Alright, let's look at Hosea
chapter 12. Hosea chapter 12. And as I said,
the title of the message is Trusting the God of Jacob. This is an amazing passage of
scripture. As you can see, we're fast coming to a close of the
book of Hosea. There's been a lot said about
God's judgment against sin. Hosea, for in the eyes of the
world, would have been considered a prophet of doom, a prophet
who never has anything good to say about men. But that's the
way God's prophets were. It's the way God's preachers
are today. For we're not here to exalt men. We're here to exalt Christ. We're
here to sing and tell sinners of his mercy, which we're all
in need of. And so Hosea was that kind of
prophet. And as we see the judgments of
God coming forth in full view and without any holding back,
God's just judgment, the God who judges according to truth,
we need to understand that it's never without a call to sinners
to come to Christ for mercy. That there is help, there is
hope. But that hope is only to be found in one person and one
person alone. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Under the description here as the God of Jacob. Christ who
is the true and living God of Jacob. And in him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And so when God sets forth these judgments against sin, which
we all by nature and by practice, not just Ephraim or Israel or
Judah, but which we all by nature and by practice deserve and have
earned the wages of sin, let's always keep in mind that this
is given in light of the promise of the gospel. The good news
of how God saves sinners. That's the message of the Bible.
Christ and Him crucified and risen again. Now he starts off
here in the first two verses of chapter 12 in showing the
sad, sad condition of Israel and of Judah. And basically what
he says here is they are covenant breakers. That's what man by
nature is. That's what Adam did. He broke
a covenant with God. A covenant that God made with
him. That's what we've done in Adam and that's what we've done
in our lives. That's what Israel and Judah,
they were covenant breakers, sinners who were in need of salvation. It says here in verse one, it
says Ephraim. Now remember Ephraim, keep this
in mind, was the largest and probably the most influential
tribe in the northern kingdom of the 10 tribes. In fact, the
very first king of the Northern Kingdom, Jeroboam I, he was from
the tribe of Ephraim. That was his tribe. And they
were the largest and most influential tribe, even when the kingdom
split. So sometimes he identifies them
as Ephraim. Sometimes he identifies them
as Israel. Here we're going to see how he
identifies them as Jacob. We're gonna see that, Jacob in
his sin. But he says, Ephraim feedeth on wind. He says, and
followeth after the east wind. The east wind is probably a metaphor
for the Assyrian, the evil Assyrian empire, Assyrian army. that idolatrous
pagan nation that God was going to use as an instrument of his
judgment against Ephraim, against Israel. And so they follow after
the East Twenties, talking about when they went to make a covenant
with Assyria, went to make peace, make treaties with them. He says,
he daily increaseth lies and desolation. That's what goes
with lies, desolation. That's why false prophets cannot
do anyone any good, because their lies always lead to desolation.
And it says, and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians,
and oil is carried into Egypt. That's olive oil as a gift. And
they tried to make alliances with Egypt in order to protect
themselves. So here they are, Ephraim, the
people of God, the people of the covenant, the covenant of
Sinai now. when they should have been trusting
in the Lord for their protection. for their safety. They're going
to the very enemy that's going to conquer them to make alliances,
and going to Egypt, the place of their former bondage in their
history, a place they should have loathed, a place they should
never have longed to go back to. Going there, bringing the
gift of olive oil, which was a precious commodity in that
day, to get help from Egypt. What are they doing? They're
forsaking the true and living God. They're forsaking the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Look at verse 2, he says, the
Lord hath also a controversy with Judah. Now that word controversy
there means that God has a legal matter against them. It's like
a judge or an officer of the court of law bringing a charge
against a criminal. And that's what that is. So this
is a courtroom setting here. And it says, the Lord, and notice
the Lord there's in capital letters, so that's talking about the covenant-keeping
God. So here you have the covenant-keeping
God bringing charges against a covenant-breaking nation, you
see. And so whatever's going to happen
to them, now listen to me. And I know, you know, people
say, well, God was just an angry old granddaddy back then who
was mad at everybody. No, sir, this is justice. And
this is justice that we all have earned and deserved, see? So
God has a controversy with Judah. So now as I said, Hosea was mainly
a prophet to the Northern Kingdom, but he had words for the Southern
Kingdom of Judah too because they weren't any better off than
the Northern Kingdom. There were some times in the
Southern Kingdom's life as a nation that there were some times of
obedience as a nation from the king on down. but it was mostly
a rebellious nation. And remember, Hosea is a contemporary
with Isaiah. Hosea the prophet to the northern
kingdom, Isaiah the prophet to the southern kingdom, and you
read, all you have to do is read chapter one, you'll know what
shape the southern kingdom was in at that time. Pretty bad shape. That's, we read that last time
when Isaiah said, except the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of
a great army, the Lord of host is another way of saying it,
we would be like Sodom and Gomorrah. The whole nation, with all, every
individual without exception would perish like Sodom and Gomorrah. So verse two, the Lord also hath
a charge to bring against Judah. That's what he's saying. and
will punish. He will visit them. A lot of times that's the way
it's put in the scriptures in the Old Testament, but it's a
visitation of justice, so it's punish. He will punish Jacob. Jacob, according to his ways,
according to his doings, will he recompense him. In other words,
give him what he deserves. And that's why we have to pray
all the time, Lord, don't give me what I deserve. Don't ever,
don't ever, please don't ever give me what I deserve. I don't
want recompense. I want mercy. How about you?
