WWUTT 2269 O Death, Where is Your Victory? (Hosea 13:1-16)

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O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting?

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There are a couple of ways that that passage can be read. It's either in fear of death or knowing that death has been conquered when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an

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Old Testament book on Thursday, and a Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Hosea, we've got two weeks left. This week and the next, and we will finish up this study.

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We've got two more chapters here, so today we'll be in Hosea 13. We have read all of these judgments that God is promising upon Israel because of their rebellion, their sin against God.

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They hoard themselves out with the pagans around them, committing sexual immorality and also worshiping these false gods.

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Sexual immorality just kind of came along with that pagan worship. God told a prophet named

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Hosea to take a wife of Hordom. The woman that he married was named Gomer. She was unfaithful to him, of course, whored herself out with other men.

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Hosea said that he was going to cut her off, but by the command of God, he was forgiving of her and welcomed her back.

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This was a picture of the way that God was dealing with Israel. They were indeed going to be punished because of their sin and rebellion, but God was going to be merciful and gracious to them as well.

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Still having to face the consequences of their sin, but God would be faithful to fulfill the promises that he said he would do through his people, the descendants of Abraham.

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Let's come to Hosea 13, and I'm going to read through verse 8 and then tell you how this passage breaks down.

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Hear the word of the Lord from Hosea 13, starting in verse 1. When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling.

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He lifted himself up in Israel, but through Baal, he became guilty and died.

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And now they sin more and more and make for themselves molten images, idols made from their silver, according to their understanding, all of them the work of craftsmen.

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They are saying of them, let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves, therefore they will be like the morning cloud and like dew, which soon disappears, like chaff, which is blown away from the threshing floor and like smoke from a chimney.

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Yet I have been Yahweh your God since the land of Egypt, and you were not to know any

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God except me, and there is no Savior besides me. I myself knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought, as they had their pasture.

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Then they became satisfied, indeed they were satisfied, and their heart became raised up.

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Therefore they forgot me. So I will be like a lion to them, like a leopard.

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I will lie and wait by the wayside. I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs, and I will tear open the chest in closing their heart.

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There I will also devour them like a lioness, as a beast of the field would rip them open.

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Very descriptive in God's judgment upon Israel. And what we've just read through here are the first two sections of chapter 13.

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There is a third that goes from verses 9 to 16, finishing it up. So how does this chapter break down?

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Well in verses 1 through 4, Israel is reproved and threatened because of their idolatry.

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In the second section, which was verses 5 through 8, they are threatened again, but for their wantonness, pride, and luxury, and other abuses.

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All the prosperity that they stored up for themselves, but of course as we read last week in chapter 12, they wasted that prosperity on false gods, and even as we read here, they will take the silver and the gold that they have accumulated, they'll fashion it into false gods.

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Instead of giving thankfulness to God for all that he had given to them, they will make idols out of God's blessing, worshiping that, and committing sexual perversions.

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And then the last section, which will be verses 9 through 16, God is going to promise ruin upon the nation of Israel, and all their other sins that are foretold, all of this will be very terrible indeed.

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So let me come back up to the start of chapter 13, beginning in verse 1. When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling.

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He lifted himself up in Israel, but through Baal, he became guilty and died.

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So those first two lines there, and this is the parallelism, remember we've talked about how in Hebrew poetry, which is what a lot of prophecy is, the common literary device that is used is called parallelism, where you will have one statement, and then that statement is repeated in the next line.

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And so that's what you have in these first two lines. When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He lifted himself up in Israel.

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So if the first line is confusing to you as to what that means, then maybe the second line helps you to understand it a little bit better.

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He lifted himself up in Israel. This is explaining that there was a time when Israel was in fact very obedient.

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When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. So when the word of God was talked about, whenever the prophets would speak on behalf of the

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Lord, there was trembling, there was fear. There was the fear of God in Israel.

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As we read in Proverbs 1, 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. And so they indeed feared

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God. They obeyed his commandments. They loved the Lord and knew him as judge, and so therefore were submissive to him in all that he had instructed the people of Israel to do.

