Okay, now we're going to be obviously
studying Hosea chapter 8, but I want you to turn in your Bibles
over to the book of Galatians chapter 6. It seems each time
you go through a portion of Scripture in the Old Testament, especially
where the Lord God is sending a message to Israel and Judah,
his people, through the prophets, that we see a particular message
in it for us today. It's an eternal message. And
here is no difference, no exception. As we read there in Hosea chapter
eight and verse seven, talking about Israel, how they have sown
the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind. And as I told you,
I've entitled this message, Sowing the Wind and Reaping the Storm. That's a principle. One man said
that's a principle, that's a law, that is as eternal and true as
gravity itself. Now, I don't know how eternal
gravity is, to be honest with you, because I'm no scientist. I'm no physicist and whatever. But I know this. Look over at
Galatians chapter six and verse seven. As long as God has been
in existence, and that is eternally, no beginning and no end, forever
and ever, this law has been so. And it says here in verse 7 of
Galatians 6, Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his
flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. And that's unto death. But he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Now you can mark
it down. That's always been true. It's
true today. Always will be true. And of course,
what he's talking about in there is those who sow to the flesh
Sow in unbelief, sow in idolatry, sow in self-righteousness, and
we're going to see what they sowed here in Hosea chapter eight,
especially the first six verses. In fact, the first six verses
talk about sowing to the wind. What were they sowing? Like a
farmer sowing seed. What were they sowing? What were
they planting? What were they planting in hopes
of it growing? That's what he's talking about.
And those who sow to the flesh and sow to unbelief and self-righteousness
and idolatry and disobedience shall reap the consequence, which
is death. And those who sow to the Spirit,
now that's the Holy Spirit that Paul's talking about in Galatians
chapter six. He had just listed the fruit
of the Spirit in Galatians chapter five. And that we as believers
are to sow to the Spirit and not to the flesh. And to sow
to the Spirit is to sow in grace. It's to sow to the grace of God,
to the glory of God. It's to sow in Christ. And it's to reap life everlasting. That doesn't mean we're going
around here trying to earn our salvation. It has nothing to
do with that. It's just simply saying this. What you sow, so
shall you reap. And that's what it means. Well,
what had Israel sowed? What are we sowing today? That's
what we've got to look at as we go through these passages.
Well, let's look at this. In the first six verses here,
he talks about sowing to the wind. They've sown the wind.
Something that is passing away. That's what he's talking about.
Something that will not last. Something that's corruptible.
Something that has no substance. That's what he's saying. And
it says here, Israel had sown unbelief, disobedience, self-righteousness,
idolatry, and they're going to reap judgment. The next few verses,
beginning in verse seven, talk about what they're going to reap.
They're going to reap the judgment of God. And so the message to
us is this, if we sow to these fleshly things, what will we
reap? The judgment of God, the storm,
the whirlwind, which is the wrath of God. And if we sow grace,
we'll reap life and glory everlasting in Christ. Now he starts off
with, set the trumpet to thy mouth. That's the trumpet that's
used to assemble God's people to call them together for a purpose. Sometimes it was used to call
the troops to battle. But an assembly is called here,
just like we're having here tonight. We've called an assembly here
tonight. We call it a worship assembly. And so the clarion
call of the trumpet has gone forth and the people of God are
assembled. And so here God commands the
trumpet to sound, to gather together Israel, but also to gather together
the instruments of his judgment, which is at this point in time
was the Assyrian army, which was about to descend upon Israel
to be instruments of God's judgment because Israel had transgressed
the covenant. So he says, listen to this, he
says in verse one, he shall come as an eagle. Some say that should
be translated a vulture. Either way, it's a bird of prey.
It's not a bird of peace. And that's the issue. That's
the symbol there. This is a bird of war, not a bird of peace.