I don't want recompense. I want grace. I'm a sinner who
needs grace. If the Lord should mark iniquities,
who would stand?" Now think about this, the covenant God, the covenant
keeping God here, He gave to Israel through Moses a national
covenant on Sinai. And that was a national covenant
that God used for several reasons. He enacted that for several reasons.
Number one, you might say it this way, to keep them together
as a nation. You know, it was very rare back
then in the history of the world if you look at it. for a nation
to come together and stay together as a nation? How many lost societies
do we study about? And even the great empires. Where's
the Roman Empire today? Where's the Greek Empire? Where's
the Assyrian Empire? Where are they today? They're
gone. But for 1,500 years, God kept that nation together. Now
Israel is going to be destroyed, the northern kingdom, but now
their existence is going to be kept together through the southern
kingdom, Judah, for a few years more, until God's done with them. And that's the time of Reformation
spoken of in Hebrews chapter 9. And that's the time when Christ
would come in. So God gave them that covenant. He made that national covenant
with them to keep them together as a nation. And secondly, to
keep them separate from other nations. They were a unique nation. You think about that. You think
about the covenant, the Ten Commandments that was given to them. Other
nations had laws, but not like these laws. The covenant of circumcision,
the covenant of the tabernacle, all the priesthood, all those
things, that made Israel unique. And they were to be separate
from other nations. They weren't to be like other nations. And
that was one of the great complaints and charges that God had against
them through the prophets. You have profaned my name among
the heathen. You have not sanctified God among
the heathen. In other words, you haven't stayed
separate. You haven't stayed unique. You
haven't sanctified God in the eyes of the heathen. You've become
just like them. You've incorporated into them
and incorporated them into you, you see. So he gave them that
cup, but they broke it. Another reason is to teach them
his principles of sin and righteousness. What is the reality of sin? It's
not just what you do, it's the heart matter. And this issue
of sin, all sin deserves death. You know, by nature, we like
to think, well, there are some sins, and let me put it to you
this way. There are some sins that are
worse than others, but now here's the thing about it, under God's
justice, under God's holy law, all sin deserves death. Now, that's the way it is. And
that's what God taught them in this covenant, issues of sin
and righteousness. Now, nobody could be saved according
to the terms of this covenant that they broke. But God did
teach them that the only way of salvation and righteousness
was through the blood of a substitute. He taught them that through the
priesthood, the altar, the sacrifices, and he taught them through the
prophets and through the believing priest and down through the ages
through the godly kings what view they had. that that prophecy
and that promise of salvation through the blood of a substitute
could only be fulfilled in one who was to come. Not in Moses
himself. Moses was a prophet, but he wasn't
that prophet. Remember that prophet? Solomon
was a great king, but one greater than Solomon's coming. The blood
of bulls and goats, they sanctified to the purifying of the flesh.
Now what that means literally is that that set them apart as
a nation. You say, but they could never
take away sin. That was left for one to come.
That was left for the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look unto the future. Look to
Him. And that's what this whole thing
is about here. And then that covenant was given
mainly to expose their sinfulness in order to show them that they
had no hope of salvation in their works, in themselves, in their
goodness. but only in the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. And here they were covenant breakers.
