WWUTT 2244 Israel Reaps the Whirlwind (Hosea 8:1-14)

There are many who may think to themselves that there's nothing dangerous that will befall me.

I've got God on my side and they'll continue about in their sin, not realizing that they are going the way to judgment if they do not repent when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Hosea, we have read about this prophet that God told to take a wife of harlotry.

So he did. The woman was unfaithful to him, but Hosea showed her mercy.

And this was to be a picture of God's relationship with Israel. They whored themselves out with false gods, and God will bring judgment upon them.

But he will be faithful to his promises, bringing a deliverer through the house of Judah.

What we read about here in chapter eight, we're going to read some proclamations that Israel makes about themselves.

We know God, and so therefore he knows us and he will protect us. But this that we read in chapter eight, which is in the voice of God is the promise of judgment upon them.

Yes, they acknowledge him with their lips, but their hearts are far from God. Just like we read from the prophet

Isaiah. So let me begin here in Hosea eight verses one through seven out of the legacy standard

Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Put the trumpet to your mouth like an eagle.

The enemy comes against the house of Yahweh because they have trespassed against my covenant and transgressed against my law.

They cry out to me, my God, we have Israel know you. Israel has rejected the good.

The enemy will pursue him. They have set up kings, but not by me. They have appointed princes, but I did not know it with their silver and gold.

They have made idols for themselves that they might be cut off. He has rejected your calf,

O Samaria, saying my anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?

For from Israel is even this, a craftsman made it, so it is not

God. Surely the calf of Samaria will be smashed to splinters for they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no growth. It makes no flower. Should it make anything, strangers would swallow it up.

Now I stop right there, but really this section goes through verse 10. It's broken up like this.

In verses 1 through 4, we have the Lord speaking and Israel calling out,

God, we of Israel know you, but God rejects them. So they make this claim of protection.

In the next section, we have in verses 5 through 10, they promise themselves peace.

God is going to show us peace, but they do not know that God is not really with them, but against them.

And then in the last section, we have a declaration of punishment, verses 11 to 14.

So in verses 1 through 4, claiming protection, verses 5 through 10, promising themselves peace, but then in verses 11 to 14, receiving punishment.

Let's go back up here to verse 1. Put the trumpet to your mouth like an eagle. The enemy comes against the house of Yahweh.

So this is talking about judgment that will come against Israel. The Assyrians are eventually going to be the instrument

God will use to bring judgment against Israel. Put the trumpet to your mouth.

This is the call of the watchman on the wall, warning the people, warning the city. Here comes the enemy.

So like an eagle, the enemy comes against the house of Yahweh because they have trespassed against my covenant and transgressed against my law.

In the book of Deuteronomy, God set up for Israel blessings and curses. He had this take place between two mountains, and the blessings would be proclaimed from one mountain and the curses would be proclaimed from the other mountain.

And Israel was supposed to respond, Amen. So be it. This is what it will be.

If we transgress against the law, God will bring punishment against us. We will be cursed.

But if we keep the law, if we do all that God has told us to do, we keep his statutes and his precepts, then these are the blessings that God will give to us.

So this statement here at the start of Hosea 8 is a declaration of judgment.

And even that that judgment is sure with the sounding of this trumpet, and also the reason why this judgment is going to come, because they have sinned against God.

And my friends, it's still the case for anyone today, for any nation today, even. Judgment will come upon that nation.

Why? Because they have transgressed against God, against his law, because they have sinned.

As long as there is an acknowledgement of God, a worship of Christ in a nation, I do believe even to this day,

God will bless that nation. But the nation that turns its heart away from the Lord will be destroyed.

An enemy from outside may come in. They may consume themselves from the inside, but either way,

God's hand of protection will not be upon the nation that turns from him to do this wickedness, even if a nation may call upon his name.

If their hearts are far from him, it doesn't matter that they have written on their currency in God we trust, or saying in their pledge of allegiance, one nation under God.

If they don't live in such a way as to fear the Lord and keep his commands, then he will bring judgment upon them.

Now, ultimately, we know that we cannot keep the law of God. Every one of us has failed at it at some point.

And so we must turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Only those who have faith in Jesus will live.

There's really only one true Christian nation. Yes, you can have a nation that declares Christ, and the majority of that nation would seek after a system of law or justice that would be built upon the word of God.

That is good and right for a nation to do. And we might call such a nation a Christian nation. In the past, the

United States of America was called a Christian nation. There was a time when Great Britain was called a Christian nation.

It's not that anymore. Many countries across Europe were called that. There are nations today in Africa that would proclaim themselves to be

Christian nations. So it does happen. Nations that fear God and desire to obey him and keep his word.

But the only true Christian nation is the church. It is the one that is truly

Christ's, that exalts him and worships him as king, that will be saved and delivered into his eternal kingdom forever.

