638. Hosea - Chapter 6 (#2) - I Desire the Knowledge of God more than Burnt Offerings - September 11, 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.

[00:00:21] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you would give everyone ears to hear and a heart to receive everything in store for them today.

[00:00:34] I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. This is Proverbs 11 beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:42] Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight. When pride comes, then comes shame, but with a humble is wisdom.

[00:00:56] The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.

[00:01:05] Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

[00:01:12] The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness.

[00:01:21] The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the unfaithful will be caught by their lust.

[00:01:30] When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish and the hope of the unjust perishes.

[00:01:37] The righteous is delivered from trouble, and it comes to the wicked instead.

[00:01:44] The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.

[00:01:53] When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there is jubilation.

[00:02:01] By the blessing of the upright, the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

[00:02:11] He who is devoid of wisdom despises his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his peace.

[00:02:21] A tale bearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.

[00:02:29] Where there is no counsel, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

[00:02:38] He who is surety for a stranger will suffer, but one who hates being surety is secure.

[00:02:47] A gracious woman retains honor, but ruthless men retain riches.

[00:02:52] The merciful man does good for his own soul, but he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.

[00:03:02] The wicked man does deceptive work, but he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward.

[00:03:11] As righteousness leads to life, so he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death.

[00:03:19] Those who are of a perverse heart are in abomination to the Lord, but the blameless in their ways are his delight.

[00:03:28] Though they join forces the wicked will not go unpunished, but the posterity of the righteous will be delivered.

[00:03:37] As a ring of gold in a swine's snout, so is a lovely woman who lacks discretion.

[00:03:45] The desire of the righteous is only good, but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.

[00:03:53] There is one who scatters yet increases more, and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty.

[00:04:03] The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.

[00:04:10] The people will curse him who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.

[00:04:19] He who earnestly seeks good finds favor, but trouble will come to him who seeks evil.

[00:04:27] He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like foliage.

[00:04:34] He who troubles his own house will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.

[00:04:44] The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.

[00:04:51] If the righteous will be recompensed on the earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner?

[00:04:59] Friends, today I'd like to take a closer look at verse 3.

[00:05:04] And Proverbs 11 verse 3 says this,

[00:05:08] The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.

[00:05:17] Now friends, we will take a closer look at that verse prior to closing today,

[00:05:21] but what I'd like to do is to review the three points that I went over on Monday's podcast.

[00:05:29] Now Monday was episode number 636, and we went over the first three verses of chapter 6.

[00:05:38] And I came up with three points. Let's review those.

[00:05:41] Come and let us return to the Lord.

[00:05:45] I like that it means we're headed in the right direction.

[00:05:48] Number two, after two days he will revive us. I like the sound of that.

[00:05:55] And number three, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.

[00:06:00] And friends, that should be our desire each and every day is to come to the knowledge of God and who he is.

[00:06:07] And we're only going to do that by looking into his word.

[00:06:12] But what we're going to do is we are going to continue in chapter 6 beginning in verse 4.

[00:06:19] Oh Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Oh Judah, what shall I do to you?

[00:06:27] Now friends, this is a real good question and this obviously is Hosea talking,

[00:06:32] but I believe that it actually is God speaking to Ephraim

[00:06:39] and to the country of Judah through the prophet Hosea.

[00:06:44] And I believe God asks us the same question today.

[00:06:48] What am I going to do with you?

[00:06:52] Friends, are you following everything that God has asked you to do?

[00:06:57] Well, what is God going to do with you?

[00:07:00] And a lot of times it's real easy to just sit there and say,

[00:07:03] well he isn't going to do anything with us,

[00:07:05] but I believe that God does chase him those he loves.

[00:07:09] That's what the Bible tells us he does.

[00:07:11] So we will know if we are following God's will or not,

[00:07:16] and he will rebuke us and we will find out about it.

[00:07:21] For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud

[00:07:25] and like the early due it goes away.

[00:07:29] Now friends, I like this likeness because a lot of times in the morning there's clouds

[00:07:35] and a lot of time in the morning you wake up and there's due on the grass.

