Sermon Review Hosea 4:10-19

Hey, good evening, this is truth and love we get through the love from Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15

Paul says but speaking the truth and love we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even

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Jesus with as many people as we can. Tonight, I'm so pleased to have

Jonathan Foster with me and I'm going to let him introduce himself. He was he was with us as part of the question and answer panel.

If you've not had a chance to watch that video, I think it would be encouraging to you to to listen to what the men on that panel had to say, how they answer the questions.

It would be very encouraging. And Jonathan was with us during the question and answer panel.

But I'm going to let him introduce himself to you, who he is, where he is a pastor and how you can get in touch with with that church.

My name's Jonathan Foster. I've been in full time ministry now for 21 years.

And and then I tell people that I was in ministry nine months before I was born. My father was a

Southern Baptist pastor. And so I've been raised in ministry all my life.

And I kind of pulled a little bit of a Jonah one time, Robert. God called me to ministry and said,

I don't want a part of that. And so I went as far as a way as I could go to Raleigh, North Carolina.

And then God called me back and I surrendered to ministry during that time. And so I'm thankful for God's grace and pursuit.

And then about nine years ago, we planted a church called

Vertical Church. And then we connected with another church called Gospel Life and we merged our churches together.

So we come up with Vertical Life Church. And that's right there in downtown Newton, North Carolina.

And currently I'm the lead pastor there. We you can get in touch with us to Vertical Life NC dot church or on Facebook and it's 111

West State Street right downtown Newton. We actually meet in an old city schools building years ago.

It was an old elementary school, so it's not some big fancy building. And we like to say that we're very, very serious about the gospel and the gospel centeredness.

We were passionate about loving our community and loving our neighbors. Well, but it's also a come as you are church.

We a lot of people that we come in contact with say, well, what do I have to wear? And I just think it's such a tragedy that that's a lot of times the first question that people ask about church.

And so so you could come pretty casual. And most people do.

But if you want to wear a tie, that's fine, too. Nobody looks weird. But also we have people that come in jeans and t -shirt.

Nobody looks weird either. So that's one of the people right where they're at. So that's where our heart. And so, again, we're serious about the gospel, passionate about the word of God.

And just thank you for the opportunity to share tonight. I really appreciate it. I'm really thankful that you had the opportunity to share with me and share with others on this video.

You and Vertical Life are also a part of something else going on that's pretty exciting.

Can you tell us about Impact NC? Yeah. So where Impact started?

We're still a part of Baptist life, even though a lot of people say, well, you guys don't look like a

Baptist church. Well, I don't know what a Baptist church is supposed to look like, but I do like the cooperation and the fellowship that we have.

And so the North Carolina Baptist did a study all the way across the state of North Carolina, and they identified pockets of lostness and actually categorized them.

And so in every city across the state, our city was pocket 60 and pocket 82.

So in other words, the 60th most lost place out of I think it was 300 cities that they did did searches in.

We're pocket 60 and pocket 82. So we're two of the most top 100 lost places in the state of North Carolina or in our city.

That means that 67 percent of the people in our city are what we would consider non interested or unreached people.

They're either unchurched or dechurched. Whatever has happened, most people in our area probably have some kind of exposure to church or know people who are involved with the gospel work, but still consider themselves unbelievers or uninterested or something that's not needed.

So so we begin to target that. We take that as as a reproach on the mission that we we have failed in and we want to pick that up.

So we begin to gather churches together and mobilize churches to to invert that number.

We want to see 70 percent of our city following Christ and 100 percent as far as that goes.

But a minimal goal is to invert that. And so so we've got about five or six churches that have really bought in.

And as we're doing that, our goal now, and we launched it just a couple of weeks ago, is that every man, woman and child in our entire city would have an opportunity to respond to the gospel.

That's a pretty big undertaking because it's a pretty densely populated area. We're talking several thousand people that we're trying to get the gospel to.

And so so please pray with us about that and how we're strategically doing that.

It's pretty old school. We're we're boots on the ground. I think a lot of times our in modern day churches, our invitation is come and see, come and see what the church is doing.

But man, it's really clear that that Jesus said, go and tell, go into all the world. And that starts right here in our next door neighbor, you know.

And so so we're literally knocking on doors. There's other groups of people that knock on doors.

And and sometimes you get accused of being something else other than you are. But what we do is when we knock on that door, we we introduce who we are and we introduce why we're there.

