Scripture referenced 8 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Hosea 2:19-20 recap of God's promise to betroth Israel forever, introducing the theme of experiential knowledge of God
19 I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.
20 I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Yahweh.
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Keep this verse
Hosea 3
recap of Hosea buying Gomer back at full price and the children of Israel abiding many days without king or prince
1 Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins.”
2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley.
3 I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you.”
4 For the children of Israel shall live many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols.
5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.
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Hosea 4-14
the bulk of the sermon, covering charges against Israel, judgment, and eventual hope of restoration
Keep this verseJeremiah 4:22
cited alongside Hosea as a contemporary voice saying my people are foolish, they have not known me
22 “For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”
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Proverbs 3:5-6
quoted as the positive counterpoint to Israel walking by human precept rather than trusting the Lord
5 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
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1 John 1:9
connected to Hosea's call for Israel to acknowledge their offense, with homo logea explained as agreeing with God about sin
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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Matthew 9:9-13
Jesus quoting Hosea's I desire mercy and not sacrifice while eating with sinners and tax collectors at Matthew's house
9 As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, “Follow me.” He got up and followed him.
10 As he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.
11 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.
13 But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
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Hosea 14:9
closing verse asking who is wise, framing the whole book as a call to experiential knowledge of God
9 Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The pastor walked the congregation through Hosea chapters 4 through 14 in a single service, covering what his professor condensed to two themes: spiritual adultery and the knowledge of God. That knowledge, he was clear, is not knowledge about God but an experiential knowing of him. The arc of the book moves through relentless judgment toward a mercy that God himself cannot stop offering.
What was said
The recap of chapters 1 through 3 set the stage. God told Hosea to marry Gomer, a woman of harlotry, because the Northern Kingdom of Israel had done exactly that to God. Even inside that dark opening, there is a two-verse promise that God himself will betroth Israel to him forever, and Hosea goes and buys Gomer back at full price from her lovers, which is the shape of what God intends to do with his people.
From chapter 4 onward the metaphor shifts from a marriage to a courtroom. God brings a legal charge against Israel: no truth, no mercy, and no experiential knowledge of God in the land. The priests who were supposed to carry the message looked more and more like the world around them instead of shaping it, and the people followed. The pastor paused on this and asked directly whether the church today does the same thing.
The phrase that kept returning through the middle chapters is that Israel "walked by human precept," trusting political alliances with Assyria and Egypt rather than God, and leaning on armies they were proud of. God's response is layered: he compares himself to a moth and then to a lion, saying he will withdraw until they acknowledge their offense. The point made was that nobody tends to seek God in the good times. Affliction is what brings people back.
Hosea 6 offers the first clear turn toward hope, with the call to return to the Lord who has torn but will heal, who has stricken but will bind up. The line "on the third day he will raise us up" was noted as foreshadowing. Then comes the verse that Jesus quotes twice in Matthew: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." The pastor stopped here at length. He said that Jesus tells the Pharisees to go and learn what it means, because they had it memorized but did not know it. If your religion is making you less merciful, he said, it is not true religion.
Chapter 11 shifts the metaphor again, this time to a father teaching a child to walk. God says he drew Israel with gentle cords and bands of love, stooped down and fed them, and they did not even know it was him. Then comes the line that carried the most weight in the room: "How can I give you up, Ephraim?" God says his heart churns, his sympathy is stirred, and he will not execute the full force of his anger because he is God and not a man. His ways are above what any human judge would do.
The closing chapters bring Hosea to an explicit call to repentance, with Hosea coaching the people on exactly what to say when they come back: acknowledge the sin, turn away from the idols, tell God that Assyria is not going to save you. God's answer to that return is restoration described in agricultural images, green and fragrant and growing, the way the grass here goes emerald after the first rain. Ephraim will ask, "What have I to do anymore with idols?" because knowing God makes the alternatives look empty.
The final verse of the book, chapter 14 verse 9, was read as a kind of editorial note appended to all the poetry: who is wise, let him understand these things, for the ways of the Lord are right and the righteous walk in them. The pastor closed by saying that Hosea is not a clobber passage to use against other people. All of us are Gomer. The book is a mirror, and the answer to what it shows is the same one it has always been: where there is no way, God will make a way.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The pastor described the experiential knowledge of God, the Hebrew word 'yada,' as really knowing God rather than just knowing about him. What is the difference between those two things in your own life, and how would you describe where you currently sit on that spectrum?
