All right, let's continue on
in Hosea chapter 9, beginning at verse 7. Now, I've entitled
this message, Suffering the Reproach of Christ. Suffering the Reproach
of Christ. And that title is taken from
verses 7 and 8. The construction of those verses
sort of leave you maybe a little bit confused the way it's translated,
but I want to show you what this is. The reproach of Christ has
to do with the derision, the persecution, the hatred, the
ridicule, the accusations that God's preachers and God's people
go through in every generation to some degree and in some way.
in opposition to the world. We get that from the world, and
that's the reproach of Christ that I'm going to be talking
about. But before I get to that, I want to just read through these
verses and make some comments on this issue of suffering the
reproach of Christ. Verses 7 and 8 brings that out,
the reproach of Christ. And it's talking about a day
of visitation. The days of visitation, which
is a day of punishment. He calls it, he says, the day
of recompense. In other words, that's somebody
getting what they deserve. That's what that means. Being
rewarded for their works. And of course we know in the
context and what the prophet Hosea says as God gives him the
message, the works that he's talking about are evil deeds. Now in the Bible, if you're going
to understand the scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, you
have to understand that when you hear that term, evil deeds,
it not only refers to the most immoral, perverted, rebellious
faction of fallen human society, It also refers and includes the
most religious, the most zealous, the most outwardly moral faction
of human society without truth, without grace, without Christ. In fact, if you want to go back
and look at one of the first examples of an evil deed, obviously
you could go back to Adam, obviously. But after Adam, the first example
you have of an evil deed is Cain coming before God, sincerely
and zealously seeking to worship God without blood, which means
without Christ. In other words, Cain came to
God to be accepted, to be saved, to be blessed, to be rewarded
based upon the works of his own hands. And the Bible calls that
evil deeds. So understand that. And then
you'll begin to understand something about what this thing of the
reproach of Christ really is. The days of recompense are come.
The days of visitation are come, he says. The day of God's vengeance.
Vengeance belongs to God, not man's vengeance. This is not
man's vengeance. This is not the prophet's vengeance.
This is not Hosea's vengeance. We have no right to seek vengeance
because we're all sinners who deserve by nature and by practice
the worst thing that God could ever give us and the only reason
we don't receive that is by his grace and mercy in Christ. So
we have no right to seek vengeance, personal vengeance that is. Vengeance
belongs to God. Now he gives the state civil
magistrates the right to exact vengeance in a just cause when
a crime is committed. But we don't have any right to
do that personally. But God does. And so what you
see here at the opening is the prophet Hosea looking at this
nation. And there's all kinds of people
in this nation. There are religious people in this nation. There
are those like the Pharisees who appeared outwardly righteous
unto men, and there are also immoral people in this nation.
But all of the whole nation without Christ, and he's not talking
about every individual. There were probably a remnant
of believers in this nation. The Bible pretty much gives us
an indication that that's so. But as a nation, as a whole,
they had forsaken the Lord. They had forsaken the truth.
They had forsaken the covenant. They had forsaken any notion
of salvation by God's grace in the promise of the coming Messiah
and opted for their own ways, their own ideas, and it's all
idolatry. And I want you to notice something
about idolatry. You know, all idolatry has at
its roots some notion of salvation by works. Self-righteousness,
all of it. And I'll tell you why, because
there's only one true and living God who saves by grace. Any other
God doesn't save by grace. And so what Hosea comes on the
scene here is God's prophet, he says, God's gonna give you
what you deserve. And what do we deserve? Nothing
but his wrath. And that's why we who flee to
Christ for salvation, that's why we pray, God, don't give
me what I deserve. I don't want to get what I've
earned because the wages of sin is death. I don't want to get
what I deserve because I'm a sinner, all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. I want God's mercy. I want God's grace in
Christ. But now here's a day of visitation,
a day of recompense. And he said, Israel shall know
it. Now how shall they know it? Well, as I said, if you look
at the construction of the verse, it's kind of hard to tell who's
doing the speaking here. What he's talking about? Well,
Hosea the prophet, obviously, is saying, God's coming to give
you what you deserve and you're going to know it. And how are
you going to know it? Well, it's in relation to how
you responded to the Word of God. You know, how we respond
to the Word of God, whether it's written or preached, speaks volumes
about us. How did they respond to God's
prophet? How did they respond to Hosea
when he came and told them the truth? And let me tell you something
now. Hosea's message was not just simply a message of hellfire
and brimstone. It wasn't just a message of doom
and damnation and gloom and despond. Now he did preach that. He did
preach the day of visitation, the day of vengeance, the day
of God's wrath against all sin. We all do if we preach the truth.