And we are there to authentically love our community, to pray with people. We ask people two questions. If God was to authentically do something in this community, and you could ask him for whatever you wanted to, what would that be?

And then second of all, if God could do something for you and you could ask him anything that you wanted to ask him something for you personally, what would that be?

And what we find is when we approach it that way, that it's not like a sales pitch. It's not like some kind of crazy, you know, just formula that we're trying to do people into praying a prayer or any of those kind of things.

But it really is learning people's names, knowing what they're going through and deeply, seriously praying and then believing that God will answer those prayers.

Then as God affirms the gospel with the answer and a prayer and shows his truth and shows his love with people.

Hence the name of the broadcast, by the way, I decided to throw that in there for you, Robert. Hence the truth and the love that comes from that.

Then people will believe. And I believe God has prepared the way for that as to do that. So so it's very exciting.

Very exciting. Just just two weeks ago, as we were doing the introduction, we were breaking up into teams. We only had 45 minutes to to go and and to talk with people.

And in that 45 minutes, we made several really good, deep, authentic contacts.

And then as a result to to our knowledge that we're following up with every person, but but one person sent us a message after we left and said they want to choose to follow

Christ. We're already following up with that person. So that's just 45 minutes work. One one person has already responded and said, hey,

I want to follow Jesus. And so we've already got people going back to that house and talking with that family and who knows.

So so guys, if you're watching this, if you're a pastor, man, don't be afraid to get with other pastors.

We need to stop fishing out of the same pond, if you will, and try to just keep swap.

Man, there's lost this in our cities and we need to go after that because Jesus has put us there to do that.

So it's one of the most exciting things that that that I've been a part of in a long time, and I'm really, really passionate about it and glad to see it happening.

Yeah, I want to say to Sean, say hey to Johnny and say hey to Jason. Those questions that you were asking, those introductory questions that you were asking, they seem to open up the door for prayer for that person, and they open up the door for conversation with that person.

Absolutely. Yeah, they don't reveal their you'll get a sense really quick to. You know where they're at, you know, and what's cool about it, people are so afraid that someone's going to slam the door in your face.

Yeah, they're feeling rejected. I have yet to have anybody say, no, you're not allowed to pray for me. Now, it may happen, but a majority of the people are like, you mean you don't want something from me?

You mean you don't know we're here to bless you and we're here to to tell you the good news of Jesus?

And that that really opens a great door. Yeah. And it's not just vertical.

I apologize if you brought this in on the introduction, but it's not just vertical, vertical like churches joining and combining with other churches to do this work together.

And I wanted to I'm also a part of it, and I'm thankful to be a part of it. And I wanted to make this comment, too.

And I hope it's not out of the way of it's OK, Jonathan. But and I think

I may have even heard this comment that for so many years now in Baptist life,

I grew up that Baptist. I've always been a Baptist. But everything seems to be about money.

And you can buy a sermon in a box. You can buy a program in a box. You can buy evangelism in a box.

There's so many evangelism tools and evangelism programs. The thing about this is this is not a program.

This is biblical Christianity. And I would say that myself or Jonathan would be glad if you are interested in encouragement in what you're doing in your community.

I'm sure Jonathan and myself or anybody else involved at this impact and see, we'll be glad to talk to you and encourage you about what you're doing in your community.

So thank you, Jonathan, for the introduction. Tonight was the sermon is going to be a sermon review of a sermon that Jonathan did a couple weeks ago.

Jonathan also preached last Sunday, and that one was good, too. And so I'm going to have to have him back if I can get him back on the program to maybe do this one or even the next one.

But last Sunday's was was good, too, and I appreciated that sermon. But but Jonathan, along with other pastors, have been going through the book of Hosea.

And so I want to ask Jonathan at the start, what has it been like for you preaching from the

Old Testament, specifically preaching one of the minor prophets? Well, we we as New Testament churches, rightfully so, spent a lot of time in the

New Testament. And we as as a rule, we preach expository.

In other words, we pick a book of the Bible and go straight to the book of the Bible. And our elders had been praying about this for a while.

We knew our previous series was coming to an end. And and what are what are we going to do?

What are we going to tackle? And we really felt the Lord drawn us to the Old Testament. And and then with with First Baptist and Newton and in us, we with what

First Baptist has been going through with the building, we end up hanging out together and doing morning services together now.

