633. Hosea - Chapter 5 (#1) - He has Withdrawn Himself from Them - September 4, 2024

[00:00:06] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast, we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.

[00:00:22] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that everyone would have ears to hear

[00:00:31] and a heart to receive everything you have in store for them today. I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

[00:00:40] This is Proverbs 4 beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:44] Hear my children the instruction of a Father, and give attention to no understanding.

[00:00:51] For I give you good doctrine. Do not forsake my law. When I was my Father's Son, tender

[00:00:59] and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me and said to me,

[00:01:06] Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commands and live. Get wisdom. Get understanding. Do not forget,

[00:01:17] nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her and she will preserve you.

[00:01:24] Love her and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom.

[00:01:35] And in all you're getting, get understanding. Exalt her and she will promote you. She will

[00:01:42] bring you honor when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace,

[00:01:50] a crown of glory she will deliver to you. Hear my Son and receive my sayings,

[00:01:58] and the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom.

[00:02:05] I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered. And when you

[00:02:12] run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let go. Keep her for she is

[00:02:22] your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it.

[00:02:31] Do not travel on it. Turn away from it and pass on. For they do not sleep unless they have done

[00:02:39] evil and their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness

[00:02:49] and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is like the shining sun that shines

[00:02:58] ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness. They do not know

[00:03:06] what makes them stumble. My Son, give attention to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings.

[00:03:15] Do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life

[00:03:22] to those who find them and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence.

[00:03:30] For out of it spring the issues of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put perverse lips

[00:03:39] far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you.

[00:03:48] Ponder the path of your feet and let all of your ways be established. Do not turn

[00:03:56] to the right or to the left. Remove your foot from evil. Prince, today I'd like to take a closer

[00:04:04] look at verse 7 and Proverb 4 verse 7 tells us this. Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore,

[00:04:15] get wisdom. And in all you're getting, get understanding. Prince, we will come back

[00:04:23] and revisit that verse prior to closing today. But what I'd like to do is pick up where we left off

[00:04:31] on Monday's podcast. And on Monday's podcast, we completed the second portion of the fourth

[00:04:39] chapter of Hosea. And it is entitled The Idolatry of Israel. Let's quickly review the three

[00:04:48] points that we did on Monday. And we said, harlotry, wine and new wine enslave the heart.

[00:04:58] Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled. And the third point was their drink

[00:05:07] is rebellion. And friends of course, we are talking about the Israelite people here. We

[00:05:15] are talking about the northern kingdom of Israel. And as we're going to find out today in chapter 5,

[00:05:23] is that Judah fell into the same trap that the northern kingdom had done. And this must satan

[00:05:32] God immensely. When I sit there and think about what I'm going to be teaching, it almost brings

[00:05:39] tears to my eyes because I am putting myself in the position of Hosea. God has told me that I am to go

[00:05:50] and preach this word to these people, and they're not listening to what I have to say.

[00:05:57] So let's begin chapter 5 verse 1. Hear this, O priests, take heed, O house of Israel. Give

[00:06:09] ear, O house of the king, for yours is the judgment because you have been a snare to misba,

[00:06:19] and a net spread on Tabor. So friends, God is being very specific here. He has given

[00:06:30] that Israelites an opportunity to turn back to him. But basically he's telling them, if you keep

[00:06:41] this up, there will be judgment. Let's go to verse 2. The revoltors are deeply involved in

[00:06:51] slaughter, though I rebuke them all. I know Ephraim and Israel is not hidden from me. For now, O Ephraim,

[00:07:04] you commit harlotry. Israel is defiled. So friends, my very first point here is that Israel

[00:07:17] is defiled. And basically those three words are a culmination of verses 1, 2, and 3. Now friends,

[00:07:29] if you are a regular listener to this podcast, you know that I read out of the Nelson's Study Bible.

[00:07:36] And what I'd like to do is go over the commentary found in my Bible for each of these first three

[00:07:42] verses. So verse 1, it says, misba here is probably a reference to misba of Gilead,

[00:07:53] located in Israelite territory east of the Jordan River. Tabor refers to Mount Tabor,

[00:08:03] and this was in the northern kingdom, southwest of the sea of Galilee. Snare and Net. The leaders

[00:08:14] of Israel, especially the priests, had promoted pagan worship at misba and Tabor, and in this way

[00:08:25] led the people to instruction. And as I mentioned on Monday's podcast, this is what must really

[00:08:33] have made God angry. Because it wasn't really the people that turned against God, it was the

[00:08:40] leadership. It was the priests and the prophets of that time that were leading people in to

[00:08:49] pagan worship, specifically the pagan God Baal. Let's go to verse 2. The Revolters probably refers

[00:08:59] to the leaders and priests who had rebelled against God's authority by rejecting his commandments.

[00:09:08] Slaughter may refer literally to acts of violence or to pagan sacrifices.

[00:09:16] Verse 3, not hidden. God's people could not hide their harlotry. Four, it had defiled them.

[00:09:28] According to the law of Moses, adultery made a person spiritually unclean or defiled.

[00:09:37] Let's go to verse 4. They do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God.

[00:09:45] For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, and they do not know the Lord. So friends, my second

[00:09:55] point today is this. They do not know the Lord. Now friends, we are in some sticky situations here.

