643. Hosea - Chapter 7 (#2) - They Have Spoken Lies Against Me - September 18, 2024

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_00]: 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.

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, man, who isolates himself seeks his own desire. He ranges against all Wisegment. A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart. When the wicked comes, contempt comes also. And with dishonor comes reproach.

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: The words of a man's mouth are deep waters, the wellspring of wisdom is a flowing

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_00]: brook. It is not good to show partiality to the wicked, or to overthrow the righteous

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_00]: in judgment. A fool's lips enter into contention and his mouth calls for blows. A fool's

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. The words of a tailbearer

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: are like tasty triples, and they go down into the inmost body. He who is sloughful in his work

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_00]: is a brother to him who is a great destroyer. The name of the Lord is a strong tower,

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_00]: the righteous run to it at our safe. The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and like a

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_00]: high wall in his own esteem. Before destruction, the heart of a man is hotty, and before honor

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: is humility. He who answers a matter before he hears it. It is spolly and shame to him.

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_00]: A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men. The first one to

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and examines him. Casting lots causes contensions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart. A brother

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_00]: offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contensions are like the bars of a castle.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: A man's stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth, from the produce of his lips.

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_00]: He shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it shall eat its fruit.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtain saver from the Lord.

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: The poor man uses in treaties, but the rich answers roughly. A man who has friends must

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_00]: himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Friends, today I'd like to take a closer look at verse 1, and proper 18 verse 1 says this,

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: a man who isolates himself seeks his own desire. He rages against all wise judgment.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Friends, we will take a closer look at that verse prior to closing today, but what I'd like to do

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: is to go back to last Thursday's podcast. And last Thursday's podcast was episode number 639

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: and we just began chapter 7. And what I'd like to do before we begin today's lesson is to go over the

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_00]: three points from that lesson. The first point, they make a king glad with their wickedness.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Now I talked in detail about this on Thursday's podcast but why on earth would a king be happy

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: if people acted in a wicked way? And that just shows you how far away from God the Israelites

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: had gone during the time that Hosea was the prophet to that country. Let's look at number two,

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_00]: he ceases stirring the fire after needing the dough. And number three, they do not return

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: to the Lord their God. And I said at that time that God had opened the door for the Israelites to

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: come back. He wanted them to repent. He wanted them to turn away from their wicked ways,

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: but we'll find out today as we close the end of chapter 7 beginning in verse 11 that once again

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_00]: that yet did not happen. So let's begin chapter 7 verse 11. Ephraim also is like a silly dove

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: without sense. They called the Egypt, they go to Assyria wherever they go, I will spread my net

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: on them. I will bring them down like birds of the air. I will chastize them according to what

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: their congregation has heard. So friends my first point of today's lesson is wherever they go,

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I will spread my net on them. Now friends, I am reading out of the Nelson study Bible and what I'm

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: going to do today is go over the commentary for a number of the verses we'll be taking a closer look at.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's begin with the commentary for these two verses verses 11 and 12.

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Israel was caught between the two superpowers, Egypt and Assyria. Israel tried to maintain its

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: independence by playing one power against the other, but this vacillating policy was without sense.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Israel was like a silly dove, flitting about from place to place. The Lord would trap them and

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: chastize them for their spiritual unsteadiness. Now friends, I liked the last couple words there.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: They're spiritual unsteadiness. And friends, I briefly mentioned this on a podcast last week

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: but I kind of feel this is how many Christians are today. They are spiritually unsteady at times

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: when things in their life are going well. Their faith appears to be strong. They pray to God,

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_00]: they read their Bible, they go without doing good and then something happens in their life.

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_00]: That throws them a little bit off-kilter. All of a sudden their faith is

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_00]: basically wavering and that kind of reminds me of James chapter one.