And Pastor Tommy and I begin to pray about this. And so we we decided we just wanted to tackle and felt led to tackle the minor prophets.

We got to thinking about that. You know, most of our folks as new believers probably have not spent much time studying the

Old Testament and especially the folks in vertical life. A lot of our folks have been

Christians probably five or six years or less. You know, so so it is for us a conviction to preach the whole counsel of the word of God, to equip the saints with the whole counsel of God that they'll know the history of where they come from.

But they'll also know the warnings and the things that come through those Old Testament prophets.

And the thing is, people are people. We come from the DNA of the first Adam. And and we find that all throughout the

Old Testament and all throughout the New Testament. So the same sin that plagued people, you know, 2000 years ago, 4000 years ago, 5000 years ago are the same sins that plague us today.

It just may look a little different with media or whatever. But lust is lust.

And idolatry is idolatry and and self -satisfaction and self -seeking.

So so it's been it's been a stretch preaching through this. It's it increases the amount of labor and preparation to study up.

And and Hosea is a tough book, man. Hosea is a book that you really have to to mine and dig for the redemption in these prophetic books because it is it's accusation and it's indictment.

But what's beautiful about it is it makes the gospel look so beautiful.

And so we we often talk about the line that runs through Genesis to Revelation, and it really is the redemption plan that God is revealing all the way through.

And so God made promises to Israel and to Judah so that the lineage of Christ would be preserved.

And so so it's a it's a beautiful story. It's a beautiful outline. And there is a lot of gospel truths that are revealed, including the sinfulness of man.

And a lot of times we forget the gospel really is the reality of our sin.

And then it's the good news of Jesus. And that's the whole counsel of the gospel. So so I need to be lost before I'm actually found sometimes.

And that's that's the work of the Lord. So I think that's what God's doing through the book of Hosea. And there's some just real practical things for us as well.

So. Are you able to see the comments? No, I can't.

OK, that's what that's where I messed up a second ago. I actually opened up the Facebook page so I could see it, but I didn't have it muted.

And so that's where that echo was coming from. So I closed it out real quick. So I got you. There should be a place on that screen somewhere where you can see the comments.

Oh, there we go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got it. I see it now. Yeah, yeah. John, there's my dad watching.

And he said, I'm agreeing is. Is that normal or.

For me and my dad to agree. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's pretty normal. OK, good, good, good. Yeah, yeah, that's normal.

Thank you, Johnny, for watching. And my wife, you've been commenting on. Hey, Kelly. So before we jump into your specific text, could you give us a little background of Hosea?

Sure. Most of us are not including myself.

I do not consider myself and I say that on the front end. I do not consider myself a great historical buff.

And and I love history. But, you know, there's a lot of dates and a lot of stuff to memorize.

So I've actually got notes in front of me. If I sound real good, I want to give a disclosure. This is not memorized, but it needs to be.

But, you know, Hosea started around the reign of King Jeroboam. And and if you don't know who

Jeroboam was, he was king there in Israel. And it's about seven ninety three to seven eighty one

B .C. And so Hosea had a prophetic ministry. He was he was one that God used to actually imitate himself, which is pretty neat about this, that when we see the story of Hosea, the metaphor of who

Hosea is all the way throughout the book is Hosea being the prophet represents not only the voice of God, but actually in Hosea, what makes it unique is he's actually representing the actions of God as well.

So then we have his wife, Gomer. Gomer is an adulterous woman, and she represents the story of Israel and especially the northern kingdom.

And that's one thing that's really important throughout Hosea. There's the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom of all of Israel.

And so when when Hosea, if you're reading it, speaks of Israel, most of the time that that verb, that verbiage, that word is speaking of the northern kingdom.

And in the southern kingdom, he describes that as Judah. And so that that helps us understand that the book.

So when you talk about Israel, he's not talking about the whole nation of Israel. Most of the time, it's a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom thing.

And that differentiation is made really clear throughout the text. So so no doubt

Israel is the Lord's bride. Israel has the northern kingdom has joined themselves to false gods and to false idol worship.

And God uses really strong terms through Hosea, calling Israel a whore, an adulterer, harlot, prostitute.

And so then Hosea was was married to Gomer. And in the story, evidently,

Gomer prostitutes herself, leaves Hosea. And so then God commands

Hosea to go buy her back. So that's in the first three chapters. And there's this story of Hosea and the buying back.