- God charges Israel with having 'no truth, no mercy, and no experiential knowledge of God in the land,' and the pastor asked whether that sounds pertinent today. Where do you see that pattern showing up, and how do you think the church is called to respond differently than the surrounding culture?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,658 words
0:00
Speaker 1Pulling up to that and actually not intentionally teasing it before you like, y'all need to look this up and read it for yourselves, but apparently a lot of y'all did. And so I have been steeped in it for months now. There's a lot of good in there but it's hard to get to. It's a little bit inaccessible and I'll have to say after the service last week, a a few of y'all were overwhelmed and so, I thank God's words just like we just sang. They're really good and they're really good for us.
0:32
We are going back into Hosea today. Happy Valentine's Day by the way. Here we go. This clicky clicker is not quite clicked yet. There we go.
0:42
Have you all ever binge watched a show? That you're going to admit it. Good. I was glad. I thought I was going to look out and see a bunch of people go, no, we would never do a thing like that.
0:51
But I mean, binge watching shows. When I came out here to be a carpenter years ago, I'd come home in the evenings and we, Tanya, and I and Paul and Tyus after the kids went to bed, we'd watch something. Friday night lights or something like that. You know, prison break was a big one and I remember that the first part of the show is fixing whatever happened last week and then they build up a story line to get you to about seven or eight minutes before the end and then they start a new knot that they haven't untied yet so that you have to watch the next one and that's a very common pattern. An old cliffhanger cereals are like that and new shows are like that a lot and y'all know em.
1:29
I mean, Yellowstone and Sons of Anarchy and all of these bad bad shows, you know? Y'all have watched these and you know how it is. I think this morning, I I texted myself something this morning early. That says, we're going to binge watch a minor prophet this morning, okay? And we're going to fast forward through some of it.
1:52
Not much of it, honestly, but some of it. There's a lot of good in here but there's a lot of judgment in here. So, we're going to do Hosea chapters four through 14. I apologize to some of y'all but I am going to make some of y'all very happy. Aw.
2:10
Thank you, Connor. Yeah. Hosea, this is not one verse, four fourteen. This is chapters four through 14. You, yes, walked into a church service.
2:22
We're going to cover 11 chapters of a minor prophet in one sermon. This is what it's about. According to my professor who had a three hours to talk about what Hosea was about. He shortened it to this as his spiritual adultery and the knowledge of God. That's what, oh, great.
2:41
Only one of those but it was the right one. Are you alright? You can move. There's plenty of seats up front. There always are.
2:50
Spiritual adultery, a spiritual adultery, and the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God being an experiential knowledge of God. It is not knowledge about God. It is knowing God like really and so, Hosea one through three, hey, this happens on every one of those shows. You want to skip the recap or you want to hear what happened?
3:12
The recap is this, the Lord said to Hosea outright, go and take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry. Why in the world would he say that? Because the land and it's talking about the land of Israel which is the Northern Kingdom about two hundred years after they split. The land, Israel, also called Ephraim a lot, maybe Jacob sometimes in this book, has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord. So, the prophet of lord Hosea went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim and that's kind of one of those things where it says, go marry a woman of harlotry.
3:47
She cheats on him multiple times in the first three chapters but in the midst of that, we have this two verse little thing that that really is foreshadowing for the rest of this book. God himself says, I will betroth you to me forever. Yes. I'm the prime mover. I will betroth you to me.
4:09
In righteousness and injustice and loving kindness has said and mercy, I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall experientially know the Lord. Praise God that that's in there because the rest of the book is pretty dark. Hosea three is only five verses on. We'll cover three of em right here and Hosea goes to Gomer. He buys her back at full price from her lovers where she has gone astray and adult in adultery.
4:35
He goes and he pays full price to redeem her, bring her back in and he says, you're going to stay with me many days and you're not going to run around. You're not going to have anybody else and I'm not going to have anybody else. You're my you're mine. Right? Beautiful.
4:51
Because why? Because the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince. That sounds, is that good or bad? It's good. It's exile but they're not going to be relying on human stuff.
5:05
They're not going be relying on a king that God said they didn't need anyway. Without sacrifice or sacred pillar, they're to be taken away from the place where they have done their temple worship which was not the right place by the way for the kingdom of Israel and afterward, it says, after this hard time, the children of Israel are going to return. They're going to seek their lord, their God, and David, their king, and they shall revere the Lord and his goodness in those days, in the latter days. So, that is how we left off last week and so here we go. It's going to be a whirlwind, okay?
5:36
Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against inhabitants of the land. Now, we have a metaphor, big metaphor in the first three chapters is Hosea's marriage to an unfaithful wife and that life is the metaphor. Now, the metaphor changes right here and now it's a courtroom scene. Hear the word of the Lord, you children visitors. This is the charge, the charges against the inhabitants of the land.
6:00
Y'all, there's no truth and there's no mercy. Everything is spun up. Everything's manufactured baloney against your fellow man and there's no mercy. We don't care where the chips fall. Does that sound like any of the series shows that I just described?