But it's not to leave sinners in their despair. It's not to
leave sinners in their, as old Bunyan said in Pilgrim's Progress,
in the slew of despond. It's not to leave you down in
the dumps and afraid of God and fleeing Him like Adam and Eve
did when they were ashamed of their own nakedness. The reason
we preach the day of visitation, the day of God's vengeance against
all sin, is because we want to see sinners flee to the only
refuge from wrath. The only refuge which is Christ
and Him crucified and risen again. So when Hosea came along and
he preached this message, here's what Israel said about Hosea. And here's one of the verses
here that kind of indicates that some of them believed Hosea's
message by the grace of God. He says, Israel shall know it.
How shall they know it? In relation to how they responded
to the truth as it was preached by Hosea. And here's what they
said. The prophet is a fool. The preacher is a fool. Then
they said, and the spiritual man, who is the spiritual man?
Well, who's the natural man? The natural man, 1 Corinthians
2.14, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither
can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. That's
an unregenerate, unbeliever. Isn't that right? Who's the man
of the Spirit? Who's the spiritual man? That's
the believer. That's the born-again believer.
That's who he's talking about. One who has eyes to see, ears
to hear, heart and mind to understand and know and receive the truth
of God's grace in Christ. A sinner who has seen his sin
and his deservedness of damnation and who's fled to Christ for
all salvation. And what they say here is the
preacher is a fool and the spiritual man, the believer, is mad. That
doesn't mean angry there, that means they're saying he's insane.
I remember Brother Tim James talking about that. He said,
to not believe God is spiritual insanity. And he's right. He's right. But see, the world
looks upon the spiritual man as being insane. You're crazy. And so he says, now why do they
do that? Look at verse 7. For the multitude
of thine iniquity. It's because of the multitude
of their iniquity. You know, it's common for people
to compare themselves with other people when it comes to salvation
or religion or acceptance with God. Somebody might say something
like this, well, I'm not perfect but I'm not as bad as so and
so. I used to know a man who claimed
that he would never go to church because he said there were too
many hypocrites in the church. And that's what he was saying,
well, I'm not like them people. I'm not perfect. I know how to
do this, but I'm not as badass. You don't understand the multitude
of your iniquity. You know what the multitude of
our iniquity is? Well, you don't have to turn
there, but if you look at, just read this sometime. In fact,
we're gonna go close to there in just a moment. But in the
book of John, chapter 16, The Lord tells the disciples about
the work of the Holy Spirit in conviction, bringing a sinner
to conviction. And he puts it forth in three
ways in John 16 verses 8 through 11. He said he will convince
the world of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness
because I go unto my Father and you see me no more, and of judgment
because the prince of this world is cast out. Now that's what
the Holy Spirit convicts a sinner of. And he starts off, the number
one there is of sin, because they believe not on me. And a
lot of commentators, when they go to that verse, they'll tell
you, well, he's talking about what will happen there is the
Holy Spirit will convict you of the sin of unbelief. Well,
that's included. But it doesn't go far enough
to what he's saying there in John 16, 8 and 9. What he's saying is this, the
Holy Spirit, when he comes and convicts us of sin, he shows
us this fact. Listen to this. My friend, without
Christ, now listen very carefully here. Without Christ, all I am
and all that I do is sin in the eyes of God. Not just part of
me, not just some things I do. I'm telling you, without Christ,
without standing before God washed in the pure, precious, powerful
blood of Christ, without standing before God clothed in His righteousness
charged to me, all I am in God's sight is sin. I'm just a mass
of sin, whatever that is, and all I do, everything that proceeds
from me is sin. That's what he's saying. That's
the multitude of our sins. Without the grace of God, that's
all we are. is sin, and nothing but sin. And the Holy Spirit convicts
us of that to drive us to Christ, to convince us of righteousness
because Christ went to the Father. What does that mean? That means
He died, was buried, rose again the third day, and He's ascended
to the Father. He put away my sin. He redeemed me by His blood. He satisfied the justice of God. And he'll convince me of judgment
because the prince of this world, that's Satan, the accuser of
the brethren, who accuses us day and night, but he can accuse
us no more because I've been convinced of judgment. What does
that mean? That means I know that my sins, Bill Parker, was
judged by God's law justly 2,000 years ago on Calvary because
when Christ died, I died. He's my substitute. He's my representative. When he was buried, I was buried.
