Open your Bibles if you went
to Hosea chapter 5. Hosea chapter 5. We'll continue our study in this
wonderful book. And chapter 5 is a continuance
of what we looked at last week in chapter 4 where we saw God's
just judgment and we saw the decline of worship in Israel
and how they had no knowledge of who the true living God was
and their worship was They were fallen after false gods. And
so this is a continuation of that. This chapter is a continuation
of that. But we will see mercy. Mercy
at the very end of this chapter. And we know that mercy only comes
to us in through the Lord Jesus Christ. And last week we finished off
where the Lord said to leave Ephraim alone, remember? And
then later on we went over to Jeremiah and we saw that Ephraim
will be saved. My, it was wonderful. And Ephraim
having joined himself to idols, we will see the sad consequences
of that in this chapter. But praise be to God as this
chapter closes. we will see the prospect of mercy.
And we know that mercy is true, isn't it? It's the mercy that
sinners receive is only in and through the Lord Jesus Christ
and him alone. I named this message, Mercy Amidst Sin. Mercy Amidst
Sin. We were saved and we were saved
when we were dead in our sins, right? And now we're saved sinners
and we're still sinners, but now we're saved sinners. So what
mercy we've received even amidst our sin. It's just incredible,
the mercy of God. So let's start by reading the
first five verses of Hosea chapter five. And I'm gonna stop and
read a little bit, give you a little bit of commentary through this.
But let's read first of all these first five verses. Hear ye this,
O priests, and hearken, ye house of Israel, and give ye ear, O
house of the king. For judgment is toward you, because
you have been a snare on Mizpah, and the net spread upon Tabor. And the revolters are profound
to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all. I
know Ephraim in Israel is not hid from me. For now, O Ephraim,
thou commitest whoredom, and Israel is defied. They will not
frame their doings to turn unto their God, for the spirit of
whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known
the Lord. And the pride of Israel doth
testify to his face, Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall
in their iniquity. Judah also shall fall with them.
So we see here a picture of the total depravity of man. We fell
in Adam, beloved, all of us. And the Hortums here is speaking
of spiritual adultery, which we all commit in our natural
state by not wanting anything to do with God. Scripture says
there's none that seeketh after him, right? There's none that
know him, unless it's by revelation. We're all dead in trespasses
and sins. But praise God, there's mercy
for we who are God's people in Christ. We don't deserve the
mercy, we don't merit the mercy, but God shows it to us in Christ
because of his great love for us, his everlasting, unchanging
love. So we see in verse one that idolatry
was so bad in the land, in the days of Hosea, that even the
priests and the great men openly opposed the truth. It says, O
priests, and hearken ye, hear ye this, O priests, and hearken
ye to the house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king.
My, oh my, you're given wholly over to idolatry, beloved. which
is the state that we're found in naturally. They have turned from the living
and true God to worshiping false idols, to worshiping false idols. We recently found out that friends
of ours who had professed to be believers are now Catholics. To me, that's exactly what's
happening here. How can you go from the truth
to a lie? Well, if you don't know God,
you can. And God will preserve his people,
won't he? We will never go from a system of free grace, which
is only found in Christ, to a workspace system, unless we don't know
him. Because we've been delivered
from a system of man's works to free grace in Christ Jesus,
our Lord, who came to save sinners. My, my, oh, my. So this is humanity in general. This is humanity in general.
were born dead in trespasses and sins. We do not, we actually
oppose the truth. Remember in Acts, our study in
Acts chapter 17, and Paul's talking to those Jews, and Paul says
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they oppose themselves. That's us by nature. That's what
they're doing here. They're opposing the one true
living God by going after all these false idols. And that's
what the Lord saved us from. Remember, this is, this, what
we see, just like last week, we're gonna see a picture of
what God delivered us from. It's glorious. And it all comes
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of us might not
have even been religious. Some of us might not have been.
Some of us may have been blessed and heard the truth at a young
age, which is wonderful, and are still holding fast to that
precious truth. And some of us were just living
in the world, but we were all in darkness at one time. Same
darkness, right? Like Norm says, same darkness.
My, oh my. So I look at this and I just
see a picture of where we came from as sinners. So this is humanity in general,
born dead in trespasses and sins, having no desire to worship the
one true living God. And this is why, beloved, we
must be born again. Because by nature we do this.