6:16
Yes. There's no truth or mercy and there's no experiential knowledge of God in the land. People are using God for their side and they're saying that God is on their side but there's no experiential knowledge of God in the land. Does it sound like it's pertinent? Yeah.
6:32
So, this is God's charge, legal charge against Israel. By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery, that's three seasons of any one of those shows I just named. They break all restraint with bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore, the land will mourn. And everyone who dwells there will waste away.
6:54
And the beast of the field and the birds of the air, even the fish of the sea will be taken away. Now, Hosea is a book that has some hope in it but it's mostly judgment, okay? This has been going on for a long time. There have been a couple hundred years at least that they have been ignoring God or pretending paying lip service to him but not it's not real, okay? And so, this and I'm going to use, I haven't gotten to it yet.
7:20
I'll get to it in a minute. Now, let no man contend or rebuke another. Don't look around at other people. He's saying, I'm speaking to you. That's what God is saying.
7:29
Don't let anybody look around, contend, or say, oh no, but they but they, no, he's saying, I'm speaking to you. Your people are that like those who contend with the priest. Priest is just supposed to deliver the message. Therefore, y'all are all going to stumble in the daytime and the prophet also shall stumble with you in the night. I'm he says, Hosea says, I'm not saying it as me but Hosea says, I'm going to be dragged along with you too.
7:56
This is a difficult time that you're going through. Y'all are going to stumble in the daytime, the prophet's going to stumble with you in the night, and I will destroy your mother. Oh, yeah. We're going to fast forward some of this. Because it's about judgment.
8:08
Right? So there's a lot of judgment and some of it is too too MA, TVMA. It's mature audiences only. Right? It's really hard stuff in here.
8:19
My people are destroyed. Why? For lack of this experiential knowledge of God. They say they know me but they don't know me. They don't act like me at all.
8:29
Because you have rejected knowledge. I put it out there before you all the time and you don't listen to it. That's a word of judgement by the way. I'm going to use the color coding again. I think I used it in Nahum.
8:42
Maybe. Red is judgement, yellow, gold is hope, okay? So, Jeremiah Jeremiah said, my people, they're foolish because they have not known me. They're silly children. They have no understanding.
8:59
They're very wise to do evil. They know how to get look out for number one but to do good, they have no knowledge. So, this is the same period of time that Hosea is speaking, Jeremiah is speaking same message basically because it's coming from the same place, same God. I also reject you from being priests for me because you have forgotten the law of your God and also will forget your children. What a sad statement of judgment.
9:25
The more they increase, the more they sinned against me. I'll change the glory and the shame. They eat up the sin of my people. They set their heart on their iniquity. It should be like like people like priest.
9:36
Now, the church is supposed to have an influence on the world where it starts to make the world look more like the church but they're saying in this time period, it's priest and temple, you know, priest are looking more and more and more like the world instead of bringing people to Jesus. In our case, we are looking more and more and more like the world. So, this is why it's still a good message for us, okay? They set their heart on their iniquity. It shall be like people like priests.
10:02
So, I will punish them for their ways. I 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. They're paying no attention. This hints at the thing about drugs where somebody takes drugs and then they're always trying to get that initial high.
10:21
They're always trying to get back there and there's just no satisfying that. Harlotry wine and new wine enslaved the heart. My people ask counsel from wooden idols. They're wooden idols. Their staff informs them.
10:34
The spirit of harlotry has caused them astray. They played the harlot against their God. That's the capital g God. They went out with small g gods. They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops, the high places, burn incense on the hills, the oaks, the poplars, the terrapins because shade is good for their own comfort.
10:52
Therefore, your daughters committed harlotry, your brides commit adultery, and that's a a terrible bench of judgment right there but then this is even harsher in some ways. God says, I'm not going to punish him when they commit harlot. You know the reason you have pain and so you don't keep doing that again. The reason that you have punishment is so that you don't keep doing that again and God is right here saying, I'm not going to punish him for that. I'm not going to punish your brides when they commit adultery because the man, you're the same way.
11:25
You're going after harlots yourselves. Everyone of you is like Gomer, God is saying. To them, we take it. Knowing that we know Jesus. I know that y'all gathered here to hear a good message from the Lord about Jesus but if we take this in, how much are we living in the flesh and doing things like these folks were?
11:46
With that Holy Spirit is not really informing that. They offer sacrifices with a ritual harlot. Therefore, people who do not understand are going to be trampled. That's a message of judgement that though you Israel, you play the harlot. Let not Judah offend.
12:00
Don't Southern Kingdom, Judah. Don't come up to Gilgal Crossover. Don't go up to Beth Haven. Those two places are places where they have set up worship. Not the temple in Jerusalem.