They didn't keep that covenant. Look back up in verse 12 of chapter
11. Remember I told you last time this verse really goes with
chapter 12. But listen to what he says. Ephraim
compassed or surrounds me about with lies. Their whole existence
is a lie. That's what he's saying. That's
like false religion today. Sinners calling themselves Christians,
but seeking God's favor and blessings based on their works. The same
thing could be said of them that said of Ephraim, they surround
him with lies. They're living a lie. And he
says, in the house of Israel with deceit, they're surrounded
with lies because they're deceived. He says, but Judah yet ruleth
with God and is faithful with the saints. Now, the only way
you could say Judah as Judah was faithful to God is through
Christ who is the lion of the tribe of Judah. But I want to
tell you something. Now, let me say this. I made
this statement one time in a message and somebody got upset with me,
but that's just, so be it, you know. I love the King James Version
of the Bible. I do. I think it's the best translation
of all of them from the original text. I do. So I'm not doing
this to put down the King James Version, but there are certain
verses that the King James translators got it wrong. All you have to
do is go, if you want to take the time, go back to the original
Hebrew or in the New Testament, the original Greek. And this
is one of those times. When it says here, but Judah
yet ruleth with God and is faithful with the saints, what that actually
says in the original language is this, Judah is also unruly
against God, even against the Holy One who is faithful. That's how it should read. Judah
is also unruly against God, even against the Holy One who is faithful."
Now, that makes sense in the context, doesn't it? Look what
he says in verse two, the Lord hath a charge against Judah.
Now, why would God have a charge, a controversy, with someone who
is ruling with God and is faithful with the saints? He wouldn't.
You say, well, yesterday they were ruling with God and faithful
to the saints, but today they're not. No, it's not like that now.
Nations don't change that fast, you all know that. Takes a little
time, doesn't it? What he's talking about here
is how Judah is no different and no better than Israel. The
southern kingdom is no better. And this meant that Israel and
Judah are both covenant breakers. They should have trusted in God
alone, yet they both trusted in other nations. And if you'll
read the book of Isaiah, you'll see that Judah also fled and
went to other nations for help. They went to Syria, they went
to Egypt, and God had a controversy against them. But what does he
say here? Well, he says they're feeding
on the wind. How much nourishment are you
going to get if you just stand in the wind and open your mouth?
None. There's no bread there, there's
no water there. So what should you feed on? Spiritually,
the bread of life. spiritually the water of life,
not on the wind, not feeding on God's Word, that's what they
weren't doing, they were covenant breakers. They trusted in deals
and treaties and payoffs to heathen nations. And the lesson here
is simply this, just like he said back in chapter 11 verse
9, there is no salvation in the wind. There is no salvation in
covenant breaking. There is no salvation in Assyria
or Egypt. Assyria, the east wind, or Egypt. There's only salvation in the
Holy One in the midst of thee. And He is the God of Jacob. Now
what Hosea does here from this point on in this chapter is he
illustrates this and you know what he does? He goes back to
their history and picks one individual, one of the patriarchs out, the
fellow named Jacob. And he uses Jacob as an example
of what's going on and what should be done. That's God's history. I love it, and he brings it through
to show them this lesson. And when God brings the charges
against Israel and against Judah, it's always just and it's always
according to truth. And that shows us, like Jacob
knew, that the only hope for a sinner is to stand before God
without those charges, not having sin imputed to us. David said
in Psalm 32, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not
iniquity. Paul spoke of it in Romans chapter
8, after having shown how there is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ, because who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth, who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
is risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ the righteous,
our advocate. And here's the thing, here's
what Jacob knew, and I'll show you this in a moment, and here's
what God's people know. is this, that in Christ, God
does not charge us with sin. He doesn't do it. And the reason
is, is because He's just. He's merciful, but He's also
just. He charged my sins to Christ. He would be unjust to charge
them to me and to somebody else. He imputed them to Christ. Therefore,
God was in Christ. reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them. Now notice here in
verse two, he said he's going to punish Jacob according to
his ways. That's according to his sins.
And as I said, Jacob, here's another name for Israel and Judah,
but it goes back to the patriarch. You know, Israel and Judah, they
were so proud of their heritage. They would often say, we're the
children of Abraham, we're the children of Isaac, we're the
children of Jacob. They loved that physical connection,
you see. But what that physical connection
did for them is it puffed them up. It made them self-righteous,
as if that meant something as far as recommending a sinner
unto God. I'm saved, or I'm a child of
God, or I'm blessed just simply because I'm physically connected
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Well, Hosea shows them that they
were not following Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob in saying that. He shows
if Jacob... Now, here's what he's going to
show us. Think about Jacob now. You know who Jacob was. You know
what he was like. And he shows here if Jacob received
from God what Jacob deserved or what Jacob earned, what would
it have been? Eternal damnation. He's going to punish Jacob according
to his ways. He's talking about Israel and
Judah there. And if God punishes any of us according to our ways,
according to our sins, we would get recompense. And it's the
same with all sinners. So Jacob himself was a prime
example of how God saves sinners by His grace in Christ. Jacob,
the man, trusted in God. Jacob, the man, looked to Christ.