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He lifted himself up in Israel. He was an upright man. Israel was an upright nation.

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They obeyed the Lord. They did the commandments. Justice prevailed in all of the courts, in the wisdom of the gates, in the men that would sit in the gates and issue judgments for their cities and things of that nature.

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They were God -fearers at one point. But the next line, through Baal, he became guilty and died.

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So he was an upright man at one point. But then he started worshiping the Baals, the false gods, and in this way died, was no longer alive.

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As we read about in Ephesians 2, that we were once dead in the sins and transgressions in which we once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

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So same sort of thing is being said here in Hosea 13. They used to be alive when they were

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God -fearing, when they went after the Lord. But then they went after the Baals and died, dead men in their sins and their transgressions.

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And so in verse 2, and now they sin more and more. It was sin that just led to more sin.

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And the more they knew they could get away with, then the more wicked they became.

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As said in the book of Ecclesiastes, because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.

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That is Ecclesiastes 8 .11. And so in this case, as you would kind of apply that to Israel, because the judgment of God had not come upon them for their sin, they're thinking to themselves, well, we can just keep doing it and they will do more and more.

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And there is this decline into worse depravity. We see the same thing happening in our nation.

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Speaking as an American, we've seen over the last several decades, the sins that have become culturally acceptable, getting worse and worse, and more and more people are getting ensnared by them.

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Judgment will come eventually. As the Lord says through Peter in 2 Peter 3, don't count the

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Lord's slowness as being slow as others would count slow.

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The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, but he is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

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As we read about in Romans chapter two, don't you know that God's kindness and forbearance and patience is meant to lead you to repentance?

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So the reason why God has not struck you down yet is not because God is approving of your behavior.

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It's because he desires for you to repent. And so we would hope that the same thing would happen with Israel as said through the prophet

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Isaiah, I have held out my hands to this rebellious people, but they don't return to the

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Lord. They sin more and more continuing in verse two and make for themselves molten images, idols made from their silver according to their understanding.

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So this is fashioning from the mind of man, a God of their own creation of their own image that will permit them to do all the stuff that they want to do.

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That's why they make these gods. It's why they bow down to them. They're really worshiping themselves, bowing down to and glorifying in themselves.

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All of them, the work of craftsmen, they are saying of them, let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves, kiss the calves, making a reference to like the golden calves.

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There were two golden calves in Israel, one in the northern part of the kingdom and one in the southern part near Bethel or at Bethel.

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And so whenever someone would go there to sacrifice, they would kiss the calf. I don't know if you remember seeing this several years ago.

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It was when the United States was in a recession. So I think this was the latter portion of like the the arts decade.

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But there was a group of Christians professing Christians that went to that golden bull on Wall Street and they were going to lay hands on it and pray for a bull market.

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And I'm sure that their intentions were good, but if you saw that image, it looked really bad.

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A bunch of people laying hands on this golden bull and praying for a bull market.

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It looked like a bunch of people that were they were worshiping a golden, well, bull in this case, a little older than a calf.

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But yeah, that's that's how that came across. So anyway, yeah, they were they were kissing the calves may have been a little bit more innocent than what is being talked about here in Hosea.

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But nonetheless, it's a swearing of loyalty to this thing that I have made in my image that's going to give me all of my heart's desires.

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Therefore, verse three, they will be like the morning cloud and like dew, which soon disappears like chaff, which is blown away from the threshing floor and like smoke from a chimney.

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You've got these four different analogies of how judgment is going to go with Israel.

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They are like a vapor that is here for a moment and then they're gone. That's how total, how swift

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God's judgment will be upon them if they do not repent. Verse four, yet I have been

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Yahweh, your God, since the land of Egypt, and you were not to know any God except me.

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And there is no savior besides me. Now, I had said that the dividing portion of these sections is it's versus one through four and then five through eight.

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Well, that wouldn't be correct. It would be one through three and then four through eight, because that's an obvious transition point there at verse four.

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Yet I have been Yahweh, your God. And so the Lord saying, I have been your

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God. Now, this is affectionately being said. The Lord is speaking from his heart to this nation.