So God's coming here not in peace, but in judgment. In war, God
has a matter. against Israel. God has a complaint. God has a controversy. And he
says against the house of the Lord. That's the household of
God. That's referring to Israel as a nation under the old covenant. That's talking about that temporal
covenant that God made with that nation. And in that sense they
were the house of the Lord because that's where God dwelt in his
Shekinah glory Among the people of Israel in the tabernacle or
in the temple in the holiest of all But they had forsaken
that they had moved and they had gone off into other ways
the ways of men and not the ways of God And he says the reason
that he's going to come against them in war and in judgment is
listen to this now verse 1 because they have transgressed my covenant
and Trespassed against my law. They've crossed the line literally
and Whatever the law, wherever the law of God drew a line and
said, now you can't go any farther than this. These are the statues.
These are the precepts. These are the laws of God. You can't go any farther than
that. Well, they've crossed that line. The old covenant given
to them by God to show them their sin and the impossibility of
salvation eternally and spiritually by their works of the law. But
what did Israel do? Well, you know, you can go all
over the scripture for that, and I'm not going to turn to
all these scriptures, but basically Romans chapter 9 is one of the
greatest commentaries on the main issue that Israel was involved
with in transgressing the law, trespassing against God's law.
And there in Romans chapter 9 and verse 31 it begins to tell you,
it says, Israel sought righteousness by works of the law and not by
faith. They didn't look to God's grace.
They didn't seek God's grace. They didn't look to the promised
Messiah. The Christ, the appointed one
who would come in time and establish righteousness for them who do
not deserve righteousness, who do not deserve salvation. And
so they tried to work it out by their works. And they went
off into all kinds of debauchery, of religious idolatry and error. And you see that. It's a degeneration. I mean, it's not just one little
error here. I mean, it's like a cancer. It's like a gangrene,
Isaiah called it. It started out small, you know.
Well, you know, we don't have to go to Jerusalem to worship
at the temple. We can set up a place up here.
in this place, in Samaria. We can build our own temple,
you know. God's everywhere. I mean, you can just hear the
kind of reasonings that people use. They use them today. Oh,
you all don't have to be that strict. You know, just because
God's Word says it this way, we can interpret it a different
way. And we can go our way. We can set up our own ways of
worship. And God, you know, He's a merciful
God. And He, you know, today they
run around, oh, He just loves everybody and trying to save
everybody. Well, that's not the God of the
Bible at all. They've transgressed the law.
You see, when He, look, think about this. He says, because
they've transgressed my covenant and trespassed against my law.
One of the things that is continually shown in the Old Testament during
the recorded history of the Old Covenant, we saw this in Isaiah,
we saw it in Ecclesiastes with Solomon, we see it in Hosea,
you'll see it in all the prophets. And that's this, that our only
hope of salvation, the only hope of salvation for any sinner,
any Jew or any Gentile, is to be part of a covenant that cannot
be transgressed, that cannot be trespassed, a covenant that
cannot be broken. Because as long as sinners are
under any covenant in any shape, form, or fashion that can be
broken as it is conditioned on the sinner, it will be broken
and there's no hope of eternal life or eternal salvation or
righteousness in that covenant. Not at all. You see, that's one
of the reasons that old covenant was established with that nation
to show them that very fact that there is no hope of salvation
eternally under a conditional covenant. A covenant conditioned
on the sinner. You see, here's the thing about
it. Now you say, people today, you know, they look back and
you can read stuff like that. Well, they've transgressed the
covenant and they've trespassed against God's law and they preach
and teach a conditional gospel today. a false gospel, a gospel
conditioned on man's works or man's will or something, and
they say, well now Israel, now they transgressed the covenant,
they trespassed the law, but I won't. Now that's exactly the reasoning
behind a conditional salvation. A false gospel. You see, if you
believe salvation is conditioned on you, whether you realize it
or not, you've got to be saying, well, I'm better than these fellas
back here in Israel. And God will save me and He'll
bless me because I'm better. I won't do what they did. Now,
let me tell you something. And you know this is true. You
who know Christ, you know this is so. If God put the condition
of salvation upon you at any stage, to any degree, in any
way, What would happen? You'd fall just like Israel or
worse than Israel. The only hope that any sinner
back then, any sinner today or at any time has for eternal salvation
and righteousness and life and glory is under a covenant that
cannot be broken. Well, first of all then, is there
any such thing as a covenant that cannot be broken? Yes, there
is. It's called the everlasting covenant
of grace in the scriptures. You say, well, did they know
anything about that in the Old Testament? Turn to 2 Samuel 23. Yes, they did. I could go back
further than this, but let's just go, because this uses some
of the best language that you'll find in the Old Testament. This
is David. David the king. David, the man that was sinlessly
perfect in himself. I'm glad some of you looked at
me wide-eyed, because there's no such David in the Bible who
was sinlessly perfect in and of himself. Isn't that right?