When he arose again, the third day I arose again. How do I know
that? Well, we read it in John 3, 18. He that believeth on the
Son is not condemned. Do you believe on Christ? Do
you rest in him? See, that was Israel's problem
here. They didn't believe. And the reason is they didn't
want to accept that all of their works and their efforts and their
religion was nothing but iniquity. It didn't hit the mark. It didn't
weigh out right. And then he says in verse 7,
and the great hatred. There's a great hatred. What
hatred is that? It's the hatred of the light
that we read about in John chapter 3. This is the condemnation that
light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. It exposed what they
didn't see by nature. The wickedness of their best
efforts to save themselves by their works. For men love darkness
and hate the light. Now he goes on, he says in verse
8, he says, the watchman of Ephraim was with my God. That's talking
about Hosea the prophet. He's the watchman. He's the prophet
of God. He's under God's orders. He's
commissioned by God. He has the word of God. But the
prophet is a snare of a fowler. Now what he's saying here is
that they're trying to catch him. He's under God's orders
and commissioned by God with God's message and the people,
instead of submitting to the message of God and coming in
repentance and begging for mercy, they're trying to trap him. They're
trying to catch him. You ever been in that position
where you're dealing with people and all they're trying to do
is just trip you up and catch you with a word here and a word
there? I've been there. Still there. A lot of ways. But that's what they're doing,
like a fowler's snare. They're listening for something
wrong that they can trap him on, they can catch him on, see?
Instead of just bowing to God's will and God's revealed will
by way of commandment. And he says here, he says, and
hatred in the house of his God. In the house of God, there's
hatred. That sounds like an oxymoron, if you know what that is. That's
not a moron without oxygen. That's two things they put together
that just seem opposite. Hatred in the house of God. What
a paradox. Is that possible? Yes. While we're on this earth, Paul
had to tell the Colossian believers, stop hating each other. Shame,
shame, shame on the children of God. Isn't that right? On
myself. All of this, hatred. Well, what he does here, now
look at verse 9. He starts talking about the extent
of their depravity. Listen to this. He says in verse
9, they have deeply corrupted themselves. Their corruption
goes deep. It's a heart corruption. It's
not just on the outside. You see, if it was just on the
outside, religion could clean it up. That's what Christ talked
about with the Pharisees. He says, you clean the outside
of the cup. But inside, it's just as filthy
and dirty as it always was. You're just hiding it from the
view of men. And see, this depravity, this corruption, this hatred,
they have a deep-seated hatred for the Word of God that would
bring them to conviction of sin and drive them to Christ. That's
what the total depravity of man is all about right there. You
see, that's why this is the description of the natural man on his own
without God. And this is why we need the grace
of God. That's why we need sovereign
grace. That's why we need electing grace. That's why we need redeeming
grace, justifying grace, cleansing, regenerating grace, because our
corruption goes deep. It's so deep that we can't even
begin to imagine and get to the root of it. It takes the Spirit
of Christ, Christ himself to get to that. And he says, they're
so deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. Now,
a lot of times these historical references don't mean much to
us because we just haven't studied it that much. But let me tell
you something. You can mark this down. You might have it in your
concordance. Judges 19. Read that in Judges 19. Gibeah. In that place, Judges 19, this
is just one of the issues here, it describes horrific crimes
of perversion and violence in Israel in the days of the judges. And I want to tell you something,
when you read it, you'll think he's talking about Sodom and
Gomorrah. That's how bad it got in Israel. That's how, you remember
Isaiah said that in Isaiah chapter one, when he said, if the Lord,
had the Lord not left us a seed, the Lord of Sabaoth left us a
seed, we should be a Sodom and a Gomorrah. But thank God he's
left us a seed. There was a Levite who had a
concubine and he allowed her to be raped and killed. And he
cut her into 12 pieces, her body, cut her body up into 12 pieces
and sent her body out to all over the nation to arouse that
nation. And here's what the indication
is, is they had become so calloused to sin that it took some horrific
crime to get their attention. You know, that's very similar
to our day today. You think about it. It really,
it's almost like it takes some horrific crime to be published
in the headlines or on the news, to even get people's attention
about this issue of sin, about depravity, and about man's need
of salvation. And the callousness is even seen
today in the fact that it really doesn't last that long. It really
doesn't last that long. You may be horrified for a while,
but you'll forget about it. And that's the way we are. But
Hosea says this, that in his days it's just as bad in Israel
with all their religion and their idolatry. Israel had become callous
to sin. So he says in verse nine, therefore
God will remember their iniquity. He will visit their sins. God
will impute their sins to them. They had no mediator. They said
the prophet was a fool. What did the prophet do? He pointed
sinners to Christ, the only mediator. The only refuge, the only redemption,
the only righteousness that a sinner can have before God. And they
said, you're a fool. And anybody who believes you
is crazy. Anybody who follows that is crazy.