And and it's a redemption story. And one of my favorite chapters there is in Hosea, too, how it talks about God is going to do this work to hedge to hedge

Gomer in that she's still going to try to find a way to escape the responsibilities of being a wife, run to other men, run to other riches.

But God won't let it happen. And he said, I'm going to basically ensure that she finds her way to me and to be healed.

And so he's speaking of Israel. So this is a story. The verbiage, if you just read through it, is very harsh, if you will.

It's name calling. It is deliberate. It is calling out. It is plain language. So when you read it, you're like,

I can't believe God's saying some of this. But he is identifying the sin. But the beautiful thing is, is in all of the indictments, there's always the plan for redemption.

And that's that's what makes it good. So the reason preaching through this is so hard is you'll have, you know, 10, 15, 20, 30 verses that are the indictments.

And then then God inserts one verse in that that's going to handle all of that.

And so the whole book of Hosea really is a picture of how this one act of Jesus, this one act of mercy in the future is going to be sufficient for the sins of the world and the sins of all that will believe on him and the repentance of people.

And and it's going to be the ultimate satisfaction because Gomer was seeking after something else rather than her husband.

Israel was seeking after something else rather than God. And then the parallel, of course, with us, we are the gomers of the story.

We are seeking after something else. And Christ came to be the the husband to the bride, the church.

And so we've been all like sheep gone astray. He's the good shepherd and he is buying us back.

And what did he purchase us with his life? And that's what we just celebrated in Easter. You know, so we are bought with the price, the blood of Christ.

So Hosea bought Gomer had a specific price. God bought

Israel had a specific price. And so and that was his son, Jesus. So so Christ is right in the center of this.

It's easy to preach the gospel through this. But the hard part, too, is to be true to the whole council of this word.

And that's that is to not over preach the metaphor, but preach the message that the prophet was trying to say to Israel and then make the application.

And so so that's where we want people to know the whole council. So so it's been a stretch. But, you know, it's there's a lot of stuff in there.

But ultimately, the sad part of this story is, and I'll conclude with this as far as the overview.

Historically, we know that this generation, Hosea preached his full prophetic ministry for about 20, 20 couple of years.

And nobody that we know of authentically repented, or at least as a nation. They did not repent.

And so, you know, Hosea started preaching, we think, around 740 B .C.

And then we know that the fall of Israel, the ultimate fall and collapse of Israel was in 722.

So, you know, about about 18 years after the ministry of Hosea, a lot of the stuff that that he had been preaching was fulfilled and judgment did come and it came upon them without repentance.

So that that generation passed away without repentance. So so for a preacher, that could sound really disheartening, too, because you want to preach and and revival break out.

And so but through all these prophets and there's a lot of parallels and cross references throughout, we find that they they were they were very much a voice crying in the wilderness, it seemed like, you know, they were and but God was had a judgment on the people.

So so anyway, so hopefully that helps you understand a little bit. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And I want to say hey to Happy Addison and Garrett Carter. Thank you guys for watching.

Now, I've got a little bit of beef with you with something that you say. How how can I be Gomer when

I'm supposed to read myself as the hero into the story? Yeah, I'm not I'm not going to go there.

I'm not going to go there. Just that was a joke. Just kidding. Yeah. We always put that joke out there, do please don't name your children

Gomer. And it's hard not to preach this and not think of Gomer Powell.

You know, so absolutely. That's right. So no, no, Robert, we are not the hero of the story.

We are we are the damsel in distress. That's right. Absolutely. So you kind of led us into the transition into your text.

As you mentioned, chapters one through three was was the picture that the Lord led Hosea to to make or to paint for Israel, showing them, you know, visually, this is who you are.

This is how you're behaving. And I wanted to ask you these questions, this behavior that that Gomer portrayed.

Do you think that this Jewish society would have abhorred what Gomer did?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. We we know throughout the first five books, though, God God gives very specific consequences for adultery, for prostitution.

And and it's stoning and it's death. And so so, yes, absolutely.

It was not condoned. It's it was not a normal practice and something that that would not be tolerated under normal circumstances.

And then in Jewish society, do you think that what Hosea did by receiving

Gomer back, do you think that they would have abhorred that even more? Yeah.

I mean, it's so he potentially could have been guilty of being considered unclean, you know, touching the unclean things.