That is the true and only Christian nation. The only way that we can have this citizenship from above in his heavenly kingdom, as talked about in Philippians chapter three, is to believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ. There are many who will acknowledge God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him.

And they will continue on in the ways of this world, even though they will say that they are Christians or followers of Jesus.

But Jesus has said in Matthew chapter seven, on that day, there will be many who will say, Lord, Lord, did we not do these many things in your name?

And I will declare to them, depart from me, you worker of lawlessness, I never knew you.

So we have even here in Hosea eight two, they cry out to me, my God, we of Israel know you.

So surely he will protect us. But Israel has rejected the good.

They will say we know God with our lips, but their hearts are far from him. They don't do what

God has told them to do. You will see their fruit. You will know them by their fruit. The way they live is not reflective of the

God they claim to worship. Rather, they act and behave like the false gods that they worship.

So the enemy will pursue him. Verse four, they have set up kings, but not by me.

They have appointed princes, but I did not know it. And we see the same thing happening in the world, don't we? Many nations, mine included, the

United States of America, setting up leaders for themselves. But they don't do so in the fear of God.

Both of the candidates that are running for president in twenty twenty four, neither one of them fear the

Lord. Both of them are wicked candidates. And so, yes, there are leaders that get appointed by the people in this nation.

But those leaders reflect the attitude, the depravity, the sin, the wickedness of the people that live in this nation.

God have mercy on us. Pray and ask that the Lord would show compassion to us.

That we might turn from our sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and live, may there be great revival in this land so that the the child sacrifice that continues through abortion, the sexual immorality through a rampant fornication, unfaithful marriages.

And then, of course, the LGBTQ perversion movement. May God stir in the hearts of this people to turn away from all of this madness.

And turn to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, put faith and trust in him so that we may live.

But my friends, we've got to be out there sharing the gospel, because this is not something that is just going to automatically happen without the preaching of the gospel.

This is the way that God has brought people to repentance by the hearing of the preaching of the word. And there are many churches in America today where the gospel is not preached.

That's one of the reasons why judgment will come upon this nation or any nation, because even the churches that exist there are not proclaiming

Christ and him crucified for our sins. The churches are not proclaiming Christ is king and he reigns over all the nations.

So they set up kings, but not according to God's word with their silver and gold.

They have made idols for themselves that they might be cut off, as it said in Second Thessalonians chapter two,

God gives them a strong delusion so that they might do unrighteousness and then come into judgment.

They will come into judgment because their hearts were far from God and their actions demonstrated it all the more, heaping judgment upon themselves that they might be cut off.

That's the first section, verses one through four, these claims of protection.

And then in the next section, it's a self -promise of peace. There will be peace in our days, not realizing the judgment of God is right at the door.

Verse five, he has rejected your calf, O Samaria, saying, my anger burns against them.

How long will they be incapable of innocence? Now, if you remember, according to first and second kings, there were two calves in Samaria.

It wasn't just one, but there was one on the southern end of the northern kingdom and on the northern end of the northern kingdom.

So it was like they were just surrounded by idolatry. They worshiped false gods.

And so eventually their sin is going to catch up with them. Be sure your sin will find you out, as the scripture says.

Verse six, for from Israel is even this, a craftsman made it, so it is not

God. Surely the calf of Samaria will be smashed to splinters, for they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no growth. It makes no flower. So you see crops, but it isn't producing anything.

There's a harvest, but not for anyone's benefit. Remember the parable of the wheat and the tares.

There was wheat in the field. The enemy came and sowed weeds in the midst of the field. And so the weeds or the tares, as they're called, were growing up with the grain.

And so the workers said, well, how about we go and we take up all of the weeds?

And the master of the field says, no, because you'll uproot the grain along with it. Let them grow together.

And then at harvest time, we'll separate them out. The wheat will go into the barns. The weeds will be tied up and will be cast into the fire.

And so that's what's being said here as well. There's grain that's growing there, but it's not going to be for any good.

It makes no flower. It's like it's the weeds among the tares.

Sorry, the weeds among the wheat. Should it make anything, strangers would swallow it up.

If there's anything that comes out of it, it will be consumed. That's the promise of the judgment of the Assyrians that will come upon them soon.

They sow the wind, but they reap the whirlwind. So it isn't the good breeze.

It is instead the devastating tornado that will come and wipe out Israel. And so in verse eight,

Israel is swallowed up. They are now among the nations like a vessel in which no one delights.

They are now among the nations. So remember that Israel was previously separated from the nations.

This was the people that God had chosen from all other nation on earth and called them out of slavery to himself and had given them a promised land.

And yet now they've become like all the other nations. And they are like a vessel in which no one delights.

They have behaved like the world. And my friends, we're going to see many

Christians go that same way. Many professing Christians will say that they are followers of Christ.

But as said in 2 Peter 2, they will deny the master who bought them. And they do not really belong to Christ.