Willingly. Willingly. Do you know we must
be turned by the Holy Spirit of God? I love it in Thessalonians. It
says they were turned from idols to serve the living true God
He turns us doesn't he brother Jim he turned we're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God and he turns and we We run to Christ. Oh My I have no problem saying
that we willingly run to Christ But I know it's only because
we were made willing And that's wonderful for the believer. We're
rejoicing because we never would have willingly come to him. But
now we do. Now we run, don't we, Brother
Brian? We run to Christ now. Oh, it's
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Oh. We must be turned by God, the
Holy Spirit, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, because this
darkness, the state that we see Israel in, is the state that
we're born into. See, in verse 1, we see Mizpah
and Tabor mentioned in this verse, in verse 1. I didn't know this
until I put this study together, but they were places that lay
in the past between Samaria and Jerusalem, so that if any poor
Israelite wanted to go up to Jerusalem to worship the one
true living God, they had to go through these places. And look at what's happening.
They're wanting to go up to Jerusalem to worship the one true living
God, and these priests watched out and opposed them. That's a picture of false religious
preachers, beloved. Opposing the true living God.
Teaching man's works. Really, man's works is nothing
but worshiping yourself. Thinking that you can make yourself
good enough for heaven. It's basically self-worship,
really. Will-worship, the scripture actually
calls it. I think it's in 2 Thessalonians. It calls it will-worship. And
so there's nothing new under the sun. Let us not think this
is strange. When we see such conduct from
people who merely profess Christ, they say, oh yeah, I believe
in Christ. And then you give them the truth and they oppose
it. So far as to say, have you had people say this to you? Well,
you guys are in a cult. Or what you preach, that's a
false gospel. Really? Yeah, I've had people
tell me that, Brian. People say, I had one fella tell
me, this town would be better off without that church and without
you preaching here. He doesn't know the truth. And
come to find out, as I get to know him, I still know him, he's
a will worshiper. He thinks that it's all about
man making the decision. And it's just wild. It's just wild. So this is nothing new. When
you preach that salvation is through Christ alone by no works
of man, by nothing of man, people will oppose that truth.
Religious people will oppose that truth. They can be more nasty than unbelievers.
Like, I mean, just non-religious unbelievers. Religious unbelievers can be
worse than just non-believers, because non-believers just say,
I can't argue, I don't want to talk about that. A religious unbeliever will argue
with you. They will oppose the truth. My,
oh my. So here's these priests, they
are hindering people from going and worshiping the one true living
God up in Jerusalem. And again, this occurs in every
age. True spiritual followers of the Lord Jesus Christ in every
age are dealt with in a like manner. Because by nature, people
oppose the truth of salvations of the Lord. And they may say, oh yeah, I
believe that. But then when you start telling them that God is
sovereign over providence, God is sovereign over salvation,
oh! What about my choice? What about my will? Well, I'll
tell you. I made a choice. I exercised my will. Did you
guys? But only because I was made willing. Only because I
was born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Because before that,
I know, I remember, before that, I wanted nothing to do with God.
Absolutely nothing. And then I got religious, and
when somebody told me the truth about, I'll just use election,
I went off like a cannon on that person. I opposed the truth. My, oh my. Now how much truth,
Vicki and I were talking about this, and I love this too. I'm
not gonna get too much into this, but we have to give grace. I
believe we have to give grace. I think that there's a lot of,
there's a lot of, Non-grace being given and and
we talked about it sister Barb. We we need if we've received
grace We need to give grace how much doctrine did the thief on
the cross know? Vicki was bringing up the lady
with the hemp if I just touched the hem of his garment. I'll
be healed Now we know that's God-given faith right we know
that even the thief on the cross when he said Lord remember me
That's God-given faith But faith is a grain of mustard seed. We don't even have that and we're
saved. Right? So let us be gracious. Let us
be gracious with folks. My oh my. And by nature, natural
men oppose even the attributes of God. Do you know the one attribute
that natural man really is actually terrified about? The fact that
God is all-knowing. That He knows, even we who are
His sheep, our deepest, darkest secrets. Our most horrendous thoughts.
Our most horrendous deeds. Now for we who are the people
of God, we rejoice that it's all covered under the blood.