And so in culture, in Jewish culture, there was paths to redemption and covering under the husband.

But but yeah, it was it would have been crazy. I mean, it's it would have been just as crazy or even more crazy than in this day and time if someone's wife cheats on them with multiple other people.

And then that guy takes her back. What have all his friends going to say? You know, you're stupid.

You're crazy. What are you doing? You know? And and so even greater than that.

It's a law issue. It's it's it's so yeah, this whole story is is crazy.

But you know, and I do think this it is foolishness of the preaching of the cross and the story that God would kill his son to save us is abhorrent to people, is crazy to people.

We I heard somebody say that this past week that they have such a hard time with God because God was mean to his son. And so, you know, it is the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing.

But it's the power of God and us that are being saved. And so so it did not make sense culturally. But but God was making a very powerful illustration.

My wife just made a comment that if we were able to have more children, that we would definitely name that child

Gomer. Come on, Kelly. We can't do that to him now. I'm almost down with that, you know, because that would lead it to a good gospel conversation.

You're right. They probably wouldn't like it. But it would lead to a good gospel conversation.

This abhorrent, this abhorrence that Jewish society would have seen in this behavior, it almost makes me think that's what they were supposed to get.

This is how I feel. The Lord, from, you know, from the Lord's perspective. It's a shocking illustration, for sure.

So what do you want?

My wife just opened up the door for some reason. What? What's the question?

Oh, Hosea, she said, Hosea, sorry, sorry, honey. Hosea would be a good name, too.

She wanted to correct me. She said, Hosea, we named it Hosea. That's right. And that would be a good gospel opener as well.

So if you have your Bibles, if you want to follow along, the text that Jonathan preached from was

Hosea, chapter four, verses 10 through 19. And like we said before, chapters one through three was was the picture of Hosea Gomorrah.

And then, of course, their children and their their names had significance. It was a message to Israel. But then as we get into chapter four, chapter four begins the the indictment.

Verse one says, Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, for the Lord has a case against the habitants of the land.

So now now we're getting into the meat of it. And the Lord is going to be sharing his indictments against the inhabitants of the land, which is

Israel. And then just to point out, and you pointed this out in your sermon and your text actually hits on it just a little bit.

But one of the more popular verses in Hosea is Hosea, chapter four, verse six.

My people who are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge,

I will reject you from being my priest. And then, like I said, it hits on that.

So let me read. Let me read the text that Jonathan preached from. Hosea, chapter four, verses 10 through 19.

And then we'll we'll go through that text together. And they will eat, but not have enough.

They will play the harlot, but not increase because they have stopped giving heat to the

Lord. Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the the understanding. My people consult their wooden idol, their diviner's wand informs them for a spirit of harlotry has led them astray and they have played the harlot departing from their

God. They offer sacrifices on their on the tops of the mountain and burn incense on the hills under oak, poplar and turban because their shade is pleasant.

Therefore, your daughters play the harlot. Your brides commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot or your brides when they commit adultery for the men themselves go apart with harlots and offer sacrifices with terrible prostitutes.

So people without understanding are ruined. Though you, Israel, play the harlot, do not let

Judah become guilty. Also, do not go to Gilgal or go up to Beth Avon and take the oath as the

Lord lives. Since Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. And the Lord now pastured them like a lamb in a large field.

Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. Their liquor gone. They play the harlot continually.

Their rulers dearly love shame. The wind wraps them in its wings and they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

So going back to verse 10, they shall eat, but not be satisfied. They shall play the whore, but not multiply.

Go ahead and take us through what's what's happening here. So just sort of an introduction, you know, with a title, this this this sermon satisfaction or shame.

And so so when we get that first verse, this is they shall eat and not be satisfied, they shall play the whore, but not multiply because they have forsaken the

Lord to cherish. So that just that first verse and then that connects the first two.

And what are they cherishing? So we can get there in just a second. But I think it's important to define satisfaction.

I mean, we all have this desire to be satisfied. There's there's nobody that that doesn't enjoy that.

We get hungry. So so we go eat to be satisfied where we're emotionally stressed.

So we look to get out from under that stress. And because it's it's something that's dissatisfying and we want to scratch that itch, for lack of better terms.

And so it's it's to gratify wants, wishes or desires to the fullest extent. That's what we would call satisfaction.