And therefore, God says, well, I'll remember their iniquity.
He will visit their sins. He'll give them what they deserve.
They have no savior. They have no mediator. They have
no blood. That's right. You see, that's
why here's the dark alternative to the grace of God in the everlasting
covenant of grace, the new covenant. Because in the new covenant,
it's specifically said, God says, I will remember your sins no
more. That means He won't hold them
against us. He won't charge them to us. He charged them to Christ. Christ was made sin for us. Christ
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. I love that Psalm 103. Psalm
103, you don't have to turn there. But that's where the psalmist
prays in thanksgiving that God hath not dealt with us after
our sins. And if you read that sometime,
that's verse 10, I believe, or somewhere around there. Take
note of this. He doesn't say God hath not dealt
with our sins. Because you see, God isn't just
God. He's a holy God. He must deal with our sins. He must do it. He cannot overlook
them. He cannot just say, well, just forget it, you know. He
must deal with our sins. But the psalmist there in Psalm
103 says, God hath not dealt with us after our sins. Well, if he didn't deal with
me in the way of my sins, who did he deal with for him? He
dealt with him like Calvary. Christ. He dealt with my sins
as they were imputed, laid, charged to Christ. And he deals with
me as Christ's righteousness is imputed, accounted to me.
Now to the world that sounds foolish, but to a sinner in need
of mercy that's the best news you could ever hear, isn't it?
Isn't that the best news you could ever hear? I'm telling. Look at verse 10. He says, I
found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers
as the first ripe in the fig tree at her first time. What
he's saying here is that when it all started, when God delivered
them out of Egypt and brought them first of all in the wilderness,
now when they came on the Red Sea, they complained and all
that, and then afterward they had the golden calf, but basically,
in God's redemption of power from Egypt, they started out
well. They were separated unto God. And there were times of
national obedience to the covenant, like grapes in the wilderness.
They were the only witness of God for a little while. There
was no other witness. The Amorites, the Hittites, the
Amalekites, the Perizzites, they didn't witness for God. They
were all in idolatry. But Israel, for a little while,
for a little while, the Hebrew children were the only witnesses
of God in that wilderness, like grapes, like refreshing, juicy,
you know, grapes, filling grapes in the wilderness, like the fig
tree, like the first ripe fig on the fig tree. but it didn't
last long. Because you see, that was a conditional
covenant and it was given to expose their sin. My friend,
if your salvation is based on or owing to any conditions of
a covenant that you've got to keep, you may have moments of
what you think is obedience, but it won't last long. We're
sinners. We need to be under a covenant
of grace, not conditioned on ourselves, but on Christ. He's
our surety. But you see, he said, they went
to Baal Peor and separated themselves into that shame, that idolatry,
and their abominations were according as they loved. This is very interesting
how he puts that. Because what he's saying is this.
He says that their idolatry, they became an abomination quickly. and they love the disgraceful
idols and they've become like them. That last line literally
means they've become like what they love. And you know, that's
the way it is. We will become like the God we
love and serve, whether it's the Lord or like an abomination.