David, the sinner. And look at 2 Samuel 23, 5. He
says, Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made
with me an everlasting covenant. Ordered in all things and sure. Who ordered it? God did. Why
is it sure? Because Christ is the surety
of it. All conditions of this covenant
were laid not upon David, not upon us, but upon Christ. And
that's why it cannot be broken. because the conditions of this
covenant are laid upon Christ, the God-man, the mediator of
the covenant. And he says, for this is all
my salvation, not part of it, this is all my salvation, this
is all my desire. You know, if you ever see yourself
for what you really are, if I ever see myself for what I really
am, I'll say the same thing David said, this is not only all my
salvation, it's all my desire, it's all I want. even though
he make it not to grow. And we could go right on through
the scriptures. Isaiah 55 and verse 3 speaks
of the everlasting covenant and calls it even the sure mercies
of David. The sure mercies of David. Now
how can they be sure knowing what David is and what David
did? It's not talking about King David.
It's talking about David's greater son. whom David typified the
king of kings. It's the sure mercies of David
because David's salvation was conditioned on the coming king. Jeremiah spoke of it in Jeremiah
chapter 31 when he prophesied, God stated and taught through
him that there was coming a time when there would be another covenant.
not like the one that he made with the fathers when he took
them out of Egypt and established them on Sinai, but which they
break, he said, which covenant they break, look back at Hosea
8 there, that's what he said, they broke it. But this is one
that cannot be broken. And Hebrews chapter 8 shows how
that covenant that cannot be broken was fulfilled in and by
the person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ as he
obeyed unto death for his people. You see, if you're saved by the
grace of God, you are part of a covenant that you cannot trespass
and transgress. That doesn't mean you cannot
sin. Oh, we sin every day. But you see, under the covenant
of grace, the everlasting covenant that cannot be broken, we're
washed clean from all our sins in the blood of Christ. Under
that covenant, we're clothed in His righteousness, imputed,
charged, accounted to us, and it's an everlasting righteousness
of infinite value that cannot change and cannot be lost. It's
the righteousness of God. And therefore, somebody comes
up and says, well, now, preacher, if that's so, then I'll just
go out and sin as much as I want to. Well, go back and read Romans
chapter 6 that I just read opening this. this service. Shall we
sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Grace is not just
something that is brought to your mind. Grace is not something
that just pours from your lips in doctrine. Grace is a dynamic
that changes your heart and brings you into a relationship with
Christ and makes you happy. and secure in a covenant that
cannot be broken. Look back at Hosea 8, verse 2. He says here, he says, Israel
shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee. You know, one would
think of any nation that knew God, it would be Israel. They
always claimed to know God. They did it in various forms.
They'd say, well, we know God. Or they'd say it this way, we're
Abraham's seed. Or they'd say it this way, we've
been circumcised. Or they'd say it this way, we
have Moses, we follow him. You remember what Christ said
in John chapter 8 to those who claim to be Abraham's seed? He
said, I know Abraham's your father physically, but not spiritually. You don't follow Abraham. You
don't do the works of Abraham. He believed me. Abraham saw my
day. He rejoiced to see it and he
was glad. He says, you're of your father the devil. You see,
they said, we know God. God, we know thee. What they're
doing here is they realize judgment's coming, wrath's coming, and they're
pleading, no, wait a minute, no, not us. The judgment of God
couldn't come upon us, we know God. But their claim of knowing
God was a lie. It was a grand deception. Now
how do you know that that was so? It's because their thoughts
of God was a mixture of idolatry, and a claim to worship the true
God of Israel. It was a religious mixture. They
tried to mix works and grace, which cannot be done. They practiced
idolatry while they cried out to the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. Christ said in Matthew chapter
6, no man can serve two masters. He'll either hate the one and
love the other or else he'll hold to the one, despise the
other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Yes, he was talking about
physical things, money specifically there, but it holds true. The
prophet Elijah When he stood against the prophets of Baal
on Mount Carmel, you remember what he told the people? He said,
how long will you halt between two opinions? If God be God,
then serve him. If Baal be God, then quit serving
this God and serve Baal. Whoever is God, serve him. That's
what he said. You can't serve both. So their
claim was a lie. You cannot serve God with divided
hearts and divided devotion and divided loyalties. You can't
do it. To know God is to know Him in Christ. That's what Christ
said in John chapter 17 and verse 3. This is life eternal that
they might know thee and thee only and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. He said, you neither know me
nor my father. He spoke of the Pharisees there.