12:13
They've set up a more convenient location for them for their idols. Nor swear an oath saying as the Lord lives, I don't want for you to use my name in vain and say, you're on my side. When you're not on my side. For Israel's stubborn like a stubborn calf. Now, the Lord will let them forge like a lamb in open country.
12:36
Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. Their drink is rebellion. They commit heart for the harlotry continually. Her rulers dearly love dishonor.
12:46
Corruption, power. Oh my goodness. That's another one of those things that all of those shows are about corruption and power and there's a bad cop and a dirty politician and that stuff exist. It did here. It does here.
13:00
It did there. Her rulers dearly love dishonor. The wind has wrapped her up in its wings and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifice. Hear this, oh is, oh priest, take heed, oh house of Israel. Give ear, oh house of the king, for yours is the judgment because you've been a snare to Mispah and a net spread on Tabor.
13:20
I know y'all don't know where those places are. I don't know where those places are. Exactly. I kind of looked up the map. I didn't put any up here this time.
13:28
But the revolters are deeply involved in slaughter. Though I rebuke them all, I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me. Those are both the same place. For now, oh Ephraim, you commit harlotry in Israel, the land is defiled. They don't direct their deeds toward turning to their God.
13:46
It's just a simple statement of fact. It is judgment. The spirit of harlotries in their midst and they don't know the Lord. Experiential knowledge of the God. Yada is the word in Hebrew.
13:56
I'm terrible with Hebrew but Yada means an experiential knowing. The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore, Israel and Ephesians stumble in their iniquity. Judah also stumbles with them. The Southern Kingdom is not much better, okay?
14:10
There were no good kings in Israel and it's coming to an end and there are not many good kings in Judah. With their flocks and herds, they shall go to seek the Lord but they won't find him. He's withdrawn himself from them. They have dealt treacherously with the Lord for they forgotten or they have begotten pagan children. Now, new moon shall devour them and their heritage.
14:33
Can you see the peril? There's peril all over this place and it's judgement. Blow the ram's horn and give you the trumpet in Rama, cry aloud at Beth Haven, look behind you, oh Benjamin, there's always somebody sneaking up on those shows, right? There's always somebody sneaking up. He says, you better be looking over your shoulder.
14:51
You've gotten involved in some things that should come back on you, okay? Ephesians should be desolate in the day of rebuke among the tribes of Israel. I'll make known what is sure. The princess of Judah are like those who remove a landmark. Oh, don't ever remove an ancient boundary or landmark.
15:08
You know that you're not supposed to do that. It says the princes of Judah are like those that are doing that and I'm going to pour my wrath out on them too. Yes, I'm going to get to them but Israel, I'm talking to you right now. I'm going to get to them too. Ephesians is oppressed and broken in judgment.
15:23
Why? Because he, that's metaphorical. Ephesians is the Northern Kingdom of Israel because he willingly walked by human precept. He acted just like the world. What a, let's back away from the text for just a second.
15:38
Do we act just like the world? Individually, collectively. Are we in a church trying to consider things from a business perspective instead of by the spirit of the Lord? We gotta consider that. Proverbs three, five, and six says, trust in what?
15:53
The Lord with all of your heart. Don't lean on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path. Lord, how would you have me go about my day today? Show me your way and I'll walk in it.
16:07
That's what this is saying. But because he willingly walked by human precept, therefore, I'm going to be to Ephraim like a moth, irritating insect that just chews up and destroys. And to the house of Israel house of Judah like rottenness because they're walking just like the rest of their neighbors. Remember when they asked for a king and God said, you don't want a king and they said, yeah, yeah, yeah, give us a king. Give us a king and the kings were not good.
16:33
On the net, not good. It went just like God said that it would. When Ephesians saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, Ephesians went to Assyria and sent sent a letter to King Jareb and yet, he can't cure you. He can't heal you of your wound. Why are you reaching out for political alliances with these pagan countries?
16:56
That's what he's saying to them. Assyria and Egypt will come later. For I'm going to be like a lion to Ephesians for I'm going be like a young lion to the house of Judah and even I will tear them and I'll go away. I'll take them away and no one shall rescue. I am almighty God and if I'm after you, I'm after you.
17:16
There's not anybody else that can save you. I am the only place God saying. I'm going to return again to my place. Until when? Until they acknowledge their offense.
17:26
This reminds me of first John one nine. All the guys in the Bible study would look to Bob Wells sitting right here. Like, to recognize your offense and to agree with God about it. Homo Logea. Homo Logea.
17:41
If you confess, if you agree with God about your sin, he's faithful and just to be forgiving your sin. That's New Testament. This is Old Testament. I'm already turn again to my place till they acknowledge their offense. Then, they'll seek my face.
17:55
In their affliction, they will earnestly seek me. Why is that? Because nobody ever goes after God in the good times. It's the hard times that bring us to Jesus. That's hopeful.