If we worship self, sinful self, the world, the world, because
that's the way it is. And that's why a believer who
truly loves Christ, his goal is to be like Christ. We seek
to emulate him. But they went to Baal Peor, that's
where Israel was brought into idolatry for the first time.
Look at verse 11, he says, as for Ephraim, their glory shall
fly away like a bird. What is their glory? It's their
power, their prestige, their religion, Their prosperity. Remember last time we learned
how they were rejoicing over the harvest, but they weren't
giving glory to God. Well, that's going to fly away
like a bird. And he says, from the birth and from the womb and
from the conception, it's going to touch every issue of their
life as one who's born in sin. What is man? That he should be
clean. And he which is born of a woman,
that he should be righteous. Born in sin. conceived in sin,
birthed in sin, born dead and trespasses in sin, even our conception. David said, Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. He said,
The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray. As
soon as they be born, speaking lies. Ephesians chapter 2 verse
3 says, We were by nature children of Adam. You know what he's really
saying here? He's saying a new generation will not cure the
problem. Now you can, you know, here's
this old generation and they've already gone to Baal Peor, they've
already sinned like Gibeah, they've gone into idolatry, they're going
to have children, here comes a new generation along, you think
it's going to get better? It's not. And so he says in verse
12, look at it, he says, though they bring up their children,
yet will I bereave them? that there shall not be a man
left that is in that land. They're gonna be scattered throughout,
their children included. Yea, woe also to them when I
depart from them. God's continual joining himself
to that nation according to the terms of the old covenant that
was conditioned on their national obedience, that's gonna cease.
That's over with. It was temporal, it was temporary,
and it's gone. And this had nothing to do now
with their eternal salvation of any individual Israelite.
You see, all of God's elect out of that nation were eternally
saved by His grace in Christ. What few there were. What remnant
there was. You know, God never departs from
His spiritual people in Christ. You know that? He said it, I'll
never leave you. I'll never forsake you. He never will. Look at verse
13, Ephraim. You remember now, that's just
Israel, that's the largest tribe. He said, Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus,
or Tyre, the city of Tyre, which was on the Phoenician coast,
and it was known for its beauty, its grandeur, it was a seaport,
prosperity. Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus planted
in a pleasant place. Again, they had a good beginning.
But Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.
What is that murderer that he's talking about? I believe it's
their sin and their false religion. Sin leads to death. Sin lieth
at the door. That's what he told Cain. He
said, Cain, if you do well, you know that you'll be fine. But if you do not well, sin lieth
at the door, crouching like a hungry lion ready to pounce upon you
the moment it's over with. Well, what is it to do well,
Lord? Cain might ask. Bring the blood of the Lamb,
like Abel. Run to Christ and rest in Him. Either way, there'll
be no fruit. He says in verse 14, Give them,
O Lord, what wilt thou give? This is Hosea's prayer. Give
them a miscarrying womb and dry breast. There'll be no fruit.
That's what he's talking about. There'll be no prosperity. He's
not saying that they would never have children again, because
they did. But he's saying the children would be fruitless.
There'd be no grace. There'd be no salvation. He says
in verse 15, all their wickedness is in Gilgal. Gilgal was a place
of noted idolatry, a center of idolatry in Israel. At one time,
it was a place where the prophets were trained under Elijah and
Elisha, but now it had turned into a place of idolatry. He
says, for there I hated them, God's hatred. That's what he's
talking about. I know that's not popular today,
is it? We live in a day where preachers are telling, oh, God
loves everybody and He's trying to save everybody. Not according
to His Word. And somebody says, well, it's
just not fair for God to hate anybody. Now let me tell you
something. Let me tell you what the problem is there. The problem
is, number one, you're not reading God's Word. And secondly, the
problem is you're thinking God's altogether like you. Now it's
not fair for you to hate anybody. And it's not fair for me to hate
anybody. Because I'm a sinner too. But God's hatred is not
emotional, and it's not selfish, and it's not sinful. You know
what God's hatred is in the scripture? He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. And don't let any preacher tell
you that that means loved less. That is not what that means.