You can't know God without Christ for Christ and Him crucified
and risen again is the revelation of God to His people. How God
can be just and justify the ungodly? how God can be both a merciful
father and a righteous judge. To know God is to know Him in
truth, not as you think Him to be, not as men conceive Him to
be, but as God reveals Himself in His Word. And certainly to
know God is to know Him in grace. to know that he is the one who
saved me and keeps me and will bring me to glory by his grace
and I at no time in my life as a believer, as a sinner saved
by grace, I at no time deserve or have earned what God gives
me. My only hope is in Christ. Verse three, he says, Israel
hath cast off the thing that is good or literally the good
thing or the good one The enemy shall pursue him. Now this is
good according to God's standard. I'm sure as they set up their
altars of sin, with their sincerity and their religious zeal, they
stood back and looked at it and said, this is good. Like men
do today. When they meet together and worship
under a false gospel. We're trying. We're sincere,
we're zealous, we may not have all of our I's dotted and all
of our T's crossed, but it's good. You remember the rich young
man who came to our Lord and called him good master, that
man who did not believe Jesus of Nazareth to be God. You remember
what our Lord told him, he said, why do you call me good then?
There's none good but God. What was he teaching that man?
There's no man in God's standard of goodness that can be called
good. Romans chapter 3 verses 10 through 12 teaches that. There's
none righteous, no not one. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. So in other words, according to God's standard,
they've rejected the good. Well according to God's standard,
what is good? What is goodness? I'll tell you
exactly where you're going to find good according to God's
standard, and that's in Christ and in Him alone. You want to
embrace the good according to God's standard of goodness? Embrace
Christ. You want to reject the good according
to God's standard? Reject Christ and lean to your
own understanding. Lean to your own ways. Trust
in your own works. That's rejecting the good. The
moment they rejected God's law, which exposed their sinfulness,
They rejected God's way of salvation revealed in the types and the
pictures of the tabernacle and the sacrifices and the altar
and the holiest of all, which all pictured Christ. And they
sought righteousness by works of the law. Like those false
preachers in Matthew chapter 7 who said, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast out demons?
Have we not done many wonderful works? They thought they were
doing good. Christ said, depart from me, you that work iniquity.
According to God's standard, if that's what your righteousness
is before God, you've rejected the good just like Israel here.
That's what Hosea is telling them. It'll be the same for many
today who seek righteousness by works, won't it? He says,
the enemy shall pursue him. The Assyrian army he's speaking
of, but the Assyrian army here was a symbol of all enemies of
sinful mankind. If you reject Christ, the devil
will pursue you and he'll catch you. If you reject Christ, sin
will pursue you and it'll catch you, and sin equals death. The
Bible says the last enemy is death, and the only way that
last enemy can be destroyed is through the death of Christ.
I love that essay that John Owen wrote called The Death of Death
and the Death of Christ. To those who have embraced good
by embracing Christ, there will be peace. There is peace, eternal
peace. Look at verse four. He says,
they've set up kings, but not by me. They've made princes,
and I knew not what God is saying there through Hosea is not that
he wasn't aware that they were doing this. He was aware of it.