18:07
That's the first gold slide we've had. There's a lot more red in this book, okay? Come and let us return to the Lord for he has torn but he will heal us up. Amen. He has stricken but he will bind up.
18:19
After two days, he will revive us. On the third day, he will raise us up. I think that's a little foreshadowing, right? That we may live in his sight. Let us know.
18:29
Amen. Experientially, let us know. Let us pursue experiential knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning. He's going to come to us like the rain which we're longing for, like the latter and the former rain to the earth.
18:45
Let us know him. That's hopeful. Seeking after the knowledge of God. Oh, Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Oh, Judah, what shall I do to you?
18:54
For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud. What happens with morning clouds? And like the early dew, it dries up and goes away. Therefore, I have hewn them by the prophets. Hewing, y'all seen hewn timbers, right?
19:09
Where you're cutting away at the outside. You're stripping back, right? He says, I have hewn my people by the prophets. The words of the prophets are taken some skin off of them. I have slain them by the words of my mouth and your judgments are like light that goes forth.
19:26
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Amen. Imma sit on this one for just a minute. I might have to do this in two sessions. Y'all might fall asleep trying to binge watch this thing.
19:42
I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Let me just say, because Jesus uses this twice that I know of in the book of Matthew and we'll look at em in just a second but when Hosea says, I desire God is speaking. I desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge, experiential knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. The religiosity does not matter to God. The heart does matter to God and your actions, mercy is what he's looking for.
20:12
If your religion is making you less merciful, It's not true religion. Amen. It's not true to God. Now, God is the righteous judge and he knows exactly how much punishment or pain or difficulty to inflict in order to get someone to come around. You don't?
20:31
I don't. So, thank you, Connor. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not looking for you to bring the all of the stuff. That's pointing to Jesus.
20:47
This is Old Testament stuff. That's pointing to Jesus. Actually, let's go to Jesus. Matthew nine nine thirteen, Jesus said, y'all, go and learn what this means. Ain't that great?
20:57
He knows that they know it. He knows that they have it memorized. He knows that they know it but they don't know what it means experientially. Know this. Go and learn what this means.
21:07
I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Jesus says, I didn't come to call the righteous. Those who don't have any need of me, that's not the people I'm here for. I'm here for sinners and to bring em to repentance. Amen.
21:18
Amen. This is the context nine nine through 13. It's when they were getting on to his disciples for eating some grains on the Sabbath. Is that when it was? Matthew nine.
21:32
Hold on a second. Oh, it's it's it's Matthew's house. That's when it was.
21:35
Speaker 3The next one is going be
21:36
Speaker 1the other one. Sorry. So, it's Matthew's house and the Pharisees are like, he's eating with sinners and tax collectors. That's not a religious thing to do for them. Why would he do that?
21:48
Y'all, Jesus hears that and he says, those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. The the church should be more a hospital for sinners than a museum for the saints, right? Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy not sacrifice and Jesus says later on in Matthew, if y'all had just known what this means, you can hear him going, you study it, you study it, and you don't know what it means. You know about it but you don't know it.
22:17
I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Then, you wouldn't have condemned the guiltless and this is about his guys walking by on a Sabbath day and plucking a few heads to fill. No, just a snack. That's not going be a whole meal eating grains by the roadside but it was enough to call it work for the Pharisees. And Jesus gives them a few old testament examples I would just wish you understood it.
22:45
I desire mercy and not sacrifice. If you look at people and you look at em and what you have for em is judgment and you're not the righteous judge. That's a problem. So, God is the righteous judge. Bring em to him.
22:59
Bring em to him. He's he's the only one that can clean him up anyway. I desire mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings but but like men because all we like sheep have gone astray but like men, they transgress the covenant. There they dealt treacherously with me. Gilead is a city of evildoers, defiled with blood as bands of robbers lying wait for man.
23:25
So, the company of priests murder on the way to Shechem. Surely, surely, they commit lewdness. I've seen horrible thing in the house of Israel. Do y'all get the gist? Let's fast forward.
23:33
Can we fast forward? Do y'all want me to go through every single line of this thing? They're all adulterers. Like I said last week, we're all Gomer. Ephesians has mixed himself among the peoples.
23:48
There's no difference in my people and the people around them. They all act exactly the same And therefore, Ephraim is a cake unturned. You ever cook in pancakes and one side is just burnt, crisp, and the other is bubbly up top? This thing needs to be flipped, and he's about to do some flipping. He's going to use a Syria to do it.
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Ephesians is like a silly dove without any sense. They go to Egypt. They go to Assyria. They make political alliances. They're just crazy.