Right? Right? But that terrifies natural
man. That terrifies natural man. When
you start telling him, oh God knows everything about you. He
knows everything you've done. He knows everything, everything.
Oh man. And what it does, it just stirs
up what's naturally in natural man, which is an enmity with
God, the scripture says. So it just stirs that up. So last chapter, we saw people
had no knowledge of God, which is us in our natural state. But in this chapter, we're going
to see that God has a perfect knowledge of us. Saved and lost. Natural man and born again man
or woman Now Again for we who are the people
of God We don't have to let the past haunt us Like we've seen
in Sunday school. It's wonderful Paul said I'm
gonna forget the things that are in the past and let us do
Because it's under the blood blood A natural man, when they
find out about these truths, oh, you're telling me God knows
every single thing I've ever thought, I've ever spoken, and
I've ever done? Oh, man. Even the things that no
one else knows, not even my mama? Yep. Praise God for the blood
of Christ, beloved. Praise the mighty name of Jesus,
that all our sins are forgiven in him. And that's where we look,
that's where we rest, beloved. That's where we rest, forgetting
the things of the past. But natural man does not like
this attribute. In fact, again, all the attributes
of God bother sinners. We were all there. When we hear
that, in our natural state, when we hear that God's holy, like
I mean really holy, he's holy. He can't even have sin in his
presence. Oh, I don't wanna hear that.
Because deep down we know what we are. Especially if we're hearing
a preacher say, we're just a bunch of sinners who need to be saved. When we hear that he's infinitely
holy, that he's infinitely pure, that God is a righteous being, who the only way we can be in
his presence is to be clothed in the precious robe of Christ's
righteousness, who's God in the flesh. Isn't that amazing? In order to be in the presence
of God, we have to have the righteousness of God. And Christ freely gave
that to us by the sacrifice of himself. Oh my. See, isn't it wonderful that
the scripture says he is, Charlie was bringing out on Sunday, he
is our peace. Oh, see the blood of Christ,
it quiets the conscience. Doesn't it? Because all our sins
are forgiven. washed under the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It made me want to put my hands
up and say hallelujah. I'll tell you that. I'm going
to get all charismatic here. Oh my. It's wonderful though,
isn't it? It's wonderful. My. And just because of these facts,
just because of these attributes, natural man does not like God. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 8. Listen to this. I'm going to
read a verse in verse 13. Now, natural man has a great
hatred of God by nature, because he's all-knowing. He knows all
things, and he's all-powerful. And natural man despises this
fact. Now, I think I told you before
that there was someone who used to go here, and they've left.
After I preached on this this verse we're going to look at
these verses. We're going to look at in Romans Told me I was never
an enemy with God And me being who I am I said well, then you
don't know God And I wasn't trying to be offensive
I was being real I said you're not arguing with me You're arguing
with the Word of God Those are not my words these
are God's words He's going to tell us in this portion what
the natural man is. We're enmity with God. In the
Greek, that means hatred. We have a natural hatred to God. Oh my. Listen, before we go there,
I'm going to read this one verse from Hebrews 4.13. Neither is
there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all
things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we
have to do. Now, for an unbeliever, that's
terrifying. For a believer, it makes us rejoice
more in the precious blood of Christ, doesn't it? It makes
us rejoice more that Christ died for our sins. It makes us rejoice
more that God chose us in Christ, and that God sent His Son to
die in our room and place, shed His blood to redeem our eternal
souls. My, And you know, when people have
an enmity with God, they're actually enemies of even His mercy. And I still go back to that verse
in Acts 17. That was amazing when Paul said,
you oppose yourselves. And these were Jewish people.
They were opposing the truths of the gospel. And again, there's
nothing new. People do it still today. We've all experienced
that in one time or another. And you know why they're enemies
of His mercy? Because it's holy mercy. And we're unholy. And in their
own minds, they feel like they have no need for mercy. Now,
what are we? who are the people of God, we're
mercy beggars, aren't we? I have learned more and more
each day, see if it's true for you, that I need God's mercy. I don't have to have someone
tell me that, I know it. And when someone tells me that,
I'm like, yeah, that's true. That's true. And you know what else they don't
like? They don't like the fact that God never changes. That his immutability, he doesn't
change. Therefore, his love for us doesn't
change. Isn't that wonderful? You know, we can love someone
and they can do something dastardly and something. And as humans,
we can be like, I don't want to be around that person anymore.