He's bringing judgment on it for it. But he said he had no,
this is not according to his will, revealed will. by way of
commandment. And he says, of their silver
and their gold, have they made them idols, that they may be
cut off? You know, I thought it was interesting there, you
know, back in the old covenant, when they were making the tabernacle,
silver and gold was used. Silver was a picture, a type
of redemption. Gold was a type of deity. You
remember the holiest of all, the Ark of the Covenant, and
the mercy seat was made of chitim wood, which pictured the humanity
of Christ, and it was overlaid with gold, which pictured the
deity of Christ. And silver, that's what the post
of the tabernacle, the inner chamber, were upon, because it
stood upon the redemptive work of Christ. But they had taken
those precious types and symbols of redemption and God and they
turned them into idolatry. And that's what men do by nature.
And he says that they may be cut off. Cut off means to be
alienated from God. Not what they wanted, not what
they expected, but that's the certain outcome, you see. And what does he mean up here
when he says they set up kings but not by me? Well, you know,
you remember when Israel first wanted a king. Now, I know a
lot of people say, well, God is their king, and God was their
king. He's the king of all kings. Christ
is the king of kings, Lord of lords. But a lot of people, when
they come to that passage, it's 1 Samuel chapter 8, is where
it first is recorded, where the people wanted a king. Well, you
know, God had promised them a king. He promised them a king under
Jacob. Genesis 49, the scepter, shall
not depart from Judah until Shiloh come. The scepter is the scepter
of a king. They're gonna have a king. But here's what they
said. You can read this in 1 Samuel
8 verses five and verse 20. Here's what the people said when
they wanted a king. They said, give us a king like other nations. There's the problem. We don't
just want a king. We're not looking for the king
that God said he would send in his time, in his way. We're not
looking for the king according to God's promise. We want a king
like other nations. They wanted to be like everybody
else. They didn't want to be separated. They didn't want to
be distinguished by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And
that's what the problem is here. They set up kings, but it was
kings after man's heart, not after God's heart. That's why
God allowed them to have Saul from the tribe of Benjamin to
start off with, and he was a miserable failure. But then God gave him
a king after the tribe of Judah, after his own heart, and that
was King David. So you see here, they wanted
leaders, but not like God would give them. And I'll tell you
something, they rejected the Davidic line of kings, they rejected
the king of kings, they rejected Christ. That's what they're rejecting
here. And you can mark it down. Go
back to this issue of sowing and reaping. Those who follow
their own wisdom and their own ways and their own choice of
leaders inevitably reap what they sow. That's exactly right,
you can mark it down. Look at verse five, he says,
thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off. Literally, what he's
saying here is you are cast off because your calf stings. And it's a bull here, a bull
that they had made. You talk about the golden calf
that Israel made after Moses came down from Mount Sinai. Well,
when Jeroboam, when he first got in to usurp the authority
and took the tribes away in the northern kingdom after Solomon,
he made two golden calves. And he says here that you're
cast off because you worship a calf that stinks. It's not
a sweet savor unto God. You know, the sacrifices are
often described as being a sweet-smelling savor unto God. That means God
accepts them. That means God receives them.
And so God doesn't receive this. This stinks in the nostrils of
God. That's just a symbolic, metaphorical
way of speaking. You see, if you're going to have
acceptance, that sweet-smelling savor unto God, The only sweet-smelling
savor unto him is the savor of his son. This is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. The sweet-smelling
savor of Christ. And so we ask this question,
how long will it be ere they attain to innocence? How long
will it be until they gain freedom from guilt? How long will it
be? I'll tell you how long. However
long it takes God to bring a sinner to Christ. Come, let us reason
together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they'll be as white as wool. Though they be red like crimson,
they'll be white as snow. Isaiah 118. You want freedom
from guilt, freedom from sin, look to Christ. The only way.
Look at verse six. He says, for from Israel was
it also. The workman made it, therefore
it's not of God. But the calf of Samaria shall
be broken in pieces. What he's talking about here
is their religion, their hope, their God, Their refuge is not
the work of God. It's the work of men's hands.