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You think that this is going to be peaceable, you silly dove? They're the big cats surrounding you. They're coming for you. Political alliances is what they're trusting in. Woe to them, funeral language.
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Woe to them for they have fled from me. Destruction to them because they've transgressed against me. They assembled together for grain and for new wine. They rebel against me. They keep on doing what men keep on doing.
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Set the trumpet to your mouth. He shall come like an eagle against the house of the Lord because they have transgressed the covenant. This is all covenant by the way. Thank God we're living in the new covenant where God makes it clear that it's by the blood of Jesus. It's by the blood of Jesus for sure that we can be saved from this horrific cycle because they've transgressed that old covenant, because they've rebelled against the law.
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Israel's going to cry out to me and say, my God, we know you but they don't. They don't know him in any experiential way what they know about him. They know that they're chosen people and so they're really proud of that but they don't know him. Israel has rejected the good. The enemy's going to pursue him.
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They set up kings but they didn't do it by me. They didn't consult me when they set up those kings. They made princess but I didn't acknowledge them. They made from their silver and gold. They made idols for themselves.
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Well, you know what? Your calf, golden calf at the foot of Sinai, that's what they set up in Samaria at at Gilgal and Beth Haven. Your calf is rejected, Samaria. My anger is aroused against them. Judgment, judgment.
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This one you'll remember. They sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind. Twenty five years of poetry here in one sermon. Probably two sermons. It's getting real close.
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The stalk has no bud. It shall never produce meal. If it should produce, aliens would swallow it up. You wouldn't even get to eat it. Israel is swallowed up.
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Now, they're among the Gentiles like a vessel in which there's no pleasure, judgement. For they've gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey by itself. Ephraim is hired lovers. They've hired among the nations. Now, I'm going to gather among.
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They shall sorrow a little because of the burden of the king and their princess. Yeah, it's going to be painful. It is always painful when you walk away from the goodness of God. He's shown you the way to walk in it. I mean, we've got other prophets.
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You know, he's shown you what's required of you. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly. Here we go. Judgment, judgment, judgment, judgment. It keeps on going.
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The days of punishment have come. It's time. The days of recompense have come. Israel knows. Y'all know and the prophet is just made out to look like a fool.
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The spiritual man is insane. If there's anybody that holds to it, it it looks like an idiot. Because of the greatness of your iniquity and your great enmity with me. You don't even recognize when someone's speaking the truth. The watchman of Ephesians with my God.
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The prophet is a fowler snare in all of his ways. Enmity in the house of his God. People don't like to hear the truth is what this is saying. I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers at the first fruits of fig tree in its season.
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That sounds hopeful, doesn't it? Like he's saying in the past, remember this? I I plucked you out of like grapes in the wilderness. So, is it hopeful? Let's see what he says next.
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But they went off to Baal, Peor. They separated themselves to that shame and they became an abomination like the thing that they love, which is an abomination, a false god. Ask for you from their glory shall fly away like a bird. No prey let's skip that too. Let's fast forward through that part.
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There's some really hard stuff. If you want to remember where it is and look it up later, go through frame for frame, you can get you can do that. My God will cast them away because they did not obey him. And they shall be wanderers among the nations because it didn't listen. Israel empties his body, brings forth fruit for himself according to multitude of his fruit.
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We're already up to chapter 10. Can you believe it? Judgement. Judgement. Judgement.
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Judgment. It just keeps going. Ephraim is a trained heifer. There are so many great metaphors in the in here. Love to thresh out the grain but I harnessed her fair neck and I'm going to make Ephraim work for it for a while.
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I gave and gave and gave but now, I'm going to exile them. Judah's going to plow too. Jacob's going to break his claws. Sow for yourselves righteousness. This is a direct imperative.
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Y'all act justly. Act in righteousness, he says. Just like Amos. Act justly. Yeah.
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Reap in mercy. Love mercy. If you're going to get back what you give out like the Jackson vibe, yeah, man. I'm just putting out positive vibes. Oh, and why won't you
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Speaker 2put out some positive vibes? Why don't
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Speaker 1you go mercy instead of just judgment? Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap in mercy. Break up your fallow ground for it is time what? To seek the Lord. Till he comes and he reigns righteousness on you.
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Keep on seeking after him. If you don't come to the place that God is love, you hadn't gotten to him yet. That is hopeful. Keep on seeking until you find. Keep on seeking to know about him until you actually know him.
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For you have, past tense, plowed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten past tense, the fruit of lies because you trusted in your own way. Lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path. You didn't do that and you saw where that got you.
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If you keep doing what you've been doing, you're going keep getting what you've been getting. The multitude of your mighty man, you're so proud of your army. Yeah. Therefore, though, the tumult shall rise among your people. Judgement.