They can either break our trust or some horrendous thing. And
we don't even want to be near them. I think of a young fellow that
murdered Joe, Joe Terrell, you know. said that at the hearing
he had no remorse. He just sat there like dead stared. And that's a person they once
loved. My. My. So God doesn't change in all
his attributes. He doesn't change. Therefore,
he's offensive to natural man. He's not someone that they can
twist around to their own doing. See, man likes a God that they
make up in their mind. A God who does what they want,
not what he wants. Right? We, as the redeemed people
of God, we're thankful that God does what he wants. Because if
he hadn't saved us, brother, we would never be saved. And
he willed and purposed our salvation, sister. Isn't that wonderful?
It's wonderful, isn't it? It's absolutely wonderful. And this is true today that natural
man still does not like God, does not want to worship God.
The scriptures bring forth that this is nothing new under the
sun. Look at this in Romans chapter 8. We see Paul brings forth this
fact in this chapter in verses 5 to 8. Marvel, beloved, this
is the state we were in. This is the state we were in
by birth, nature, and choice. Verse 5, Romans 8. For they that
are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. But they that are after the spirit,
the things of the spirit. Now there's the great change.
There's the old man and the new creature in Christ, born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. Now here, for to be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritual minded is life and peace. Now
look at this. And this is, again, this is God's
words. This is not Wayne Boyd's opinion. This is not your guy's
opinion. This is what God's word says.
because the carnal mind is enmity. Now that's hatred in the Greek. So it'd be because the carnal
mind is hatred against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can it be. So then they which are
the flesh cannot please God. In our natural state, we can't
please God. We can't save ourselves. We don't
merit salvation, we merit damnation. The wages of sin is death. That's
the payment of our sin is death. We know that's eternal death
too, not just death physically, but eternal death. And again, verse seven is not
up for debate, is it? There's no wiggle room in there.
No, and God doesn't change. So this truth here that Paul
wrote 2,000 years ago, because the carnal mind is hatred against
God, it's still true today. That's the state God saved us
from, beloved. Whether we outright, we might
not have ever said, you know, I hate you, God. We might not
have ever said that. But as I always say, our actions
did, our sin did. We were rebelling against God
by our very actions. But marvel here, in the midst
of sin, in the midst of darkness that we were in, let us rejoice
over verse 9. Oh, Romans chapter 8, verse 9.
We are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, and now we're
in the Spirit. Look at this. But ye are not
in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Praise God. Who made us to differ? God and
God alone in Christ. If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. That's pretty cut and dry,
isn't it? But look at that. Isn't that
a wonderful verse? We were in the flesh. We were
dead in sins. We've been born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. We're not in the flesh anymore, beloved.
We're in the Spirit. all by the grace and mercy of
God. So again, in the midst of darkness and sin, mercy abounds
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Look at that, it says, you are
not in the flesh. This does not mean that we're
not human, because we're still human. That doesn't mean that.
This doesn't mean that we don't have passions and appetites and
desires, or that our old nature is eradicated. No, we're still
carrying around this body of flesh, aren't we? But it means
that we have a new nature now. It means we're born again of
the Holy Spirit of God. It means now we have faith in
Christ and repentance before God. It means that we're indwelt
by the Holy Spirit of God now. We're new creatures in Christ.
And you know what it also means? It means Christ is dominant in
our lives. Sin was dominant before. Now Christ is dominant. Isn't
that wonderful? And that, beloved, is all the
work of God. It's wonderful. I just, I just
get me so fired up. It's just wonderful. Just wonderful. And then it says, but ye are
not in the flesh. but in the Spirit, if so be it
that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now to be in the Spirit
is to be ruled over by the Spirit of God, by the Holy Spirit of
God, to be influenced and controlled by the Spirit. That's why we
don't wanna do the things that we used to. That's why now we
have checks. You know, have you ever had a
sin all of a sudden pop in your mind and you go, no, Lord, please
don't let me do that, please, please. Where before we wouldn't
even say please, we'd just run right at it. Right? I'm being honest here. I got
this battle every day, do you? Oh my. Oh my. And you know what this also means? When it says, but you're not
in the flesh, but in the spirit, it means we're justified in Christ. It means we're sanctified in
Christ. It means we're redeemed in Christ
and by Christ. It means that no charge can be
brought against us. because we're justified by God
himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, oh, that'll make we sinners
smile, won't it? Oh, it's wonderful, beloved.