And that's the problem. You see, this is the issue. Man
wants some part in his own salvation. He wants to take some credit
for something that he does in order to make the difference
between saved and lost. between heaven and hell. And
it's the works of men's hands. You remember over in the book
of Exodus, when God told him to build an altar, and he told
him, he said, don't put a chisel to it. He said, get a stone,
but don't you lay a chisel to it. He said, man's not, listen,
this is not the work of man, it's the work of God. And that's
why Christ is our altar. He's not the work of man. You
see, even his humanity wasn't of Adam. But he was conceived
in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit. He's the God-man. And that's why in our salvation,
we're called the workmanship of God. For by grace are you
saved through faith, that not of yourselves is the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. I think
I've told you that story before, I got it from Brother Tim James.
He was talking about a preacher who held a meeting in a city
one year and in that meeting a lot of people came to this
man and said they believed the Lord saved them. And so the man
left and went out on his journeys and a year later he came back
to the same city and he held a meeting in a different place.
And after the meeting was over, he was walking downtown back
to his hotel and a drunk came up to him, wobbling around. And the drunk was going to ask
him for some money and he looked up at the preacher and he said,
I know who you are. And the preacher said, well,
who do you think I am? And he said, I was at a meeting last
year at another church. And he says, you're the man that
saved me. And the preacher looked at him, he says, well, you look
about like some of my work. And that's the works of man.
Whatever man puts his hand to is corrupted. That's the issue
here. This is not the work of God.
Salvation, true salvation is of the Lord. It's the Lord's
work in the beginning, in the continuation of it, and in its
finality. It's all of the Lord. And so this idle calf of Samaria
will be broken to pieces. It'll not stand when God will
judge. Well, look at verse seven. He says, for they've sown the
wind and they shall reap the whirlwind, the storm of God's
wrath. It hath no stalk. The bud shall
yield no meal. If so be it yield, the strangers
shall swallow it up. Somebody said, it may seem to
Israel that the judgment is worse than the sin they committed,
but that's not true. God's judgments are always according
to truth. Abraham said it, shall not the
judge of the earth do right? Well, you bet he will. All sin
deserves death. And here he says what they've
sown, they're only gonna reap what they've sown. What is he
saying there? He said, you're gonna give what
you deserve. And that's why we pray for the mercy of God. Oh,
Lord, don't give me what I deserve. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Oh, Lord, it's of His mercies
that we're not consumed. Lord, don't give any of us what
we deserve. God's judgment, you see. And
He said, because of this, this reaping of the wind or this sowing
of the wind and reaping of the whirlwind, their crop has no
stalk. That means it has no standing
corn. You might see that in your concordance.
In other words, there's no fruit, there's no growth. There's no
bud, he says, shall yield no meal. It stopped growing. It's a famine. That's what he's
talking about. And if there was any growth, it'll be swallowed
up by the enemy. And he says in verse 8, even
Israel himself, Israel herself will be swallowed up, the whole
nation. And he says, now shall they be among the Gentiles as
a vessel wherein is no pleasure. When they sought alliances with
Assyria instead of turning to God, they were swallowed up.
They lost their identity. because their identity was in
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the covenant and the promises. They lost their distinction in
destruction. They were like a vessel, a discarded,
broken pot, a useless vessel. They were like the salt that
lost its savor, the light that's hid under a bushel. It was of
no good. They were chosen to be vessels
of God's glory, but they made themselves useless. In verse
nine, he says, for they're gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone
by herself. Ephraim have hired lovers like
stubborn mules. They went their own way rather
than God's way. And they hired lovers. That kind
of reminded me of Hosea's wife, Gomer. She hired herself out
to lovers. And that's what he's talking
about. They prostituted themselves out to false idols. In verse 10, he says, yea, though
they have hired among the nations, now will I gather and they shall
sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes. They're
among the Gentiles. They've sold themselves out to
Assyria and other nations, but they're gathered together here
for judgment. Now we know in the future there's
going to be a gathering together of God's people under Christ.
Hosea chapter 1 spoke of that. That's a gathering of mercy. That's a gathering of grace.