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But nonetheless, this is a promise of judgment. I have been Yahweh, your

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God. You will not know me as the loving God that I first showed myself as to you. You're now going to know me as the wrathful

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God who's going to pour out judgment on those, the holy God who will not let these blasphemies go unpunished.

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And so that's the that's the statement that should strike fear in their hearts when

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God says, yet I have been Yahweh, your God, since the land of Egypt. It's very affectionate for God to tell us his name, that we would get to know him by name.

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How do you get to know a person? The first thing you know about them is their name. Hi, my name is John. Oh, I'm Patty or something like that.

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So now you know something about that person. You know their name. There is there's even something of a familiarity that is instantly created between two people who get to know one another's names.

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We're not strangers anymore. We already know something about each other. So the fact that God had introduced himself to Israel and given them a name that they may know him by, he's not just any

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Elohim or gods like the pagans would worship. He is Yahweh.

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I am the great I am. I have been Yahweh, your God. I was the one who showed myself to you.

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I gave you my love and affection. I brought you out of slavery. I brought you into this promised land since the land of Egypt.

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And you were not to know any God except me. And there is no savior besides me.

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That's not a that's not a difficult arrangement. You can't know these other gods.

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They don't do anything for you. I did everything for you. And I'm not going to share your affections with another

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God. It's not unreasonable. Just the same as if you're married for your spouse to say you can't share your affections with anyone else.

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You're mine. And so your romance is only for the person that you are married to.

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You're not to be going around and jumping into anyone else's bed. It's not an unreasonable demand.

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And so the Lord has said the same with Israel. But of course, we know Israel whored themselves out with the

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Baals and with the pagans. Verse five, I myself knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

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I shared with you affectionately in the wilderness, even when you were going through drought, yet I kept you near to me.

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But you're going to go after these false gods as they had their pasture when they became satisfied.

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Indeed, they were satisfied and their heart became raised up. Therefore, they forgot me.

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We considered that last week when we were in chapter 12, the warning that's given in Deuteronomy. When you see the prosperity that is going to be in your hands, when

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I give you this promised land, don't look at this prosperity and say, look at what my hand has done and forget about what

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God has done for you. Indeed, they were satisfied and their heart became raised up.

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They forgot about God. So versus seven and eight, I will be like a lion to them, like a leopard.

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I will lie in wait by the wayside. I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs.

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Yeah, that that line is often taken to mean that God even has feminine qualities. This is an analogy.

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It's a simile. I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs. And if you want to make a mama bear mad, you mess with her cubs.

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And so God's reaction to Israel is going to be like this. You were my children and you have gone after the wicked and become wicked yourselves.

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I will tear open the chest and closing their heart. Then I will also devour them like a lioness as a beast of the field would rip them open.

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In the book of Revelation, Jesus is described as being both a lion and a lamb to those who do not know him, who do not fear him, who are not worshipers of God.

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Well, they will know the lion side in the predator sense, the apex predator who will tear you apart in judgment for those who have been rebellious, who did not know

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God and did not follow the gospel of Jesus Christ. But for those who do know God, well, we'll see him as a lion as well in that conquering king sort of a way.

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But we get to know him as lamb, the one who sacrificed himself on our behalf, the one who has given himself to us affectionately.

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And so then we know him from the heart are close to God growing in this relationship.

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It's truly a relationship that we have with Jesus Christ. Now, the unbelievers, the wicked, they have a relationship with him as well, but it's the kind of relationship that's going to result in judgment if they do not repent.

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Jesus died for us. He rose again from the dead. All who believe in him, all who worship him, who follow him, who love him and keep his commandments.

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We will not perish, but we will have everlasting life. And so we know him as lion and lamb, but those who are rebellious, they'll really know the lion part.

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And so here's the promise of judgment coming upon Israel in verses nine through 16.

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It is your ruin. Oh, Israel, that you are against me, against your help. I helped you.

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You could call upon me again for help. But you're not, and so therefore you're going to face the wrath of God, where now is your king that he may save you in all your cities and your judges of whom you said, give me a king and princes.