Oh, my, oh, my. Now let's go back to Hosea chapter
five. We'll read verses six to 12. First, we read verse six here.
It says, and again, this is a picture of Israel being totally given
over to idolatry. They shall go with their flocks
and with their herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not
find him. He hath withdrawn himself from
them. Now, Israel was unwilling to face the fact that God really
did know her, that he really knew her. They thought, nah,
he doesn't really know what's going on. But he names specific things
here in which he knew her. First, he knew that while she
was seeking the Lord, it was not a true seeking. It was just
show. Because they're worshiping idols. They had a form of godliness,
but they denied the power thereof. We see that in the first part
of verse six. He knew they were seeking something while they
were actually running away from him. They were seeking idols. They were committing spiritual
idolatry, spiritual adultery. And if you had asked Israel at
this time, what are you doing? They'd say, well, we're seeking
the Lord. They'd point to their flocks. They'd point to their
herds. They'd say, well, we dedicate
some of these animals for sacrifice. Are we not serving the Lord? Sounds like modern day religion
a little bit, doesn't it? Sounds like those folks in Matthew
chapter 7. Sounds like some of those folks
over in Matthew chapter 7. If you want to turn there again,
Matthew chapter 7. And mark this, these people that
are mentioned here in Matthew 7, these are religious folks. Oh my. Oh, I was in Mark. No wonder
I couldn't find it. I'm in Mark. I'm looking at it,
going, well, I know it's in Matthew 7. Look at verse 21. I actually
read verse 20. Whereby their fruits ye shall
know them. Now that's the fruit of the Spirit. It's not the fruit
of our doings. That's the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. Not
every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord. There are a lot of
people who say, Lord, Lord, isn't there? Shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father which is
in heaven What's the will of the father look to Christ alone?
period Don't look to anything. We do nothing not one pinprick
of works. Just look to Christ for salvation My oh my Many shall say to me
Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name,
cast out devils. Oh, there's all kinds of folks
out there say they prophesize in the name of the Lord, and
they're just nothing but false prophets. There's also a bunch of folks
out there say they can cast out demons and devils and all this
stuff. My, oh my. And in thy name, done many wonderful
works. Have we not done all these wonderful
things for you? And then if you look in Matthew,
I think it's 24, God's people, when the Lord says, you've done
all this to my people, they say, when did we do those things?
We have no, these folks are bragging about what they've done. Oh. And then while I profess unto
you, I never knew you, I never gnosked you. They're not his
people. He doesn't know, he knows them
because they're his creation, but he doesn't know them intimately. and he didn't die for them, how
do we know that? You that depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken unto a wise
man which built his house upon a rock. Who's the rock? Christ. See, our salvation is wholly
based upon Christ and him alone. Outside of ourselves, right?
There ain't no merit, no merit, no merit, what Tim James says,
in us, none at all. All our merit is in Christ. And
I love what the father said, this is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. And we're in him, aren't we,
Brother Brian? My, that means he's pleased with us. Oh my,
it's amazing. It's amazing. Now let's read
verse 7. He goes on to tell them. See,
look how much God knows them. In this again, the all-knowing
God terrifies natural man. They have dwelt treacherously
against the Lord, for they have begotten strange children. Now
shall I not devour them with their portions? Well, we see
here that as true worship declined, they made more of the sacrifices,
more holy days, and more festivals, and some would have said, how
moving, oh, how spiritual this is. My unsaved brothers, when my
mom called in the priest and he did the rosary, my unsaved
brother said, oh, so moving. It's a good thing I wasn't there. Because it wasn't moving. It's
time for tears. My, oh my. God says it's worthless. God's basically telling the Israelites,
it's worthless. You're not seeking me. You got a show of worshiping
the Lord. Remember Matthew 7? You got a
show saying you're doing all these wonderful things. You think
you're doing all these wonderful things, and it's worthless. See,
that's why it's so important for us to just trumpet out of
this place, Christ and Him crucified, that salvation is in Christ alone,
plus nothing we do. It's vital. It's vital, beloved,
because that's the true gospel. Salvation is in Christ alone
and through Christ alone. That's why he says, look unto
me and live all ye ends of the earth. That's why we preach that. Just
look to Christ. Look to Christ, sinner friend. Just look to Christ,
because we're a bunch of sinners looking to Christ who are saved
by the grace of God. That's all we are. Oh, my. And he says it's worthless, because
it had nothing to do with him. It had nothing to do with him.