[00:07:40] And as the sun comes out and as the wind begins to blow,

[00:07:45] the clouds in the sky sometimes go away and the sky turns blue

[00:07:50] and the due goes away as the heat basically evaporates the due.

[00:07:57] Let's go on to verse 5.

[00:07:59] Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets.

[00:08:05] I have slain them by the words of my mouth

[00:08:08] and your judgments are like light that goes forth.

[00:08:14] Now friends, my first point of the day today is

[00:08:18] I have slain them by the words of my mouth.

[00:08:23] Now friends, I am reading out of the Nelson's Study Bible

[00:08:27] and I'd kind of like to go over the commentaries for the two verses we've just looked at.

[00:08:32] Verse 4 says,

[00:08:35] Any apparent faithfulness that Hosea's generation displayed

[00:08:40] was short-lived and disappeared as quickly as fog or due before midnight.

[00:08:49] Now friends, I'm going to add my own little twist to this

[00:08:53] because I believe in Romans 10-17 it says,

[00:08:57] Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

[00:09:03] So friends if we are to have faith, we need to get into the word of God.

[00:09:08] But what I'm suggesting is listen to what I'm thinking.

[00:09:13] I believe that a lot of times people have faith

[00:09:17] as long as everything in their life is going well.

[00:09:21] For example, the relationship you have with your spouse is going well.

[00:09:27] You're getting along well with them, everything seems to be rosy

[00:09:31] and wow it's like this is a dream.

[00:09:34] This is what I always dreamt of before we got married.

[00:09:38] Your job is going well.

[00:09:40] You and your boss are getting along, everything seems to be in order

[00:09:44] and your relationship with your kids is good.

[00:09:48] They're being obedient, they're doing what you ask them to do

[00:09:52] and you even have good relationships with your parents or your in-laws.

[00:09:59] Friends this is as good as it gets and a lot of times our faith is good

[00:10:05] as long as things are going well in our life.

[00:10:11] But what if something happens

[00:10:14] and your life gets derailed a little bit.

[00:10:19] It kind of gets off kilter and all of a sudden this is going wrong

[00:10:23] and this is going wrong.

[00:10:25] I think it's possible that your faith is going to be questioned

[00:10:32] and it's going to kind of fall off the rails as well

[00:10:36] and I kind of think that that is what is happening here.

[00:10:40] Let's look at the commentary for verse 5.

[00:10:43] Words of my mouth.

[00:10:46] The prophets announced God's destructive judgments

[00:10:50] which then fell on his unrepentant people.

[00:10:56] Your judgments are like light that goes forth.

[00:10:59] This comparison suggests that God's judgment

[00:11:04] like bright sunlight was obvious to all

[00:11:07] or that like a bolt of lightning or a blinding flash of light

[00:11:14] it came swiftly.

[00:11:16] Let's look at verse 6.

[00:11:18] For I desire mercy and not sacrifice

[00:11:22] and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

[00:11:28] Now friends that is my second point of the day.

[00:11:31] I desire the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

[00:11:38] So first of all I'd like to read the commentary for verse 6.

[00:11:42] It says mercy means loyalty or devotion.

[00:11:48] Knowledge of God does not refer to mere head knowledge

[00:11:52] but to a genuine recognition of God's authority

[00:11:57] that produces obedience to his commandments.

[00:12:01] Now before we move on I'd like to go back to the book of 1 Samuel

[00:12:07] and I'd like to read from chapter 15

[00:12:10] and I'm going to look at four verses.

[00:12:14] Now what is happening here is King Saul has been given a directive.

[00:12:21] He has been told that he is to absolutely annihilate his enemies, the Amalekites.

[00:12:28] He's to kill the king, he's to kill all the people, all the animals, everything.

[00:12:35] So let's begin in verse 20 of chapter 15.

[00:12:41] And Saul said to Samuel,

[00:12:44] But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord

[00:12:47] and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me

[00:12:51] and brought back a hag King of Amalek.

[00:12:55] Well, King Agag was supposed to have been killed

[00:13:01] but he didn't kill him.