So if we're somewhat satisfied, you know, versus for us in our language, satisfied, it's to the fullest extent.

And so what's happening here is God is very much aware of what's going on, and he knows that they're harlotry.

He knows that they're drinking. He knows of all the things that they're cherishing other than him. And honestly, it is it is a beautiful work of grace in this because he says they're going to eat all these things and do these things, but I'm not going to allow them to be satisfied.

The opposite of this would be a picture of Romans one, where Romans one says people were pursuing things that are not of God, and he turns them over to that.

In other words, there is a satisfaction that when they're being satisfied in their sin and God's not even going to allow them to to be to be satisfied.

So I'm going to say God's not even going to allow them to be satisfied in in their sin, you know, so that's that's a good thing.

And or not even allow those people in Romans one to find satisfaction in him. They're turned over as a judgment.

So that's a severe judgment. So this is as harsh as it sounds. That's that's what I was talking earlier.

You have to be able to understand some theology in the works of God because we think sometimes

God is just the genie in the bottle wanting us to be satisfied. And and that's not a good father.

A good father knows that we have the our only real satisfaction is in him and in his son,

Jesus. And so that's where Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger.

Oh, you are thirsty. Come on to me and you'll you'll never thirst again. Oh, you are weary.

Come on to me and find rest for your souls. All of those. Jesus is saying, I am the satisfaction.

I am the satisfier. I am the bread, the water, the peace, the rest.

And and so that's that's a grace, even though they're participating.

God says, I'm not going to let them be satisfied. So so that's really a big part that sets the tone for the rest of it.

Yeah. And it says the reason they won't be satisfied, Hosea tells us or the book of Hosea tells us because they have forsaken the

Lord. And what did they forsake him to go after to cherish? Hortum, wine and new wine.

Let's take away the understanding. So in the context,

I guess this would lead us to the cultural context.

What are what are they going after here to find satisfaction? They are actually pursuing.

I think it's a picture of worldly things. I really think it's you can break these down specifically if you want to.

And I don't think it's wrong to do that. Right. Because the accusation is the same layer of hortum, of the lust of the flesh, of wine and new wine are typically pictures of parties and festiveness and things of of short term fulfillment and and trying to numb the senses.

That's where it takes away understanding. And there's a lot of scriptures that talks about the foolishness of strong drink and and the things throughout that.

And and so they've gone after that rather than finding that satisfaction in the

Lord. So in other words, they're seeking satisfaction in in hortum or in false relationships or lustful relationships.

And then really, if it's OK, we could we could go to verse 12 to connect that. Yeah, because it's not only just the things of the world, but it's also a spiritual desertion as well.

So so people have have left God to go after worldly things of hortum, wine and new wine, which take away understanding.

And then he said, also, my people now go after a piece of wood or go after a walking step that gives them oracles for a spirit of hortum has led them astray and they have left their

God to play the whore. And so so I think in verse 11, you are getting a a literal physical sense in verse 12, you're getting a spiritual sense.

And so in verse 11, they're looking to fulfill the flesh. Verse 12, it really gets to a spiritual matter that there is a void there when there's an absence of God.

And so when there's a void there in the absence of God, people are seeking to fulfill that in the children of Israel rather than going to the

Lord. They've forsaken that for idolatry or for a staff that gives oracles, you know, they're they're seeking witch doctors and whoever else the pagans of that time.

And it's a spirit of hortum. So now it's not only physical adultery, which is a verse 11, but now it is the same accusation that's earlier in Hosea of a spiritual adulterer committing idolatry.

And it goes right back to the basic commandment that shall have no other gods before me. You know, so that's exactly what they're doing.

They're turning their back on God, which really, truthfully, should be crazy. These people are the generations that followed the

Exodus and saw the miracles of God and had the word of God and and saw the miracles of of of Jericho and the conquering of the land and and everything that that followed that.

I mean, it's so it's really crazy. But again, we are wicked people and this shows the weakness that we we have.

Yeah. I'm so glad that you brought that up here. And I'm glad that you made that distinction.

And we're going to talk about the distinction a couple of verses down. But you made the distinction between it's not just spiritual idolatry.

And the Bible speaks of us being double minded, having this dualistic mindset when, you know,

Christ is about all of life in our modern context. You know, I I could see us saying, well,

I go to church. I love Jesus or I worship Jesus.

But then in my life outside of church, I'm trying to find my satisfaction in material things or other things.