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When Israel was a child, okay, the metaphor shifting again. This is beginning in chapter 11. So, it went from courtroom scene in just one bit of evidence against another. Now, it's in a different metaphor. Israel was a child.
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I loved him and I called my son out of Egypt. Now, y'all will think of this is prophecy. Jesus was, you know, they had to hide in Egypt and then came back. Yes, that is messianic prophecy but the truth is, God took his people which he is calling his children and he took them out of slavery in Egypt. He made them a great people in Egypt.
31:05
Exile, persecution is good for refining fire. So, when Israel was a child, I loved him and out of Egypt, I called my son. So, change of metaphor there. God is now father. As they called them, so they went from them and they sacrificed to the bales.
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Dad blasted. It keeps on happening. Judgment. They sacrificed to the bales. They burned incense to carve damages.
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They learned Egypt's way. I taught Ephraim to walk. Can you see the father holding the kid? Holding holding on to their arms so they would learn but they didn't know it was me that healed them. I drew them with gentle cords with bands of love and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck.
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I stooped and I fed them. Do you hear the loving father in there? And he shall not return to the land of Egypt but the Assyrian shall be his king. Rejected the loving father that they had quit paying attention to him and went to a political alliance with this Assyrian king because they refused to repent. The sword shall slash in the cities, judgement.
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How can I give you up though, Ephesians? How can I give you up? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I how can I make you like Admah? Do you all know what Admah is?
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Me neither. You know why? Because he utterly destroyed Admah, apparently. How can I set you up like Zebuim? Don't know that one either.
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He's gone. My heart churns within me, God almighty says. My sympathy is stirred. That's hopeful. That's really hopeful.
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Almighty God is sympathizing with mortal man. My sympathy is stirred. I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I'm going to restrain myself. Though you, like a brat, kept on and kept on and kept on, and you do deserve punishment, I will not execute the fierceness of my I will not again destroy Ephesians for I'm God and I'm not a man.
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My ways are above your ways. The holy one in your midst, I will not come with terror. I'm drawing you to myself. I'm using everything that I'm doing to draw you in and they shall walk after the Lord and he'll roar like lion and when he roars, then his son shall come trembling from the West. They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt, like a dove from the land of Assyria saying, they're getting out of those alliances and they're coming to him.
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And I will let them dwell in their houses, says the Lord. I'm going to bring you back from this. Ephraim, encircle me with lies. House of Judah with deceit but Judah still walks with God even with the holy one who's faithful. I'm holding off on Judah for now.
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Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind. He he daily increases lies and desolation. Even though God is at work to draw them in to an experiential knowledge of him, they're still working against him. Judgement, judgement. That is the Lord God of hosts.
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The Lord is his memorable name. So, you by the help of your God return, observe what? Mercy. Again, I say, if your religion is making you less merciful and more judgmental, you're not following after almighty God. Observe mercy and justice.
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You act justly. It's best you know how, but you also leave room for God. Vengeance is his. You don't know enough of the story to know what's going on. Wait on your God continually.
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He'll show you the way. That's hopeful. Oh cunning Canaanite, deceitful scales are in his hand. It keeps on judgement. I'm the Lord your God.
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Ever since the land of Egypt, He keeps on reminding. Actually, I think what he's doing is saying, it's always been this way. I know that we're way far forward from Moses but the stiff necked people that y'all were is the stiff necked people that y'all are and the fleshy side of us is still that way. The spiritual side of us is not that way. Spiritual side of us is able to follow after God and walk in victory but this message is to appeal to us in a way that says, which are we following?
35:18
Are we feeding the flesh or we feeding the spirit? Gilead has auto surely their vanity. Though they sacrifice bulls and Gilead, indeed their altars shall be heaps in the furrowed fields. I'm not paying any attention to that nonsense. Jacob pled to the country of Syria.
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Oh, yes, it's fun. It's not fun. Now, they send more and more. They made for themselves molded images. This is something that Isaiah at the same time period says, idols of silver according to their skill.
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All of it is the work of craftsman. They say to them, let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves. I looked up. I wanted to do a message about love so bad today. Happy Valentine's Day.
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Kiss the Cavs came up. From Hosea for crying out loud, I literally googled kissing in the Bible because I wanted to do a Valentine's message and this is the one that I kept coming up with. Therefore, shall there be like a morning cloud like the early dew like chaff, judgment, judgment. Yet, oh, praise God. Here it is.
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Yet, I am the Lord your God. Ever since the land of Egypt and you shall, without a doubt, future orientation, no experientially, no god but me. You're going to know what it's like to know me. I'm going to bring you in. For there's no savior besides me.
36:34
I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of great drought, when they had pasture, they were filled, they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Doesn't that sound wonderful? Do you remember what they did in the wilderness? They forgot me because everything was fun. Everything's good.