[00:13:04] I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites

[00:13:07] but the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen

[00:13:12] the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed

[00:13:17] to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.

[00:13:22] So Samuel said,

[00:13:25] Has the Lord as great delight in bird offerings and sacrifices

[00:13:30] as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

[00:13:34] Behold to obey is better than sacrifice

[00:13:39] and to heed than the fat of rams.

[00:13:43] And listen to verse 23.

[00:13:45] For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft

[00:13:49] and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry

[00:13:55] because you have rejected the word of the Lord

[00:13:59] he has also rejected you from being king.

[00:14:04] Now friends, this is such a powerful point

[00:14:06] because King Saul actually believed he had done what God asked him to do.

[00:14:12] But the king was still alive

[00:14:15] the sheep were still alive

[00:14:18] the cattle were still alive

[00:14:21] and God said,

[00:14:23] Kill them all.

[00:14:26] And basically this was the beginning of the fall of King Saul.

[00:14:32] Let's continue with verse 7.

[00:14:35] But like men they transgressed the covenant

[00:14:39] there they dealt treacherously with me

[00:14:42] Gilead is a city of evildoers and defiled with blood.

[00:14:49] Now friends, I'm going to stop here for just a moment.

[00:14:51] I believe that our cities are evildoers as well.

[00:14:56] If we are not being obedient to what God has asked us to do

[00:15:02] we are in the same position as the Israelites of that time were doing.

[00:15:08] Let's go on to verse 9.

[00:15:10] As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man

[00:15:15] so the company of priests murder on the way to Shechem.

[00:15:21] Surely they commit lewdness.

[00:15:24] Now friends, let's look at the commentary for verses 8 and 9.

[00:15:29] Even Ramath, Gilead and Shechem

[00:15:32] which were cities of refuge where manslayers could find asylum

[00:15:38] had been contaminated by bloodshed.

[00:15:42] And friends, God had always provided a way of escape

[00:15:46] for people who had accidentally killed someone

[00:15:51] and this is referred to today as manslaughter.

[00:15:55] They accidentally killed someone

[00:15:59] and so if they remained in the town

[00:16:03] they probably would be tried.

[00:16:04] They might be killed for what they had done

[00:16:07] so God provided cities of refuge for them.

[00:16:11] But the catch was that you had to stay in that city of asylum

[00:16:18] until the priest or the person in charge in the town

[00:16:23] where you had left is no longer there

[00:16:26] and then you could return.

[00:16:28] But this verse is telling us that there has been bloodshed

[00:16:32] in those cities as well.

[00:16:36] Let's go on to verse 10.

[00:16:38] I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel.

[00:16:44] There is the harlotry of Ephraim.

[00:16:47] Israel is defiled.

[00:16:50] Now friends, that's my third and final point for today's lesson

[00:16:54] is that Israel is defiled.

[00:16:58] Now what I'd like to do is go over the commentary for this verse, verse 10,

[00:17:03] and it talks about a horrible thing.

[00:17:07] I like this commentary.

[00:17:09] It says a related Hebrew word is used in Jeremiah 2917

[00:17:16] and it refers to rotten figs.

[00:17:21] So if we use that analogy, God is actually calling us rotten figs.

[00:17:28] I want you to think about it.

[00:17:31] Now before we go on and we begin to close,

[00:17:35] what I'd like to do is go over two passages of scripture.

[00:17:40] And one is the book of James chapter 2 verses 8 through 10.

[00:17:47] Now I want you to listen carefully to this.

[00:17:50] It says if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture,

[00:17:55] you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

[00:18:00] You do well, but if you show partiality, you commit sin

[00:18:06] and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

[00:18:11] And listen to verse 10,

[00:18:13] for whoever shall keep the whole law

[00:18:16] and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

[00:18:23] Let me read that one more time,

[00:18:26] because I want to make sure that you grasp this concept.

[00:18:29] For whoever shall keep the whole law

[00:18:32] and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

[00:18:38] Now I want to go to Paul's letter to the church in Rome chapter 3

[00:18:45] and let's take a look at these three verses beginning in verse 21.