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Friends, we cannot waver in our faith. And friends at this point, I'd like to go over a scripture

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_00]: which sometimes I mention and that's Romans 10, 17. And 10, 17 tells us that faith comes

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. This first talks about the importance of not only

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_00]: hearing good messages when you go to church on Sundays but also the fact that we have to get into

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_00]: the Word on our own from time to time during the week. And friends, that really is the only way

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_00]: that our faith is going to remain strong. We need to constantly be in the Word of God

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_00]: listening to Him because there's a lot of things going against Christians in our present day

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_00]: world today. A lot of times people are down on Christians. We may be persecuted if people find out

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_00]: that we claim to be Christians. But friends, we need to be steady in our faith. Let's go to

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_00]: verse 13. Woe to them for they have fled from me. Destruction to them because they have transgressed

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00]: against me. Though I redeemed them yet, they have spoken lies against me. So friends,

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_00]: my second point today is they have spoken lies against me. And friends, we are talking about God here.

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, Jesus had not yet come to earth so we are still probably about 700 years before

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus came to earth. These people are lost. They are looking for something to help them in their

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_00]: life. And unfortunately, at this point of their life, they have gone away from God and instead

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_00]: looked at the God, they will. And we are going to find out a little bit more about that in the next

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: few verses. But before we go to verse 14, I'd like to read the commentary for verse 13,

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_00]: like a bird that flies away when frightened. Israel fled from the Lord and his standards,

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_00]: despite his willingness to help his people. So I like that word, help his people. In other words,

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I almost look at God as a teacher at that particular point in time. The Israelite people could

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_00]: have gone and ask God for help. Hey, we need help with this. Help us just like a student

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_00]: would go to a teacher if they needed help on a math problem, for example. But they were unwilling

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_00]: to do that. And to this day, when I read this book, I tried to figure out why they were so

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_00]: posed to God. But they were not steady in their faith, and they could not be trusted with their faith

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_00]: because they had turned away from God. Let's go to verse 14. They did not cry out to me with their heart.

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_00]: When they wailed upon their bends. So I want you to think about this. I literally would like for

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_00]: you to think about sometimes when you go to bed at night. And your day didn't quite go the way

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_00]: that you wanted to. And the Israelites are in their beds wailing in their beds. Oh, oh,

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_00]: but they are not looking to God. They should have been looking to God. But instead,

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_00]: they were looking to bail. And that is why they had so many problems. They assembled together

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_00]: for grain and new wine. They rebel against me. Now, let's look at the commentary for verse 14.

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_00]: This is rather lengthy. But listen to this, and I believe it will give you a bit more context as

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_00]: to why the Israelites seem to be so lost and had gotten so far away from God. God sent a drought

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_00]: that took away Israel's grain and new wine. So this almost reminds me of when the Israelites

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_00]: were fleeing Egypt, and they went into the desert, and they griped and complained to God and said,

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_00]: oh, I wish we could go back to Egypt at least. We had garlic there. We had leeks. We had onions.

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_00]: We had all we needed for food. But they were slaves and they almost wanted to go back just so

[00:13:36] [SPEAKER_00]: they knew and if they didn't work fast enough, they would be beaten with whips while they were

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_00]: in the field working. Yet, instead of turning to him in repentance and here we're talking about

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_00]: God, the idolatrous Israelites demonstrated their devotion to bail. And I want to stop right there

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_00]: because that is a key point. They did not turn to God when they needed help but they turned to bail,

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_00]: according to Canaanite religious beliefs. Prolonged drought was a signal that the storm

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_00]: God bail had been temporarily defeated by the God of death and was imprisoned in the underworld.

[00:14:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Bales, worshippers would mourn his death in hopes that their tears might facilitate

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_00]: his resurrection and the restoration of crops. I want you to think about that. That is really key

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_00]: in this context because they could have turned to God. If they go back to what their parents

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_00]: and their grandparents and their ancestors had told them of how good God was and how he delivered

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_00]: them from bondage in the land of Egypt. Instead of turning to the living God who had been

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_00]: their God in the past and had helped them get out of that country of Egypt in the first place

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_00]: they turned to bail worship. This must have really, really not only angered God but it must

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_00]: have saddened him as well. Let's go to verse 15. Though I discipline and strengthen their arms,

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_00]: yet they devise evil against me. Now, friends, I know that Hosea, the minor prophet, is the author

[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_00]: of this book but this, to me, is almost a plea by God himself. This is like God is talking.