Remember this. I got this from Robert Hawker.
If God is not in it, if Christ is not at all of it, if Christ
is not all of it, it's not true worship. If God's not in it, and if it's
not all of Christ, God's not in it. No matter how sincere
people are. And he says, no matter how moving
or spiritual it is, God's not in it if Christ isn't in it. And again, this is what churches
are into now. Think of what churches are into
now. Concerts. Concerts now. Wild game meals. Free gas giveaways. Oh, that's all appealing to a
natural man, isn't it? Oh, yeah. Audiovisual aids. TVs. Vicki and I visited a church
in Oregon one time, not for service, but went there because she was
taking some pictures of a wedding. And outside in the vestibules,
And it went all around like a U with all TV screens. So people could
stand out there if they wanted. They didn't want to be in service.
They could stand out there and watch the TV screen. Oh, my. Puppet shows. People say they go to Africa
and they're thrilled. We're going to put on a puppet
show for the kids. You know what Jean-Claude told me about that
stuff? And I'm not trying to be mean here. Jean-Claude told
me those Africans laugh at that. They think they're mocking. They're
mocking God, and they know that. He told me that. He said, the
African people who know Christ are just like, this is awful. And then they have all the rest
of the whoop-de-woo of religion, right? We're going to have bouncy
castle, the place down the road. We gotta set up a bouncy castle
and like a fair for the people to come. And you know what's
lacking? You know what's missing? Christ. Christ. Christ is not there. Because you know, the preaching
of the gospel, and we learn this from Paul, is offensive to natural
man. But if you take out the offense
of the gospel, which is Christ, that salvation's only in Him,
with nothing we do. You take out Him, just words. I remember listening to a sermon
by Tim James who preached here, just words. It's just religious
words then. You take the offense of the cross,
you take the finished work of Christ, without any addition
by man, Just words. It's nothing but a religious
show. I turned on the fella down the
street, because I like to listen to some of these guys around
here, to hear what some of them are preaching. This came out in a top hat and
all this stuff, and lights shining on the fella and all this. And
I looked at that and I went, what in the world is that? And
I could only take about five minutes of it, beloved, because
there was no Christ. But now I could say, well, yeah,
I saw what that guy's doing. It's nonsense, beloved. So let's do away with the nonsense. Let's preach Christ. Let's just preach Christ. See,
churches used to just preach Christ. Churches used to have
three or four songs, and then the message was an hour long
or 45 minutes long. Now, they do 45 minutes of music,
a 20-minute message, and another 45 minutes of music. And there's
no Christ. It's just a religious gathering. My, oh, my. Lord, keep us faithful
to just preach the gospel. Because we're nothing but sinners
who've been saved by grace. Vicki and I came out of that
shenanigans. My oh my. My oh my. So what do they leave
out? The preaching of Christ him crucified,
the hearing of the word of God, and doing so they leave out Christ
and him crucified. Let's read verses 8 to 12 now.
Blow ye the cornet in Gibbath, in the trumpet in Rambah. Cry
aloud at Beth-Avon, after thee, O Benjamin. Ephraim shall be
desolate in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel have
I made known that they are that which shall surely be. The princes
of Judah were like them that removed the bound. Therefore,
I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. See, the leadership's
gone, the priests are gone, and the people will follow them. Ephraim is opposed and broken
in judgment because he willingly walked after the commandment.
