind of like a little kid, and you tell him what not to do, and just plugs up his
ears.
And so that's kind of what they were doing in the figure of the sense.
of course, the only way we can know God is through Scripture.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
And I like the statement in 2 Timothy 3 verse 15, Paul is writing to Timothy.
that you have known the whole, from childhood, have known the holy scriptures which are
able to make thee wise unto salvation, but then he says through faith, which is in Christ
Jesus.
And so we have to know the scriptures to even have a shot at salvation, to even have a
shot at pleasing God, but knowing the scriptures by itself will not save us, it's through
faith in Christ Jesus.
acknowledge the scriptures and then,
the scriptures by faith to our lives and that's how we get to know God and get to be with
God and have salvation.
But if we reject that knowledge, like Jesus said, he that rejecteth me and receives not my
words has one that judges him.
The words that I have spoken, the same will judge him in the last day, John 12, 48.
And so knowledge is essential.
It reminds me of Psalm 14, 1, Psalm 53, 1.
The fool has said there's no God.
It's not that these people are.
without knowledge is that they do have it and they have rejected.
And that's what God is saying through the psalmist.
Here are people who have every bit of evidence.
And again, going back to Romans 1 2, they had it all.
They should know.
But now they are choosing to ignore, choosing to disregard God.
And so that person is the one that he calls a fool, not just the one who just doesn't
know.
That's not ignorance.
It's like Peter would call willful ignorance.
I see it.
I know it.
I'm just pretending it's not so.
Yeah, it's not an IQ thing.
No, it's a will and volition.
And even, you know, the Proverbs talks about the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge and wisdom and insight and all those things.
And I always think about, you know, the Book of Proverbs, you know, like in movies and
stuff, when somebody is going to be wise, like they go to like Tibet and they've got to
like climb the like the staircase to heaven and there's like a mark on top.
You know, it's like so hard to get there.
then but the Book of Proverbs, Lady Wisdom is on the corner of her house.
crying out of the street.
Whoever wants to come in and be wise, turn here.
You know what I mean?
And we, I think we are like, no, it can't be that easy.
You just fear God and do what he says?
No, it's gotta be more than that.
I'm not saying that like I'm perfect, but what if it's literally just, here's what God has
said, believe it and do it.
And I think it's gotta, we think it's gotta be something more than that.
Yeah.
That's like the old Namon.
Make it grandiose, and then I'll do it.
Like you said, climb this mountain in Tibet, talk to this one guy, and then you'll get it.
It's like, no.
But that's just people.
We like it to be all this super complex stuff when God said, man, I'll put it right down
low so you can get it and understand it.
Yes, so we kind of see this kind of downgrade throughout the book of Hosea.
You know, from lack of knowledge there comes pride and there's instability, and then
there's mixing with the world, and then there's corruption, and then backsliding, and then
idolatry, and then God finally has to put His foot down, as it were, and then carry Him
away into captivity.
But another lesson we learn from Hosea is that it is possible for God's children
to commit whoredom in such a way that they were once in favor, God favored them, was
pleased with them, but then he can get to the point where he wants to disown them because
of idolatry or whatever it might be.
And so, and we were discussing that last point, I was thinking of there's a lot of people,
and this is so challenging for me in personal evangelism to try to get it across to people
that, you know, because everybody wants forgiveness of sins.
Yeah, I want to be baptized.
but the commitment that's gotta follow.
And just like they'll learn and study, yeah, I'm baptized, but then when it comes to
attending services, when it comes to learning more about the Bible, they're not
interested.
It's like, I've got my forgiveness of sins, so I don't care about the rest.
It's all connected.
You can't have the forgiveness of sins through eternity unless we follow Him and obey Him.
And that's kinda like Israel.
ah In chapter four, verse seven, the more they increased,
the more they sinned against me.
will change their glory into shame.
They eat up the sin of my people.
They set their heart on their iniquity, and it shall be like people like priests.
So I will punish them for their ways and reward them for their deeds, for they shall eat
but not have enough.
They shall commit harlotry but not increase, because they have ceased obeying the Lord."
And so we must never quit obeying the Lord.
The new birth is just that, the new birth, the beginning of salvation, the beginning of
our conversion, not the end, not the sum total of
That's a point in a book I read not too long ago.
The question was positive.
When did the good news get reduced to just freedom from sin?
that's, know, even when you look at these minor prophets, which is really awesome, that
the forgiveness isn't the end goal that God is talking about.
The relationship with him is the end goal.
And so for us, it can come across like, hey, I'm going to obey the gospel.
Why?
Not for a relationship with Jesus, I just want my sins.