[00:18:50] But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed,

[00:18:57] being witnessed by the law and the prophets,

[00:19:01] even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ

[00:19:07] to all and on all who believe.

[00:19:12] For there is no difference.

[00:19:15] Now listen to this next point verse 23.

[00:19:18] For all had sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

[00:19:24] So friends, these two scripture passages in James chapter 2

[00:19:31] and in Romans chapter 3, we basically are told of our plight as human beings.

[00:19:40] We are always going to fall short.

[00:19:43] We will always sin even when we don't want to sin

[00:19:48] even though we try and live our whole lives not to sin.

[00:19:53] We're still going to fall short of the glory of God.

[00:19:58] Now friends, what I'd like to do is go back to our verse of the day

[00:20:02] and we are in Proverbs 11 and verse 3 says this,

[00:20:07] the integrity of the upright will guide them.

[00:20:11] Now friends, I believe that this verse relates to our story today

[00:20:17] and I believe that during the time of Hosea the prophet

[00:20:22] that the people of Israel would do their best from time to time.

[00:20:27] They would call on the name of the Lord, he would be there for them,

[00:20:31] but then something happened with their faith.

[00:20:34] They got off track.

[00:20:36] They allowed something to get in their way

[00:20:39] and eventually they fell into bail worship.

[00:20:42] They really, really got sidetracked

[00:20:45] and what this part of verse 3 talks about is integrity.

[00:20:51] And friends, I like to live my life with integrity

[00:20:55] and the things between the first part of verse 3

[00:21:00] and the second part is the word integrity.

[00:21:04] When you have integrity, you are steady.

[00:21:07] You are going to do the same thing over and over and over again.

[00:21:12] We're going to do the right thing.

[00:21:16] Now the second part of that verse, but the perversity of the unfaithful

[00:21:21] will destroy them and that is the situation

[00:21:25] that the country of Israel found themselves in during this time of Hosea.

[00:21:30] They had become perverse.

[00:21:33] They had fallen away from God and now they are in a mess

[00:21:39] because they have turned to idol worship.

[00:21:43] They were worshiping the God, Baal, and God was not happy with them.

[00:21:50] Now God has opened the door as we found out earlier

[00:21:54] either in last chapter or this chapter, God has opened the door

[00:21:57] and he wants to have his people come back to him.

[00:22:00] But at this time they're still not quite there at this point.

[00:22:05] So my call to action today is I'd like to kind of follow up with what we're talking about here

[00:22:10] and I'm going to talk about integrity.

[00:22:13] And I'm going to say, do you have integrity?

[00:22:17] Is it important to you that you try to do your best at all times to do the right thing?

[00:22:24] Not falling short, not trying to be man pleasers

[00:22:29] and that is what King Hadsal had done.

[00:22:32] King Saul had fall into that thing and he was concerned about what the people would think.

[00:22:38] If all we do is kill all the people and all the animals are going to say,

[00:22:42] well, what about the sacrifice?

[00:22:44] So Saul was a man pleaser and this verse is telling us,

[00:22:49] do not be concerned with what man thinks but only what God thinks.

[00:22:55] Friends, I'm never going to end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity

[00:23:00] to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

[00:23:03] Let's say a quick prayer if you'd like to join me today.

[00:23:07] Father God, thank you for sending your son, Jesus, to earth.

[00:23:10] Jesus, thank you that you were willing to come to earth and die on a cross

[00:23:15] for everyone listening to this podcast today.

[00:23:18] Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner and in need of a Savior.

[00:23:24] But by dying on that cross, you have put me back in right standing with God.

[00:23:30] Thank you, Jesus, for forgiving me of my sins and yet I still need your help.

[00:23:36] I ask that you come into my heart.

[00:23:38] I ask that you lead me and guide me from this point forward in my life.

[00:23:43] Now may the Lord bless you and keep you.

[00:23:47] The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

[00:23:51] The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

[00:23:55] Friends, please join me again tomorrow as we further explore wisdom today.