Therefore, will I be unto Ephraim as a moth and to the house of
Judah as rottenness. Well, we see here that the prophet
Hosea uses many pictures to bring forth more forcibly the divine
truce he's setting forth. As all these pictures bring forth
the same picture, which is the defection of Israel from the
one true living God to serving idols. And this is
the Lord's displeasure. This is the time of Jacob's trouble. So marvel now at the next verse. In the next verse we see that
none but the Lord can save us. None but the Lord can save us. And notice what Ephraim and Judah
do in the midst of this terribleness. They turn to a man. We turned to ourselves in our
natural state, didn't we? Thinking we could save ourselves. This is what happens. We are so dead in trespasses
and sins that we look to men to help us. We go to men and tell them, oh,
Well, the religion I was in, you go to a man and tell him
all your sins, and that's just a man. He's a sinner just like
me, I found out later on after the Lord saved me. He can't help
me at all, but I thought he could. And he'd tell me, well, go do
this, Wayne, and pray these prayers five times. One time, I think
I was so bad, he made me pray 20 Our Fathers. And I thought,
okay, I'm good now. I must have really messed up. My I did not know the depths
of my sin beloved. I Did not know the depths of
my sin. I did not know the depravity of where I was. I Went to a man
for help and that man can't even help himself So look look at
in this verse look at in verse 13 here When Ephraim saw his
sickness and Judah saw his wound then when Ephraim to the Assyrian
and Sent to the king Jared Yet could he not heal you, nor cure
you of your wound? See, I can't help myself in my
natural state. You can't help yourself in your
natural state. We can't help each other in our
natural state. But I preach the one who can
help any who come to him. The one who died for sinners,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's healed us, hasn't he? He's
the God man. See, they're going to natural
man, which is what religion does. Religion says, look inside yourself
and do the best you can do. I'm gonna climb this mountain
with you. Come on, I'm trying to, I'm gonna climb the mountain,
just the preachers up there. I'm gonna climb this mountain
with you, bunch of sinners. And if you know it in religion,
preachers don't ever call themselves a sinner. Grace, we call ourselves
sinners because we know what we are. We're safe sinners. Oh, my. So Ephraim and Judas
seek the assistance with the state of Ephraim. They go to
the king of Assyria, who's just a man. And as I thought about
this, I thought about this. He's an idol worshiper, too. It's just hit me today. I'm putting
messes everyone They're going to an idol worshiper
Do you see how far away they've gotten from God beloved But God has mercy right he knows
Judah Judas Judah man the lion a tribe of Judas our king He's
got his eye on them and fm2. We don't oh my oh My, oh, my. But they go to this fellow idol
worshiper. Again, this is like natural man
trying to help one another. I'd be like, Brian, I'm in this
pit. I'm going to throw you a rope.
When you get out of your pit, help me out of mine. And you
go, I can't get out of my pit, Wayne. Right? And we may slide up out of that
pit a little bit, right? And then the miry clay descends
right back down the bottom, doesn't it? That rope ain't long enough. We can't reach it. Oh my. But when help comes from
above. He takes us out of that miry
pit and clay, doesn't he? And sets us upon the rock, being
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's wonderful, beloved. It's
wonderful. So if we read these scriptures
spiritually with an eye to Christ, these scriptures will be very
profitable to us. because they bring forth to our
discovery the weakness of human attainments to save ourselves.
We cannot save ourselves. No one else can help us. We can't
save anyone, and we can't save ourselves. And see, the preacher's
just saying, the Lord saved me. Run to him. He's the only one
who can save us, right? That's all we do when we preach,
we're pointing you to Christ. Oh, and these scriptures also
bring forth the fact that all human strength to recover ourselves
from the runes of the fall are worthless. Salvation's of the
Lord, beloved. Salvation's in Christ alone.
It comes in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lion
of the tribe of Judah, who is God incarnate in the flesh. He
came to save sinners and to say, whom I'm chief. He saved my soul. Praise his mighty name. Now let's read verses 14 and
15 of Hosea chapter 5. For I will be unto Ephraim as
a lion. Oh my. What's Christ? The lion of the tribe of Judah.