That means God is in direct opposition to him. That's what it means. But you know what God's hatred
is? It's God's justice against sin. I heard a preacher, or read where
a preacher said one time that hell is a monument to the failure
of God to save those he loves. Oh no, that's an idol. Hell is
not a monument to God's failure. Hell is a monument to God's justice
against sin. That's what it is. But now we're
never, we're never to look at anybody who gets what they deserve
and becomes self-righteous and puffed up and proud as if we
didn't deserve the same thing. If you want to talk about God's
love, you have to begin with God's love in Christ. Herein
is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and gave
his son to be the propitiation for our sins, you see. There's
no love from God or of God outside of Christ. Those who stand before
God at judgment without Christ will not experience God's love. They'll experience God's hatred.
That's right. And that means His justice. And
it's not God throwing a temper tantrum or God's mad at Him or
anything. It's God's justice against sin. That's what it is. And so look at what He says here.
He says in verse 15, all their wickedness is in Gilgal and for
there I hated them and for the wickedness of their doings I
will drive them out of mine house. I will love them no more. All
their princes are revolters. What does he mean love them no
more? He's talking about his covenant love to that nation
according to the terms of the old covenant. He's not talking
about his redemptive love in Christ which ensures the eternal
well-being of all its objects. He's talking about his joining
himself to that nation for their good in a temporal ceremonial
way under the old covenant. And that had a beginning and
it had an ending. And here for Israel, it's ended.
And he says in verse 16, he says, Ephraim is smitten, their root
is dried up, they shall bear no fruit. Yea, though they bring
forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.
You see, there's no salvation in anything they're doing, not
even for their children. If you teach your children to
worship idols, what's gonna happen to your children? You see what
I'm saying? Death. And so he says in verse
17, my God will cast them away because they did not hearken
unto him. They didn't listen to God. They
didn't believe God. And they shall be wanderers among
the nations. Now how do you know they didn't
listen to God? How do you know they didn't believe
God? We'll go back to verse 7. The days of visitation are come.
The days of recompense are come. Israel shall know. And here's
what they said, the prophet, God's prophet, the one who preached
the word of God, he's a fool. and the spiritual man, the one
who believed him, is crazy. Why did they do it? For the multitude
of their iniquity and their great hatred. Now that's the reproach
of Christ. I want you to turn, and I'm gonna
close here now, but you turn with me. Let's go to Hebrews
chapter 11. I wanna show you this. This is
what Hosea is suffering. It's not The reproach of his
personality. I don't know a whole lot about
Hosea's personality. I only know what the word of
God records here. It's the reproach of Christ. Look at this term,
the reproach of Christ. Listen to it here in Hebrews
chapter 11 and look at verse 24, talking about Moses. He says, by faith, Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He joined
with the people of God rather than the people of idolatry.
Even though if he had joined with the people of idolatry,
he'd have probably been a prince in Egypt, he'd have probably
been rich, he'd probably had palaces. But he chose to suffer
affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the
pleasure of sin for a season. There is pleasure in sin, but
for a season. But look at verse 26. Now, upon
what? What was going through Moses'
head at this time? Well, you know a lot of times
I think preachers try to get into the heads of the apostles
and the prophets and they just speculate. But right here we
have exactly what was going through Moses' mind as revealed by the
Holy Spirit. Look at verse 26. Esteeming or
judging the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt. for he had respect unto the recompense
of the reward." Moses judged that the reproach of Christ,
his identification with Christ, the Messiah who was promised,
From the God of all grace who would save him and bless him
and reward him by his grace, he had respect unto the recompense
of reward. And you know, Hosea told the
people of Israel, the nation, he said, the recompense is coming,
but you're getting what you deserve. The recompense of the reward
of the redeemed is not what they deserve. It's mercy. It's grace. When we're blessed with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly places in Christ Jesus, it's not because
we're getting what we've earned or what we deserved. It's mercy. That's it, isn't it? It's grace. It's unconditional love that
we get through Christ. And Moses judged that kind of
reproach that Christ himself suffered as being better than
the riches of Egypt. Turn to Hebrews 13. Look at Hebrews 13. And look at verse
9. Now you know the whole book of
Hebrews is talking about how the Old Covenant and all of its
elements have been abolished by way of fulfillment and now
we're not under that law, we're under grace, we're under Christ,
the new covenant. And to go back to the Old Covenant
and its elements is to deny Christ. That's really what the message
of Hebrews is about. Christ is better. Why would you
want to go back to those old earthly elements that brought
Israel under bondage and did them no good eternally and reject
Christ who is our salvation, who is our righteousness? Why
would you want to do that? He's life. Back there's death. That's the ministration of condemnation
and death. But here's life and glory and
grace in Christ. And so he says in verse 9, look
at Hebrews 13, he says, be not carried about with diverse, that
means various, different, and strange or foreign doctrines.