And if we're spiritual sons of Jacob, we do too. Malachi 3 and
verse 6, for I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore you sons
of Jacob are not consumed. God has not changed. That covenant
with Israel has not nullified the covenant God made with Abraham
and even the covenant he made with his son before the foundation
of the world. Salvation has always been and
will always be by grace through faith in Christ. So look at Jacob's
life. Look at verse three. Here's Jacob.
He took his brother by the heel in the womb and by his strength
he had power with God. Think about that. Jacob was a
sinner. He was born a sinner. He was a sinner who looked to
Christ eventually as God brought him to faith in Christ. But even
though it was God's purpose to have Jacob rule in that family,
Jacob and Esau were twins, you know, but Esau came forth first
from his mother's womb and by rights of the covenant, he was
the firstborn and should have received the blessing of the
firstborn. But God, who is sovereign, made this statement to his mother,
to Rebekah, he said, the elder shall serve the younger. And
here's Jacob coming out of his mother's womb second, grabbing
on to the heel of Esau. That's why it's come to be a
saying, you know, when they grab hold of the heel, somebody's
trying to get the best of you, somebody's trying to get the
jump on you. That's a common sight. But you know, all of that
was God's purpose. Every bit of it. I mean, God
told Rebecca that before the two were born. He even said this,
he said, Jacob have I loved, he so have I hated, and that
before they were born. Read it in Romans chapter nine,
that's God now. I remember Brother Mahan talking
about reading that to people and they got mad at him. He said,
I'm just reading you what God's word said. And what this speaks of here
in verse three is Jacob's sinful nature and his character. You
can read about it in Genesis chapter 25. It goes on, it says
in verse four, or verse three, it says, and by his strength
he had power with God, yea, he had power over the angel and
prevailed. That was his struggle. What he's
talking about there is when Jacob wrestled with the angel. and
he prevailed. You can read about it in Genesis
32. It says he prevailed. How did Jacob prevail? We'll
go back and read it. You know how Jacob prevailed?
It's when the angel, who I believe is the angel of the Lord, who
I believe was a pre-incarnate visitation of Christ, when he
grabbed Jacob by the thigh and brought his hip out of socket
and brought him down. I've never had my hip out of
soccer, but I don't think I could get engaged in a wrestling match
with that way. How about you? So how did Jacob
prevail? He prevailed by being defeated.
That's what happened. And that's how sinners prevail
with God, by being defeated, by being bested by God, by being
brought to submission to God. And that's what happened to Jacob.
And then it says in verse 4, he wept, Jacob wept and made
supplication unto him. And he found him in Bethel, and
there he spake with us." Did you notice how that reads, there
he spake with us? What he's saying here is that
Jacob, he sought favor from God by repentance. In other words,
Jacob didn't come to God seeking God's favor and blessing by his
works or by his goodness. He came weeping in supplication,
like that publican who beat on his breast and said, God, be
merciful to me, the sinner. That's how Jacob came. And he found God in Bethel, the house
of God. And there he spake with us. God
spake literally to us. That's a message for us. What
happened to Jacob back then was a message for Israel and Judah
at this time. It's a message for us today.
Jacob named the place Peniel, which means the face of God.
He'd come face to face with God. How so? Well, 2 Corinthians chapter
4 and verse 6 tells us, God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give unto us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. That's the only way we're going
to visit spiritually Peniel, see the glory, the face of God
in Christ. And God spoke to Israel in the
person of Jacob. He speaks to us, and what does
He say? Well, look at verse 5. He says, even the Lord God of
hosts, the Lord is His memorial. First of all, He says, look unto
Me and be ye saved. He reveals Himself and identifies
Himself to His people in their repentance. He's the Lord God
of hosts. He's the covenant-keeping God. He's the God of grace, the
God who justifies the ungodly. He's the God who promises to
save sinners based on the blood and the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the Lord of hosts. And
the Lord is His memorial, that is His glory. And then verse
6, here's what He says. He says, Therefore turn thou
to thy God, keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually. Turn to God. How do you turn
to God? You turn to Christ. You turn
in faith to Christ. Turn from your sins in repentance
and turn to Christ who is the express image of God. Submit
to Him and who He is. He's God in human flesh. Submit
to Him. Submit to His righteousness as
the only ground upon which a holy God will save you and bless you
and keep you and bring you in the glory. Come under his blood
for the forgiveness of all your sins. Don't plead anything else. Come like Paul in Philippians
chapter three. That's turning to God right there. We glory in Christ and all those
things that we think by nature recommend us unto God and make
us righteous and holy, we count them all but dumb that we may
win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith. For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe. That's how we turn to God. He says, keep mercy and
judgment. How are we going to do that?