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Remember, it was when Samuel was judge over Israel that they said, hey, we want a king, too.

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We want to be like these nations around us. They've all got their kings. We want a king. And so they did.

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It was really in their rebellion against God. God said to Samuel, it's not against you that they're speaking.

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It's against me. So God gave them what they wanted. He gave them a king. He gave them Saul. And Saul was an unrighteous man.

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So God raised up one who was a man after his own heart, and that was David. But then we've got a long line of kings after Solomon that in Israel, at least in the northern kingdom, were nothing but wicked.

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So where are these kings of yours that you were looking toward that you thought were going to give you all of this great prosperity and everything?

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Where are they? The judges of whom you said, give me kings and princes. I gave you a king in my anger and took him away in my wrath.

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Yeah, because of God's anger against Saul, he raised up David, but then took him away.

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That kingdom was then snatched after Solomon, David's son, had worshiped false gods, raised up high places to false gods.

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So God split the kingdom into the northern and southern kingdoms. Verse 12, the iniquity of Ephraim is bound up.

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His sin is stored up. The pains of childbirth come upon him. He is not a wise son, for it is not the time that he should delay at the opening of the womb.

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Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? Oh, death, where are your thorns?

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Oh, Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from my sight.

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Now, here's the interesting thing about that. You're probably familiar with that passage. It's repeated by the apostle

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Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting?

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The way that it's talked about here is in judgment. But the way that the apostle

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Paul applies it in 1 Corinthians 15 is in victory. Christ having victory over the grave.

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And so death no longer has the sting for us anymore, because we likewise will be risen from the grave with him if we are followers of Jesus Christ.

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And so for us, the grave has victory. There is a victory over the grave. But for those who do not know

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Christ and do not know God, then indeed death is going to be thorny and Sheol will sting a lot.

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Compassion will be hidden from my sight, God says, and that will be the kind of judgment that he will bring upon the wicked.

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So the way that this is being talked about regarding Israel, so it will be for everyone who did not know

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God and did not follow Jesus Christ. Compassion, the compassion of God will be hidden.

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Verse 15, though he is fruitful among the reeds, an east wind will come, the wind of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness and his fountain will become dry and his spring will be dried up.

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It will plunder his treasury of every desirable article. That's a reference to the

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Assyrians are going to come against Israel and will plunder them and conquer them. Verse 16,

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Samaria will be held guilty, also a reference to the northern kingdom, for she has rebelled against her

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God. They will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces and their pregnant women will be ripped open.

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Such a very troubling picture. But this is the judgment that will come upon this people who have rebelled against God.

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We see that same kind of judgment happening in America, as a matter of fact, in the

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United States of America, our infants are being dashed into pieces. Abortion is killing over a million infants in America per year.

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Their pregnant women will be ripped open. Yeah, the people are doing that to themselves. This is not only the bloodlust of this people that go after these things, but it is also the judgment of God that comes upon this people because of their wicked rebellion.

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And so we must seek the Lord. All of us must seek the Lord. Don't continue in your sin thinking that God does not see or forgetting about God, looking at your hands and saying, see what my hands have done.

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Now you need to look to the Lord and fear. Because he will come in judgment against all those who have rebelled against him and did not turn to the

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Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. But to those who have turned to Christ, we will know his compassion.

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We do know his love and his affection for us. And the promise of eternal life that is given in Jesus Christ, our

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Lord. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read, and I pray that it is indeed our victory cry that we would say, oh, death, where are your thorns?

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Oh, Sheol, where is your sting? We're not calling out to these things to bring that death upon us, but calling out as though to see that death no longer has power over us.

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In Christ, we are promised victory over the grave, the resurrection that we may join our king forever in his eternal kingdom, where death will be no more.

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I pray you give us courage in these days that we would reach out with the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world, for it is only by faith in Jesus that we can be rescued from judgment and live forever with God.

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It is in Jesus name we pray. Amen. This has been When We Understand the

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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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.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

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and let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word when we understand the text.