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So, I'm going to be like to them. I still have to do some discipline and no discipline is pleasant at the time. Israel, you're destroyed but your help is for me. I'll be your king. Where is any other?
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This is judgement. Give me king and princess. I gave you king in my anger. Finally, relented since you begged for one but also took him away in my wrath because it went just like I thought it was going to go. Iniquity of Ephesians bound up.
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His sin is stored up. Judgment didn't read in that one. But he gets to this, but I will ransom them from the power of the grave. Amen. I will.
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God is the prime mover. Redeem them from death. Death, I will be your plagues. I'm gonna conquer you death. Oh grave, I will be your destruction.
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Jesus overcame what? Death, hell, and the grave. Pity is hidden from my eyes. I've gotta do what I've gotta do. Oh Israel, return to lord your God some hope here.
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For you have stumbled because of your iniquity, take words with you. Come and return to the Lord and say to God, this is Hosea instructing them. This is how it goes. Recognize your own sin. Come to God and say, take this away from me.
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Lord, please receive us graciously. We're offer, we're finally turning the corner and we're saying, Israel, I mean, Assyria is not the one that's gonna save us, lord. We're not going to be riding on horses nor we say anymore to the works of our hands. You're our gods. We're turning our backs on our idols and we're turning towards you for in you, the fatherless finds mercy.
38:33
They're starting or at least Hosea is asking them to start understanding the heart of a merciful and loving God. So, repentance is in there and God says, I will heal their backsliding and I will love them freely. My anger is turned away from it. I will be like the dew to Israel. He shall grow like the lily.
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He shall lengthen his roots like Lebanon. His branches shall spread. His beauty shall be like an olive tree and his fragrance like Lebanon. It's going to be good. Those who dwell under his shadow shall return.
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They shall be revived like grain and grow like a vine. Y'all know what it's like. It's the weirdest winter we've ever had. But y'all know what it's like when the snow all melts off and it's brown. And then we get that first rain.
39:18
I mean, snow melting off helps but you know, it doesn't take long for the grass to turn just emerald green here. That's the picture that he's going. They shall be revived like the grain, grow like a vine. Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephesians shall say, what have I to do anymore with idols?
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Why would I go after idols? When I've got almighty God, why would I go after some small G God? I'm actually like a green cypress tree. Your fruit lord is found in me. So, this is the bow to tie everything up.
39:52
Twenty five years of poetry, most of it in one sermon. Never apologize. My professor said never apologize. I just say that out loud when I want to apologize. Hosea fourteen nine says, who is wise or who among you is wise?
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Let him understand these things. Let us all understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him experientially know this that God is good and that his way is good actually, experiential knowledge. For the ways of the Lord are right.
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It sounds restrictive. It sounds like he doesn't love, you know, as teenagers feel like, oh my, you don't love me. You don't care about me. Everybody else has this thing and you don't
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Speaker 2love me. You have it.
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Speaker 1God's saying, it's not good for you. His ways are right and the righteous walk in them. But transgressors stumble in them. This is probably an appended little section that is added on to the end of all of Hosea's poetry and it says, look back over these things and see if you see yourself in there anywhere. Yeah.
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Speaker 3And that's the end
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Speaker 1of the book. That's it. King of Kings. That's the next slide is that. I want to say this, if you read Hosea and you only read part of it and like I skipped through, fast forwarded through some of it.
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If you only read some of it, you gotta keep reading. You gotta keep reading and keep on getting through it. Therefore, now, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Is there conviction of sin? Yes.
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You should see your own sin when you read the word of God. You should and should God's righteousness be shown? Jesus says, this is the power. This is the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of sin and convince us of God's righteousness, to illumine his word. So, I would say, if you have an angry God theology and you take snippets with your angry God theology and you take snippets from this and you use it to beat people over the head with.
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This is not a clobber passage. All of us are Gomer. Right? All of us are Gomer. So, it's not something to beat other people up with.
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It's to look at and go, oh my goodness. It's me. I'm the problem. It's me. Sorry for that Taylor Swift reference.
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I didn't even mean to do that. Or maybe that's not even Taylor Swift. I don't know. I don't know. Is it?
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Yeah, it is. Great. Add that to the list. Would y'all stand up? Imma ask the band to come forward.
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One other thing about those shows is how could they possibly resolve every single way, every single episode it feels like, how can they get out of this one? How's that guy ever gonna get out of this situation? How is Ephraim ever gonna get out of this situation? You know the concept of Deus Ex Machina? God from the machine?
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Like, God, that's how he's going to get out of it. Where there is no way, God will make a way. He's the king of kings. He is the one that can do this. Altar's always open.
43:00
I'm around afterwards. We were having a having a congregational meeting afterwards but I'll be around after that too.
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