658. Hosea - Chapter 10 (#3) - You have Plowed Wickedness; You have Reaped Iniquity - October 9, 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] Open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you open everyone's ears to hear and heart to receive everything you have in store for them today. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[00:00:37] This is Proverb 9, beginning in verse 1.

[00:01:07] In Acts' understanding, she says to him,

[00:01:09] Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake foolishness and live, and go in the way of understanding.

[00:01:21] He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser. Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

[00:01:49] The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by me your days will be multiplied, and years of life will be added to you.

[00:02:05] If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, and if you scoff, you will bear it alone.

[00:02:13] A foolish woman is clamorous. She is simple and knows nothing, for she sits at the door of her house, on a seat by the highest places of the city, to call to those who pass by, who go straight on their way.

[00:02:32] Whoever is simple, let him turn in here, and ask for him who lacks understanding.

[00:02:39] She says to him, stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

[00:02:47] But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of hell.

[00:02:55] Friends, today I'm going to do something a little bit different with this proverb.

[00:03:01] I am not going to select a particular verse today, but what I want to do is to highlight the difference between the first 12 verses, which are entitled,

[00:03:15] The Way of Wisdom, and the last 6 verses, which are entitled, The Way of Folly.

[00:03:23] So friends, before we close today, I will come back and make reference to those two passages of Scripture.

[00:03:32] But what I'd like to do is to continue today in our study of the book of the minor prophet Hosea.

[00:03:40] And what I'd like to do is go back to Monday's podcast.

[00:03:44] And on Monday's podcast, I brought up three points, and I would like to just review those before we get into today's lesson.

[00:03:53] Number one, the idol also shall be carried to Assyria.

[00:03:59] And on Monday's podcast, I mentioned that the Assyrians made it a habit of often taking the gods of people whom they had defeated.

[00:04:11] And since they had taken the Israelites into their captivity, obviously they fit into that category.

[00:04:20] The second point, the thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars.

[00:04:27] And I made reference that since the people had been taken into captivity, that thorns and thistles would come into the church.

[00:04:39] And, you know, since there are no people there, basically, you know, they would not be taken care of.

[00:04:46] And finally, number three, when it is my desire, I will chasten them.

[00:04:53] And I believe this is a reminder that God is still desirous that his people, Israel, would eventually turn back to him.

[00:05:05] And as I mentioned several times in this study, there are 14 chapters in Hosea, and the book ends on a good note.

[00:05:15] At that time, the people of Israel will repent, but we still have a ways to go until we get there.

[00:05:24] Today, we are going to pick up where we left off on Monday, and we are in chapter 10.

[00:05:30] Let's begin with verse 11.

[00:05:33] Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh grain.

[00:05:50] So, friends, my first point today is simple.

[00:05:55] Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh grain.

[00:06:01] Now, friends, I am reading out of the Nelson Study Bible, and what I'd like to do is go over the commentary for verse 11.

[00:06:11] And this is pretty lengthy, but it is very important that you really grasp what this commentary is telling us.

[00:06:21] It really is declaring the state of the people in Israel and God's people.

[00:06:29] It says, loves to thresh.

[00:06:32] Israel preferred to be unrestrained, like an unmuzzled heifer at the threshing floor that can simply lean down and eat the grain.

[00:06:46] Now, friends, if you ever have a horse and you are like on a ride with somebody,

[00:06:54] if the horse goes down and eat grass and you don't want him to, you want him to be moving,

[00:07:02] whether it's walking or cantering or trotting or running, the horse has you under his power.

[00:07:09] We are to use the reins of a horse to make sure that his head is stayed up,

[00:07:17] that it's not doing what he wants to do, but it's doing what you want to do.

[00:07:24] And that is what is happening here, is that the Israelites are not doing what God wants them to do.

[00:07:32] Pull a plow.

[00:07:35] Israel's rebellious spirit necessitated harsh treatment,

[00:07:41] compared here to a farmer binding his calf to the yoke and forcing it to do hard labor.

[00:07:51] Threshing in this context refers to Israel's service to the Lord.

[00:07:56] Plowing refers to the discipline that Israel had to acquire through judgment and exile.

[00:08:05] Let's go to verse 12.

[00:08:08] Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground,

[00:08:16] for it is time to seek the Lord till he comes and rains righteousness on you.

[00:08:24] So friends, my second point of today's lesson is,

[00:08:28] sow for yourselves righteousness, reap in mercy.

[00:08:34] Let's look at the commentary for verse 12.

[00:08:38] And once again, this commentary is rather lengthy,

[00:08:42] but it's so vitally important that we understand what's going on.

[00:08:49] Hosea calls the people to repentance.

[00:08:53] Reminding them that a decision could not be postponed,

[00:08:58] and that God's blessing could still be restored.

[00:09:03] In Israel's case, the people had to reestablish social justice,

[00:09:09] and in this case, righteousness and loyalty.

[00:09:13] Mercy in the land.

[00:09:16] Break up your fallow ground.

[00:09:19] Plowing and planting are necessary preliminary steps for growing a crop,

[00:09:27] which eventually sprouts when the rain falls in season.