Again, we look to Christ for salvation. For only in Christ
will we find both mercy and justice coming together in the salvation
of a sinner. You see, when you come before
God like Israel and Judah, these covenant breakers, expecting
God to save you or bless you based on your works, you know
what you're going to get? You're going to get a recompense.
You're going to get justice. And justice demands condemnation
where sin is present, where sin is charged. So you can't keep
mercy and justice in coming to God by your works. You see that? Because there's no mercy in the
law. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth come by Jesus
Christ. In order to get mercy and justice
working together, you've got to come to the mercy seat upon
which the blood was poured. Blood meaning justice in death
and the seat of mercy having to do with Christ who shed his
blood is the complete payment for our sins. How can God be
just and justify the ungodly? The only way any of us could
keep mercy and justice is by resting and looking to Christ
for all the salvation. And then, wait on thy God continually. That's believe and obey. That's
all that means. Look to the future, Israel. Look
to the past, meaning the cross, people today. And then look at
verse 7. Here's God's judgment against
Israel's confidence. It says here in verse 7, He is
a merchant, talking about Israel and Judah. Now if you look in
your concordance, you might see the word Canaan there. Because
if you translated this literally, it would be, he's a Canaanite.
In fact, it would be like this, he's a cunning Canaanite. Well,
that's an insult. If you didn't get that, that's
an insult. He's a cunning Canaanite. Now, the Canaanites were known
as merchants. And they were known to be very
cunning merchants. And it says here, and that's
why he said, that's why the King James translators translate it
that way, and that's not bad. He is a merchant, now listen
to it, he is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his
hand, he loveth to oppress, or he loves to deceive. So here's
a merchant with deceitful balances. Back then, they used the barter
and trade method, and they'd weigh things out, and when the
balance came about, they knew how much they were to get and
how much they were to pay. Well, they've got deceitful balances
there. It's like the butcher that puts his thumb on the scale. And they always come out. They
love to deceive. They love to get the best of
you. They love to rob you. That's what he's talking about.
Well, what is this talking about? Self-righteous religion. idolatry, it's always a false
judgment. You see, it's only in the gospel
of the covenant, God's word, that we can see the true balance
of things, the right balance, the just balance. I think about
that verse in Isaiah 42, let me just read it to you. Isaiah
42 and verse 1, talking about the coming of Christ. Listen
to what he says. He says, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine
elect, speaking of Christ, in whom my soul delighteth, I have
put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Right judgment. Not a false balance
or a false judgment, a deceitful balance, but a right judgment.
And the book of Matthew chapter 12 and verse 18 applies that
to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a prophecy of Christ. We
see he's going to judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained in that he hath given assurance unto
all men and that he hath raised him from the dead. You see the
deceitful merchant loves to cheat people to his own advantage,
but that's not the way the God of Jacob does. His judgments
are always right and balanced, equitable, and he never lies. So you see what's happened here?
They're making judgments, but it's like a cunning Canaanite. It's like a merchant with deceitful
balances and love to oppress. In verse 8 it says, And Ephraim
said, Yet I am become rich. This is their judgment now, and
using a false balance, a false scale. Ephraim said, yet I am
become rich, I have found me out substance in all my labors,
there's your key right there, in all my works, they shall find
none iniquity, inequity in me that were sin. That's what he's
saying, you see, they're coming to this point here where they
say, I'm doing fine, look at God's blessings to me, Just like
that church, I think, I can't remember which one it was, maybe
the Laodicean church in Revelation 3 when he says, you say I'm rich,
increased with goods, and have need of nothing, but you don't
know that in reality, according to God's scale of judgment, you're
wretched, you're miserable, you're poor, you're blind, you're naked,
and that's what Israel is. They said in all my labors they
shall find none iniquity, all my soul. We've done good enough. We've done well. Just do the
best you can. That ought to count for something. There's the cunning
Canaanite. There's the false balance. What
is God's standard of judgment? Righteousness. Where am I, a
sinner, going to find righteousness? Only in Christ. Verse 9, he says,
and I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, that
is the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt, will yet
make thee to dwell in tabernacles as in the days of the solemn
feast. What he's saying there, instead of the permanent rest,
the established rest of the promised land. He's gonna put them back
in the wilderness. They're not gonna have houses
to dwell in. Remember back over in Isaiah 11, verse 11, he said,
I'm gonna place them in their houses, talking about spiritual
Israel. They're gonna have permanent dwelling places in the house
of the Lord, the house that Christ built. But Israel's going to
go back into the tabernacles, that's tents, dwelling in tents,
in the wilderness, just like as in the days when God exacted,
commanded the feast, And though they enjoyed financial prosperity,
a great harvest, and fine homes, God was gonna bring them into
exile, no established houses. Look at verse 10. He said, I've
also spoken by the prophets, I've multiplied visions, that's
a word from God, and you similitudes, that's proverbs. He says, by
the ministry of the prophets. They had God's word, that's what
he's saying here. God's word of warning, God's
word of faith, but they wouldn't listen. They wouldn't listen.