[00:10:09] God loves his people, Israel. A matter of fact, he loves everyone on earth today. And I know sometimes

[00:10:20] America looks like a mess, but frankly, I believe that during that time the Israelites actually were

[00:10:29] worse off than we are today in our country. They had turned away from God and it says right,

[00:10:37] they did not know the Lord. They did not know him. Let's go to verse 5. The pride of Israel

[00:10:46] testifies to his face. Therefore, Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity. Judah also

[00:10:56] stumbles with them. So let's look at the commentary for verse 4, a spirit of harlotry. The people

[00:11:05] had an uncontrollable desire to worship other gods. And when I say uncontrollable here, I believe

[00:11:16] it drove them, much like an alcoholic has to have his alcohol, much like a drug addict has to have

[00:11:27] his fix. Here people had to have their pagan worship and most of the time, pagan worship would

[00:11:38] entail illicit sex, probably on the altar as they were worshiping Baal. Let's go to verse 5.

[00:11:47] Israel's arrogant attitude was self-incriminating and self-destructive. Judah, as the southern kingdom,

[00:11:59] had followed Israel's moral example and would experience the same consequences. Now friends,

[00:12:08] I can't help but think of the verse that says God is not a respecter of persons. He is not.

[00:12:16] And as long as you participate in these activities, and if you are not following the commandments that

[00:12:25] God has given you, you will suffer the consequences just like the northern kingdom of Israel.

[00:12:34] So Judah and Israel are now in the same boat. Let's go to verse 6.

[00:12:40] With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him.

[00:12:52] He has withdrawn himself from them. So friends, that is my third point for the day.

[00:13:03] He has withdrawn himself from them. God was angry with his people.

[00:13:14] God was not happy. And even when they came to him in prayer and they wanted to find him,

[00:13:28] he hid himself from them. Let's go to verse 7.

[00:13:36] They have dealt treacherously with the Lord, for they have begotten pagan children. Now a new moon

[00:13:46] shall devour them and their heritage. And friends, I believe this verse is literally telling us that

[00:13:53] they had children from the illicit sex that they were having during pagan worship. In other words,

[00:14:01] these children were not out of the marriage relationship, but they were actually pagan

[00:14:09] children that were produced during these illicit sexual encounters at the altar of Baal.

[00:14:20] God was not happy with his people. Before we close today, what I'd like to do is go back

[00:14:29] to our verse today. And we are in Proverb 4 and Proverb 4 verse 7 is such a powerful verse.

[00:14:38] It says wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. And in all you're getting, get

[00:14:51] understanding. Friends, the Israelite people were not showing wisdom at this time. They were

[00:15:00] not showing wisdom. A matter of fact, if you go to the book of Job, it tells you that the definition

[00:15:09] of wisdom is having the fear of the Lord. I want you to think about that. The fear of the Lord

[00:15:22] is wisdom. And friends, during that time when Hosea was the prophet called to the country of Israel,

[00:15:34] they were not fearful of God. They weren't mindful of God. They had turned away from God.

[00:15:45] I want you to think about this. This is so powerful. It almost brings tears to my eyes when I can imagine

[00:15:54] how much this hurt God. And what I want you to think about is we are still in the Old Testament.

[00:16:05] And from the beginning of the Bible until now, this has gone on over and over and over and over again.

[00:16:19] And friends, this eventually led to the decision that God made to send his son Jesus to earth.

[00:16:30] Now at this time, we're still 700 BC. We're still 700 years before Christ. But as we will continue

[00:16:41] through the rest of the Old Testament, and I'm not going to be doing that right now,

[00:16:47] I'm going to get into book by book a little bit here, a little bit there. I will be bouncing

[00:16:52] from the Old Testament to the New Testament back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

[00:16:58] Because I know many people aren't reading the Bible on their own. I know some of you are just

[00:17:03] counting on me to be the teacher, and I'm fine with that. Actually, I really reveal in that.

[00:17:11] But I'm hoping that when you hear the passion in my voice about how important reading the Word

[00:17:19] of God is for me, that hopefully I plant that seed in each of you listening today.

[00:17:28] Wow! I've got to begin reading the Bible more. And so my call to action today,

[00:17:36] what I really would like for you to think about is I ask this often,

[00:17:43] Do you currently have a Bible reading plan? Do you have any plan as to

[00:17:52] how often you read the Bible? Do you read every day twice a week for 15 minutes or 30 minutes?

[00:18:02] Do you have any plan at all? And if the answer to that is no, may I suggest

[00:18:09] that you pray to God and seek God and ask God, Father God, how do you want me to learn your Word?

[00:18:20] Show me the plan that you want me to take. Friends, I will never end the podcast

[00:18:27] without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

[00:18:33] If there's anyone listening today and you've never taken that step,

[00:18:37] today is your day of salvation. All I ask is you repeat a simple prayer after me today.

[00:18:44] Jesus, thank you for coming to earth and being willing to come to earth.

[00:18:50] Show us a marvelous example of how we can live our lives every day.

[00:18:56] You were tempted in all areas as are we, and yet you never gave in to the temptation of sin.

[00:19:05] As these people of Israel did, they turned to idolatry, they turned to illicit sex,

[00:19:13] they turned to pagan worship. However, you never did that. A matter of fact,

[00:19:19] you were willing to die on a cross so that everyone listening today would have all of their

[00:19:27] sins forgiven. Jesus, I can't even begin to thank you enough that you have done that for me, and yet

[00:19:38] I still need your help. Jesus, I invite you to come into my heart. I ask that you lead me

[00:19:45] and guide me in my everyday life from here until the day I leave this earth. I ask this

[00:19:55] in Jesus' name, amen. Friends, now may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face

[00:20:05] shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

[00:20:13] Friends, please join me again tomorrow as we further explore wisdom.