In other words, doctrines other than or foreign to the gospel
of God's grace. For it is a good thing that the
heart be established with grace, that your assurance of salvation
be in grace, not works. That means in Christ, be in Christ. Not with meats, that's talking
about all the offerings of meats and animals under the old cup,
which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Now look at verse 10, we have an altar whereof they have no
right to eat which serve the tabernacle. Now in the tabernacle
there was an altar, several altars actually. There was the brazen
altar, That pictured our justification by the blood of Christ. There was the altar of incense
in the holy place. That pictured the prayers of
the saints going up to God through Christ and His intercessory work
for us. And then inside you had the mercy
seat and the Ark of the Covenant. So they had many altars. And
there were altars all through the Old Testament that they worshipped
at. Now why don't we set up an altar
like that today? We have an altar, it says. When
you hear the word altar, what do you think of? You thinking
of down here? Somebody say, well, when do you go to the altar?
Well, do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your whole salvation? Well, you've already been to
the altar. Christ is our altar. He's our altar. He's our sacrifice. He's our great high priest. Now,
to go back to that old covenant and go to those altars is to
deny our altar, which is Christ. And that's what he's saying.
We have an altar where they have no right to eat. To eat at the
altar of Christ means to believe on him and feed on him as the
bread of life. If you serve the tabernacle,
that earthly tabernacle, you're rejecting Christ who is our tabernacle. So look at verse 11. So he says,
for the bodies of those beasts, those animals, whose blood is
brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are
burned without the camp. They take the leftovers and they
burn them outside the camp. In verse 12, here's the picture
now. Wherefore Jesus, also that he might sanctify the people
with his own blood, suffered without the gate. They took him
outside Jerusalem, outside the gate, outside the camp, on Calvary's
hill, and crucified him. We know that's our victory, isn't
it? But look at verse 13. Let us go therefore unto him. Now you want to go to Christ?
Here's what it means. Go unto him without the camp. They took
him outside the camp. If you go to him, that's where
you're going to have to go. You can't stay in the confines of
accepted human self-righteous works religion. You've got to
go outside that. You've got to separate yourself
from that. You understand what he's saying? Look at the last three words
in verse 13. Bearing his reproach. That's what Hosea is doing. He's
bearing his reproach. He's gone outside the camp of
the religious majority in Israel. Stood outside them, separated
himself from them, and preached Christ. And they hated him. And they accused him. One more
verse, John 15. Look at John 15. This is the
reproach of Christ. And you know we could go to so
many passages. Matthew 5, blessed are you when
men shall persecute you for righteousness sake, shall say all manner of
evil against you, revile you. Remember he said rejoice for
so they persecuted the prophets which were before you. That's
Matthew 5, 10 through 12, I believe. But look here at John 15 verse
18. Here's the reproach of Christ. If the world hates you, you know
that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world,
the world would love his own. If you were in that camp of the
world, you'd get along, you'd have fellowship with them. But
because you're not of the world, you're outside the camp. But
I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not
greater than his Lord. If they persecuted me, they'll
persecute you. If they've kept my saying, they'll
keep yours also, the word of God. He said, but all these things
will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know
not him that sent me. Now listen to verse 22. If I
had not come and spoken unto them, They had not had sin, but
now they have no cloak for their sin. You see, his message of
truth exposed their evil deeds, brought out their hatred. Now,
when you align yourself up with Christ and preach that same message,
what are they gonna do to you? Same thing they did to him, suffering
his reproach. That's what it is. Paul wrote
to Timothy, he said, all who live godly in this world shall
suffer persecution. It may come in different forms
and various degrees and at different times and different ways, but
it'll be there. It'll be there as we suffer with him, suffering
his reproach. Okay.