[00:15:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Let me repeat verse 15. Though I discipline and strengthen their arms, yet they devise evil

[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_00]: against me and me is capitalized. Meaning this is actually God talking. Through the prophet,

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Hosea, let's look at the commentary for verse 15. Strengthened their arms,

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_00]: probably refers to God's past military help, especially during the reign of Jeroboam the

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_00]: second earlier in the eighth century BC and that story can be found in second kings chapter 14

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_00]: two verses verse 24 and 25. Let's go to verse 16. They return but not to the most high.

[00:16:56] [SPEAKER_00]: They are like a treacherous bow, their princes shall fall by the sword for the cursing of their tongue.

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_00]: This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt. Now, friends by third point of today's lesson

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_00]: is they return but not to the most high. In other words, even though things looked terrible

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_00]: for them at this time, they still did not turn to God. Let's look at the commentary for verse 16.

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_00]: A treacherous bow is a bow that is damaged or flawed in its workmanship and does not shoot

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_00]: effectively. Such a bow would be unreliable and therefore worthless to a warrior or hunter.

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And friends, I almost feel I need to say this because obviously they didn't have grocery stores back

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_00]: then if they wanted to have meat, they would have to go and hunt their own meat whether it be a type of

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_00]: bird like quail or maybe a squirrel or a toss-up trying to figure out what they had back then.

[00:18:12] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't ever talk about rabbits but I mean, they had to find their own food.

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Though the Lord had been faithful to Israel, Israel had not been loyal to him.

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_00]: D'Aurision in the land of Egypt, note the irony in the fact that one of the nations to whom

[00:18:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Israel had looked for help and that is verse 11 would make fun of Israel when judgment fell.

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Friends, Israel is still not in a very good place here and we are just finishing chapter 7

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_00]: of Hosea. There are 14 chapters of Hosea, so we are basically right in the middle of Hosea and I

[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_00]: did tell you that in chapter 14 Israel finally turns back to God but friends, I don't know exactly

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER_00]: what time period we are covering here this book of Hosea. I mean, I don't know if it was days or

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_00]: months, it might even have been years. That's the way the Bible is. It might be two or three chapters

[00:19:32] [SPEAKER_00]: but that might entail 30 or 40 years so I don't know for sure but I can imagine that God is

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_00]: watching and viewing all the decisions that Israel is making and wondering why they are not coming back

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_00]: so before we close today's lesson I would like to go back to our proverb of the day,

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_00]: proverb 18 and look at verse 1. A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire.

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_00]: He rages against all wise judgment. Now friends, this is talking about one particular man but

[00:20:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I believe we can make the analogy that this is the entire country of Israel during this time of Hosea.

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_00]: It says a man and let's say a country who isolates himself seeks his own desire and that is certainly

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_00]: what the Israelites of that time period were doing. They had turned away from God when things

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_00]: did not go right, they did not turn to God instead. They turned to be a worship and God is

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_00]: waiting for them and yet that is not who they turned to and let's look at the second part of

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_00]: that verse he rages against all wise judgment and the key word there is wise so if you want

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_00]: to have wisdom I will remind you that in the book of Job it says wisdom is having the fear

[00:21:12] [SPEAKER_00]: of the Lord and so there is no wisdom going on and being displayed by the Israelite people

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_00]: at this time. So friends my called action and I seem to be asking this pretty much these days

[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_00]: but is there anything in your life that is prohibiting you from doing what God has called you to

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_00]: do today. I also want you to think about this are you demonstrating wisdom in your life

[00:21:46] [SPEAKER_00]: do you have a healthy reverence of God and do you go to Him in your time of need when you

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_00]: have an important decision to make in your life? Things to think about. Friends I will never end

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_00]: a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior if there's

[00:22:10] [SPEAKER_00]: anyone listening today and you've never taken that step I invite you to repeat a simple prayer

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_00]: after me today. Jesus I confess that I am a sinner and in need of a Savior I believe that you

[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_00]: are the Son of God. I believe you came to earth and we're willing to die on a cross so that everyone

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_00]: listening to this particular podcast today would have all of their sins forgiven and Jesus I believe

[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_00]: that my sins are forgiven and thank you from the bottom of my heart yet I still need your help.

[00:22:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I ask that you lead me and guide me from this point forward in my life. I make you my Lord and Savior.

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make its face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_00]: The Lord lift up His cabinets upon you and give you peace. Friends please join me again tomorrow

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_00]: as we further explore with them today.