But here it's a gathering of judgment. And it's sorrow, he
says. Shall sorrow a little. Be for
a little while for the burden of the king of princes. All of
this thing. Well, here's the root of the
problem. Look at verse 11. He says, because Ephraim hath made
many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin. All of this,
altars of sinful, idolatrous, man-made works religion. That's
what it's all about there to them. You know, it's ironic because
they built many altars on which to bring sin offerings. But these
altars had become means of practicing sin and idolatry. And they were
diligent, they were zealous. But diligent, zealous, religious
exercise without truth, without grace, without knowledge, without
heart, without Christ, God hates it. And he will not have it. So in verse 12, he says, I've
written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted
as a strange thing. Boy, if there's any verse in
the Bible that describes our religious generation today, it's
right there. Israel had rejected God's law,
His word. Therefore, when God's word was
spoken by the prophet, it seemed so strange to them. It seemed
like a foreign language to them. You think about our generation
today. You talk about the great doctrines of sovereign grace
to most people today who claim to be Christian. You might as
well be talking about something on Mars. to most people. The doctrine of total depravity
and unconditional election and particular redemption, irresistible
grace, perseverance of the saints, preservation. All of these great
doctrines of scripture that God has revealed in his word, not
just in one verse here and there, but all through from Genesis
to Revelation. And it's like people, well, we
don't even know what you're talking about. I was talking to a fellow there
last year about the doctrine of imputed righteousness, and
he said, well, I've never even heard of that. And a lot of people
haven't. The very foundation and ground
of our salvation. Literally, you know what he says
here? He says the great things of my law, some translations
say numerous things, it's literally tens of thousands of things. One old rabbi went through the
Old Testament one time and he counted all the commandments
under the Old Covenant, and I think he counted 613 commandments. So why does he say 10,000 here?
Well, it's a symbolic number. It's not talking about the actual
number of the commandments or the actual number of the truths
that God's revealed. It's describing the greatness
of them. God's great word. The word of God's great glory. in Christ, the word of man's
great sinfulness without Christ, God's great grace in Christ,
grace greater than all our sins. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
The Bible says in Hebrews 4, 14, seeing them we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. The psalmist prayed in Psalm
119, verse 18, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous
things, great things out of thy law. Israel had been duly warned. She's without excuse. Verse 13,
it says, they sacrificed flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings
in Eden, but the Lord accepted them not. Now will he remember
their iniquity and visit their sins, that means punish their
sins, and they shall return to Egypt. Their sacrifices were
not for the glory of God, but for their own self-fulfillment.
God did not accept their sacrifices because acceptance with God is
only through the one sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave
Himself for our sins. And God will charge sin to all
who are not found in Christ. That's what it means when He
says, I will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. He says
they'll return to Egypt. Not literally. The Assyrian army
was going to conquer them and scatter them all through the
Gentile world. But he means they're going to
return to bondage. They'll not be free. Not be free
at all. And then in verse 14 he says,
For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, his Creator. and buildeth
temples. And Judah, he even talks about
Judah now. They're not left out. Judah hath
multiplied fenced cities. That's what they thought their
safety was in, their fenced cities. He says, but I will send a fire
upon his cities and it shall devour the palaces thereof. You
see, remember they cried out to God there in verse two. They
said, my God, we know thee. But here it says they've forgotten.
Literally means they laid him aside. That means they neglect
him. They didn't openly deny God,
they just put him on the sidelines. They didn't really care and they
weren't really concerned for his glory. And you mark it down,
there is no refuge for those who forget their maker. Who is
our maker? Isaiah says in Isaiah 54.5 that
our maker is our redeemer. He is none other than the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so, therefore, this word
of judgment is not just to the northern kingdom, it's also to
Judah, the southern kingdom, because their sin, even though
their sin was more subtle than Israel's, they trusted in their
fortified cities that they built against the Assyrians. Those
cities would be no help. He said, I'll send fire upon
those cities. And only the Lord would preserve
Judah from total destruction. You know, as we recall, God would
not utterly forsake his people. He wasn't going to do it because
he was going to bring Christ through that nation. But there
was coming a time when his judgment, when the storm of his judgment
would come because they'd sown the wind and they'd reaped the
storm.