And as a young lion to the house of Judah. Oh, there he is. I,
even I will tear and go away, I will take away and none shall
rescue him. I will go and return to my place
till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face. In their affliction,
they will seek me early. What happens when we're born
again of the Holy Spirit of God? We seek Christ. We seek his face,
don't we? Isn't that beautiful? So we see
mercy here just abounding. Amidst sin, mercy abounds even
more, where sin abounds, grace abounds much more, beloved. It's
wonderful. So marvel, beloved of God, as
we looked at the hopeless state we were in, we see in these two
chapters, verses chapter four and chapter five, brings forth
and describe how the false teachers now are described in this chapter,
how they're hindering the people of God from coming to Christ
and Him alone, from coming to the Lord God. They're on their
way to Jerusalem to worship the one true living God, and the
priests are hindering them. My, may we ponder well the awfulness
of such characters, who to please man and find favor with the mighty,
set their necks in the mispahs and taboos of this world, seeking
to ensnare God's people. And even today, they harass and
afflict the people of God. Whatever Hosea knew of this in
his day, we see also in our day. All around us are deceivers and
antichrists. Remember, antichrists are just
people who are against Christ. You ever think of this? People
are looking for a man And John said, there's already
Antichrist among us. He's talking about the spirit
of Antichrist. But think of this, people are
looking for a man, who are they not looking to? Amen, my dear
brother and sister. They're looking for the Antichrist
and not looking to Christ. They're more fascinated with
eschatology than they are looking to Christ. Now, I wrap eschatology
up like this. I don't know the hour or the
day or the season, but God does. So I'm going to just keep looking
for Christ, whether he comes at my death or whether he comes
and I'm alive at his second coming. I know I'm going to see him either
way. Right? But humans are fascinated with
signs and wonders and getting a hold of something new. Oh,
my. You ever think of this? There's
so little known and so little proclaimed of the person and
work and character of the Lord Jesus Christ in the religion
of today. It's all about look at what you're
doing instead of looking at what he's done. That's what's most
important, isn't it? We look to the finished work
of Christ. We look to the Christ who finished
the work. We look to God the Messiah sent by God to save his
people from their sins, and we go praise be to God. He saved
my soul It's wonderful oh My and these false teachers
they don't speak of Christ But to the believer he's the
sum and substance of the Bible isn't he He's the one who the
prophets testify He's the sum and substance of
our salvation. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. My. So let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord observe, and notice this too, observe the Lord's
jealousy for His gospel. Observe the Lord's jealousy for
His people. and observed the Lord's jealousy
for the truth of the true and living God being
the one to worship as opposed to false idols. God's a jealous
God. He will not share his glory with
anyone, especially a dead piece of rock. Mine. Oh, for grace to make Christ
what God the Father makes Him. The whole substance of salvation. The whole substance of the everlasting
covenant. Jesus is the first and the last.
He's the author and the finisher of our salvation. He's the object
of our salvation. He's the means of our salvation. He's the end of everything that
concerns salvation. If we seek pardon for our sins,
Where shall we seek it but in Christ? If we seek peace with God, He
is, and He alone, is our peace with God. When the enemies of God come
against us, who do we need but Christ? Who
do we need, beloved, but Christ? He's our shield, our defender,
our buckler, our high tower. He's our God. Again, Christ is
the sum and substance of all the promises of God. All the
promises of God are yea and amen in Christ for us, for we who
are the redeemed. And I caught this from a commentator. He is the promise of God himself. God promised he'd send a Messiah.
He's the promise of God. Oh, my beloved! What a Savior! He's the giver of the law, and
He's the fulfiller of the law for His people. He's the end
of the law for righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
substance of all the types and shadows and pictures in the Old
Testament. They're just but types and pictures and shadows. He's
the sum. He's the substance. Oh, to Him all the prophecies,
all the prophets give testimony to. Oh, my soul. Let we who are the
redeemed of the Lord draw, let us draw from this, this deep,
endless well of grace, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. What a Savior we have, beloved.
What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ, our Lord. And rejoice, beloved
of God, as we found, by the grace of God, we found him. And then we find out He found
us. He sought us. We're that lost sheep, wandering
around. Glory be to God! For the wondrous
gift of salvation in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate
in the flesh, in whom we have redemption. The redemption of
our eternal souls, how? By the shedding of the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of the God-man. And
all this he did because he's loved us with an everlasting
love. Remember, God doesn't change. His love for us has never changed,
beloved. Never. And how did he obtain
this salvation? By the shedding of his precious
blood on Calvary's cross. Scripture says he obtained eternal
salvation for us. The sinless one, dying for sinners. Wonder of wonders. God himself,
fully God and fully man, gives his life to redeem us from all
our sins. Blessed be the name of the Lord,
beloved. Praise his mighty name. Now we
know him. Now we trust the very one who
is eternal life. Now we trust the very one who
is God's salvation provided for sinners. Amen and amen. Brother Brian, can you close
us in prayer?