[00:09:31] In the same way, repentance would set the stage for restored blessings,

[00:09:37] which God would eventually rain down on his people.

[00:09:43] Now, I really like that analogy,

[00:09:47] that God's blessings would rain down on his people Israel.

[00:09:53] That is what God wanted.

[00:09:55] God never wanted his people to turn away from him.

[00:10:01] Let's go to verse 13.

[00:10:13] Friends, my third and final point of today's lesson is,

[00:10:24] Now, let's look at the commentary for verse 13.

[00:10:31] The process of repentance and restored blessing outlined in verse 12 contrasts sharply with reality.

[00:10:42] Israel had planted the seeds of sin and reaped the inevitable consequences.

[00:10:50] Fruit of lies likely refers to the people's lack of loyalty to God,

[00:10:57] and they are referring back to verse 4 of this chapter.

[00:11:01] But before we go back to our proverb of the day,

[00:11:07] what I'd like to do is remind you of a verse in Galatians chapter 6, verse 7.

[00:11:14] And this is a spiritual law.

[00:11:18] Listen to this verse.

[00:11:19] It's so powerful.

[00:11:21] Do not be deceived.

[00:11:23] God is not mocked.

[00:11:25] For whatsoever a man sows, that he will also reap.

[00:11:32] And this chapter is telling us that the people of God have sown sin into their lives.

[00:11:41] And friends, whatever we sow, whatever it is, if it's good, if it's bad,

[00:11:48] well, it's usually either good or bad.

[00:11:51] But if you sow good, you're going to reap good results.

[00:11:56] But if you sow bad, then you will reap bad results.

[00:12:02] So before we close, I'd like to go back to our proverb of the day today.

[00:12:08] And I told you the way of wisdom.

[00:12:12] So basically, the ninth proverb talks about two women.

[00:12:19] And it's kind of like a metaphor.

[00:12:22] One of the women is entitled wisdom.

[00:12:26] And they both say the same thing.

[00:12:29] Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.

[00:12:34] So now the first portion of this proverb talks about the things that we need to do.

[00:12:44] And I will go to verse 10.

[00:12:47] The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

[00:12:52] And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

[00:12:57] Now let's go to the last six verses of Proverb 9.

[00:13:04] And this is entitled the way of folly.

[00:13:06] Now folly is another woman.

[00:13:10] And she also says, whoever is simple, let him turn in here.

[00:13:17] But this does not tell us to do things the way that we should do them.

[00:13:24] This tells us the way that we should not do them.

[00:13:29] And let's look at verse 17.

[00:13:32] Stolen water is sweet.

[00:13:35] And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

[00:13:40] Now friends, what they are making reference to here is immoral sex.

[00:13:48] They're talking about someone of the opposite sex.

[00:13:53] Stolen water is sweet.

[00:13:56] Stolen water means it doesn't belong to you.

[00:14:00] You shouldn't be thinking about it.

[00:14:04] You may be married or you may not be married.

[00:14:08] This verse is equally applicable to either one.

[00:14:14] Because you're not supposed to have sex in any way, shape, or form out of the marriage relationship.

[00:14:22] So even if you are single, you should not be doing this.

[00:14:29] Friends, it's that simple.

[00:14:30] So anyway, my call to action today is very simple.

[00:14:34] I want you to think about Proverb 9 today.

[00:14:39] The way of wisdom.

[00:14:41] Do you have a fear of God?

[00:14:45] Do you have the knowledge of the Holy One?

[00:14:50] Do you have understanding?

[00:14:52] Do you follow the will of God in your life?

[00:14:56] Or do you look at verse 17 and have the mentality that stolen water is sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant?

[00:15:12] Now, friends, I will say this.

[00:15:15] If you indulge in sex outside of marriage, the physical aspect will feel good temporarily.

[00:15:28] But eventually, the guilt that comes upon you will make that physical, temporary pleasure null and void.

[00:15:41] And you will be sorry and there will be consequences to pay.

[00:15:46] Friends, I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

[00:15:55] If there is anyone listening today and you've never taken that step, I invite you to repeat a simple prayer after me today.

[00:16:03] Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner and I need your help.

[00:16:09] I need a Savior.

[00:16:11] I need someone to forgive me of my sins.

[00:16:15] I believe that you are the Son of God.

[00:16:17] I believe that you came to earth and died on a cross so that all of my sins would be forgiven.

[00:16:26] Jesus, thank you for forgiving me of all of my sins.

[00:16:30] But Jesus, I still need your help.

[00:16:33] I ask that you come into my heart.

[00:16:35] I ask that you lead me and guide me from this point forward in my life.

[00:16:40] I make you my Lord and Savior.

[00:16:43] Friends, if anyone said that prayer, I invite you to go to my webpage, wisdomtodaybk.com.

[00:16:54] There is a contact tab.

[00:16:56] Simply click on that tab.

[00:16:58] Let me know you said that prayer.

[00:17:00] I want to get back with you.

[00:17:03] Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

[00:17:06] The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

[00:17:11] The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

[00:17:16] Friends, please join me again tomorrow as we further explore wisdom today.