They were told, but they wouldn't listen. And so in verse 11, he
says, is there iniquity in Gilead? You remember Gilead? It was a
place of priest. It was a place of medicinal healing.
Remember Jeremiah in Jeremiah 8.22, he asked this question,
is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no healing there? Well,
no, he says, it's all vanity now. Surely they are vanity.
They sacrificed bullocks in Gilgal. That was one of the first places
that Jeroboam set up as a place of idolatry. They're religious,
but they're lost. Yea, their altars are as heaps
in the furrows of the field. Their altars are no better off
than a pile of stone set off in a field to mark it off. Has
no significance whatsoever. It's worthless. We'll look at
verse 12. He goes back to Jacob. And here's
what he's saying in these last few verses. There is hope for
sinners. There is hope. Now this paints
a pretty bad picture here. Hosea has done that a lot, hasn't
he? You look at man and talk about our sin and our depravity
and even believers, the troubles and the trials we go through.
Oh, what a dark, dark picture. Jacob's life. Even Jacob's life
as a believer. Think about it. Go back and read
David's, oh, it's just, I mean, it's just such a dark picture.
But here, listen, there is hope, there is light, there is salvation. Where? In the God of Jacob. Look
at it. Verse 12, Jacob fled into the
country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a
wife he kept sheep. You know what that's referring
to back in the book of Genesis where Jacob, He fled away from
his family, went into Syria to his uncle Laban, and he fell
in love with Rachel. And Laban, Rachel's father, deceived
him, tricked him, and got him to serve seven years and then
gave him Leah. Then he had to serve seven more.
Fourteen years. Fourteen years. And then from
that trouble, Now that Jacob had all that with his father-in-law
Laban, with all of that came the 12 sons of Jacob, the 12
sons of Israel. And I'm not gonna go through
the whole story, you can go back and read Genesis, but out of
that came a mess, didn't it? That's the ones who sold Joseph
into Egypt, and out of that, the whole nation of Israel ended
up in bondage in Egypt. Now think about that. But look
at verse 13, now out of all that, out of all that trouble, out
of all that darkness, out of all that sin and depravity, it
says in verse 13, and by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of
Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. God still was faithful
to his covenant, even against all that stuff that Jacob went
through. All the problems that Jacob caused
for himself and all the problems his family caused, God still,
by a prophet, that was Moses, he brought Israel out of Egypt,
and by a prophet he preserved through Moses. Well, Moses was
a type of Christ. And I want you to think about
that about yourself, and I think about it about myself. Out of
all the troubles, and the trials, and the tribulations, and the
tears, and the sorrows, the confusions, the divisions, the sinful thoughts,
and ideas, and ways that we go through, even as sinners saved
by grace, just remember, by a prophet, the Lord brought us out of Egypt
by Christ. He brought us out of the bondage
of sin and Satan and depravity. And by that same prophet, Christ,
the prophet, He preserves us, just like He did Jacob. Now Ephraim,
they won't turn to the Lord. And in spite of all this, Israel
rejected the God of Jacob. Look at verse 14. Ephraim provoked
him to anger most bitterly. Therefore shall he leave his
blood upon him, In other words, that charge is going to stick.
"...and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him." What's
he saying? He's simply saying this. What
you sow, so shall you reap. "...he that believeth not shall
be damned." Unless we trust the God of Jacob, there's no hope
for any of us. Unless we turn to the Lord Jesus
Christ, there is no salvation. No blessing, no hope. All right.