They will go after the world. They will look just like the world because they never really came out of it.

And so they will look no different than anyone else in the world. These churches that you will see that fly

LGBTQ flags or whatever other manner of behavior they may engage in that looks like the world, they're not a church and there's no value to them.

They are worthless vessels in which no one delights. It's why many of the mainline churches are mostly empty, beautiful buildings, nobody's in them.

What's the point of going to church if it just looks like the rest of the world? I can sleep in on Sunday, watch my football game.

They are a worthless vessel. Verse 9, for they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey all alone.

Ephraim has hired lovers. The very people that they have partnered with and worship their gods are going to be the people that will destroy them.

Friends, that's going to be the same thing that will happen in the world. People who claim to be followers of Christ will fornicate with the world and the world will destroy them.

And they too will be destroyed with the world when the judgment of God comes. Even though they hire allies among the nations, verse 10, now

I will gather them up and they will begin to diminish because of the burden of the king of princes.

So, they're rulers that lead them in this way, that lead them astray.

The rulers reflect the hearts of the people. The people appoint these rulers that will give them the things that they want to have.

Same thing in a nation that elects rulers such as ours. The people that get elected and appointed to those positions reflect the hearts of the people that put them there.

There are some Christians that work in government, I'm not saying all the people in the government of the

United States of America are wicked and evil, but by and large, that is what you see. Every once in a while, we have one godly candidate that will rise up above the rest.

That's like the verse in Ezra that says, for a time, God has shown us grace.

We are being shown grace when a godly mayor or governor or senator or representative or somebody like that will be in one of those positions of power.

But mostly what you are seeing in our corrupt government is a reflection of the hearts of the people that put them there.

But even if you might live in a nation which perhaps you don't have the privilege of being able to select or elect your governing officials, it's still true, as John Calvin said, that when

God wants to judge a wicked nation, He gives them wicked rulers. This last section, verses 11 to 14, here's the promised punishment.

Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, they have become altars of sinning for him.

They've made sinful altars, and so sin just continues on those altars. Though I wrote for him 10 ,000 precepts of my law, they are counted as a strange thing.

The people of Israel, though God uniquely gave them this law, yet they do not follow it.

It's foreign to them. They don't even know what these commands are. Do we not see that happening in our own culture?

That which is a culture of which it was previously said was a godly nation, and yet this culture really doesn't even know what

God's law is. Have you ever seen those videos by Ray Comfort in which he'll go into a mall or something like that, and he will ask, he'll go up to somebody random and he will ask them, name the 10 commandments.

They might come up with one or two of them, like do not murder and do not lie, and that's about the best that they come up with.

But then he will ask them, now name 10 beers, and they rattle off like 30 or 40 names of different beers.

This people doesn't even know the law of God, but boy, they can name the stuff they really do love, can't they?

So even God's precepts are counted as a strange thing to a godless culture.

Verse 13, as for my sacrificial gifts, they sacrifice the flesh and eat it, but Yahweh has not accepted them.

Now he will remember their iniquity and punish them for their sins. They will return to Egypt.

Friends, we have an Egypt of our own. It was the sin that we were enslaved to, and through the gospel of Jesus Christ, when we hear that he has died for our sins and risen again, when we are cut to the heart, realizing that we have sinned against God and what we deserve for that is death, but through Jesus Christ, the way of salvation has been made and we put our faith and trust in him, we have been rescued out of that Egypt.

We've been rescued from sin, set free from the bonds and chains to our own, the passions of our flesh, to this world to which we were enslaved.

We've been set free from those things, set free to worship and honor and glorify God. But those who for a time, they may profess faith in Christ, but they go back to living like the world.

It's like they've returned to Egypt. They run right back to their sin. This is also described in Proverbs as a sow returning to wallow in the mire and a dog returning to its vomit.

Verse 14, so Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces and Judah has multiplied fortified cities, but I will send a fire on its cities that it may consume its palatial dwellings.

Praise God though, he did have mercy on Judah, though they were exiled into the hands of the

Babylonians. They were allowed to return to their land so that through the line of Judah would eventually come the savior, the savior of the world,

Jesus Christ, in whom we have put our faith and trust and so be saved.

Heavenly father, I thank you for what we've read here and I pray that it would be convicting for us that we understand

God is holy, sin is damning, and hell is a real place that God will consign the wicked to at the final judgment.

But he has also made a way of salvation through Jesus Christ, our savior. May we turn to Christ, turn away from the world, our sin, our fleshly appetites,

Satan schemes and come into fellowship with God through Jesus Christ and walk in your ways and obey your precepts and fear

God for all that you have said to us, all that you have given is good.

And may we not think anything that you have asked us to do is something burdensome for we have been delivered and set free and our burden has been made light by the love and grace of God through Jesus Christ, our savior.

Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake, it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. This has been

When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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