I don't wanna be guilty anymore.
Well then, once I'm baptized into Christ and my sins are washed away, well then now the
mission is done.
Now my part is done.
When in reality, no, the mission is always about your relationship with Him and that comes
through continued faith in Him and trust in Him and obedience to Him in those things.
It's not just I got my sins washed, now I'm gonna go find me a spot in the pew that I'll
pop in periodically, throw a couple bucks in the plate and I'm gone.
from the Old Testament to the New Testament, it's always about the relationship with God.
the other stuff is just a byproduct of the relationship with God.
But if you're not in a relationship, then you don't get the extras with it.
Yeah, and I think there's, don't misunderstand me, but I think there's a lot of people,
there's more people who want to get baptized than who want to be a Christian.
Right.
And like, obviously that's how you become a Christian, but you got to stay the course.
You got to stick with it.
Like you said, baptism is the beginning.
It's not the end, you know, it's the end of the Bible.
It's the goal of the Bible study maybe, but not even then, not really, because we want to
beyond that.
You know, we want to get past that.
And that's just the first, first step.
I like that.
That might be coming to a pulpit near you.
They want to be Christians.
Yeah.
Everybody wants forgiveness of sins.
Alright, the final practical lesson we'll look at here in Hosea is a very large book, but
there can be no salvation without a return, uh returning to God.
In chapter 14, verses 1 through 3, Oh Israel, God pleads, Oh Israel, return to the Lord
your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Take words with you and return to the Lord.
Say to him, take away all iniquity, receive us graciously, for we will offer the
sacrifices of our lips.
Assyria shall not save us.
We will not ride on horses, nor will we say any more to the work of our hands, you are our
gods.
For in you, the fatherless find mercy." And then he goes on to say, I will heal their
backsliding.
I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from him.
I will be like the dew to Israel.
He shall grow like the lily and strengthen and lengthen its roots like Lebanon.
His branches shall be spread.
His beauty shall be like an olive tree, et cetera." He goes on to say, to show the
rejoicing and the great blessing that will happen if they return, if they repent.
And of course, repentance, and we've just mentioned this earlier, that God will always
forgive when a person truly repents.
And notice
And we tie back into the first lesson that God loves them, that in spite of all that they
have done to him, turned their back on him and everything, he still loves them and he
still wants them to return and to repent and to correct their errors.
And he will forgive.
Yeah, He sent messengers, he sent people, he sent discipline, he sent his son.
No matter what the stakes, God was going to always
make the effort to make that relationship possible even when Israel was just like going
crazy and doing all kinds of stuff and I was just looking at chapter you're reading in 13
I think you're reading in 13 where he says in 9 he said Israel you've destroyed yourself
but in me is your help I will be your king where is any other that can save you in your
cities and your judges of whom you said give me a king and princes I gave you a king in my
anger and took him away in my wrath
It's like you were looking everywhere but where you should have been looking.
even in all of that craziness, God is like literally reasoning with them.
And it's not that he's just blasting them without conversation, because he could have just
said, you know what, just tell them judgment's coming.
What should we do?
Doesn't matter.
What should we have done?
Doesn't matter.
I'm gonna just pour out judgment.
But even here, he's literally reasoning with Israel to realize what they have, what they.
should have rather or could have in him.
Yeah, and you see the grace of God because obviously there's a condition here.
They're called to return.
Right.
But by meeting that condition, you don't earn the blessings.
Right.
Because he says, I'll take away all your iniquity.
I'll receive you graciously.
I'll love you freely.
Like you don't you were were you were in spiritual adultery and came back.
You don't deserve any of that.
Right.
But by meeting that condition, God is willing to outpour all of this on you.
And again, you just see his heart and the love that he has for his people.
And not earned, like you said that.
It's just part of the relationship.
He's not saying, yeah, come back and then I'll give you this, keep doing it, then I'll
give you that.
It's like, this is part of me.
Same with us, you people will accuse, you know, if you have the biblical plan of
salvation, people accuse you of saying you earned salvation.
There's no way by hearing, believing, repenting, confessing, being baptized, living
faithfully, you could earn what God is telling you, what God is offering.
There's no way you could earn that just by doing that.
You know what I mean?
but you had to do something to receive it.
And that's all that he's saying there.
All right, so that's great stuff on Hosea, and that's the first of the Minor Prophets that
we're going to cover in this season, and we would appreciate your feedback.
If you have any, let us know, but we will look forward to seeing you next time when we
study the book of Joel, and we'll do the same kind of pattern, history, message, and then
some practical lessons from it.
Appreciate you joining us and we look forward to being with you again next time.