And they are being indicted for both, not just the spiritual idolatry.

You know, we can say we worship Jesus. I don't I don't worship another God. You know, I love the Bible. I you know,

I don't worship some other religion. But then I try to find my satisfaction, you know, outside of church and other material things.

And this indictment here touches on both. And in the Bible does speak of being double minded and not having this dualist dualistic mindset.

But all of Christ, Christ is for all of life. Unless you want to hit on something in 13, because that's

I think that's part of. Yeah, it is. And it is it goes right along with with 12. It's a part of that false worship.

Right. Sacrifice on top of mountains and burn offering on hills under alts, poplar and terebinth, terebinth.

And because their shade is good, therefore your daughters play the whore and your brides commit adultery.

So, again, it's it's still in that same line of a spiritual religious adultery, because under those oak trees and under those poplar trees, in those locations, that's that's the location that that it was taking place.

And so, again, I didn't unpack this a lot in the sermon, but but historically, the children of Israel had a location.

They they had the tabernacle and they had the temple, a specific location to to worship.

And now in in this place, they are trading those specific places of worship for the places of false worship.

And so it's a it's it's still a continuation of severe indictment. Right. And we're coming up on a really, really good part and a really good point in your message.

The last part of verse 13 into 14. And you read some of it there. Therefore, your daughters play the whore and your brides commit adultery.

I want to punish your daughters when they play the whore. Know your brides when they commit adultery for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifice with cult prostitutes.

When I read that earlier, I was I saw something that was just blew me away.

It seems like there's something understood here, not specifically verbalized, but more understood.

Yes, he's going after the men here. He's not going to. And I want you to expand on this. But he's he's not going after the daughters or the or the brides.

He's going after the men here because the men are going aside with prostitutes and they're they're making sacrifices with cult prostitutes.

But what I think is also understood here is that not only are they doing these abhorrent things, but if the men are supposed to be the head of the household, what are they allowing their daughters to be doing?

They're allowing their daughters to be these temple prostitutes. That's right.

And that just that just floored me when I saw that. So so take us into the indictment of the men here.

Yeah, your sermon. So it's twofold. I mean, when you go back earlier in chapter four, you read that that the people like lack or parents because of lack of knowledge.

And then God's saying, so therefore I will reject you for being a priest to me. And so so there's this connotation of a group of people being a priest.

But we also know that there was the high priest. There was a man that was responsible for the ministry unto

God. And so so men were very much the leaders of the

Judeo culture. And and that's where we also get the teachings of Paul in the New Testament, which are

Judeo Christian culture. And so Ephesians, you know, five tells us very plainly the men are to be the head of the household, just as Christ is the head of the church and gave himself up for her.

And so what we find here is a group of men who aren't leading their families well or aren't aren't leading their culture well, but actually they are participating in these acts of paganism and adultery and harlotry and prostitution.

So so in other words, God is saying, if you men weren't patronizing these places, then this wouldn't be happening.

So first of all, there's a higher high accountability to the men. So it's not saying that there will be no judgment of sin.

There will be. But it's saying there's a stricter or a heavier consequence to the men of this culture because of that.

They're actually the causing of this, this, this, this infidelity.

And then then also, like you said, the fathers and the husbands, you know, they're turning over their daughters.

They're giving their daughters to this. And and it just shows the wickedness and the lustfulness of their heart.

And so there's God saying that the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifices and the people without outstanding shall come to ruin.

So so the coming to ruin is as a result of men turning their families over to false gods.

And so how far are we as men willing to go to protect our families? And and it's a strong warning to to Christian men that we have a responsibility to watch over our families well.

And what what we are putting in front of our children and what we are allowing our children to participate in, there is a stricter judgment to that.

And then you can always connect that to James chapter one. You know, not every man should desire to be a teacher.

For there is a stricter judgment upon them. And so so there is there's this this context of a stricter judgment.

So it is number one. The men were participating in the sin. So there's the underlying truth there that if the men refuse to participate, then then the prostitution and the holiday that was attached to the pagan worship would go away.

So if the men said we're going to abstain and live lives of monogamy of one wife, then then it would have went away.

And number two, if they had said we're not going to give our daughters over to false worship. So so so there is a heavy responsibility that falls on the men of that culture during that time.

Yeah. And you know, this makes us ask, how are you doing as a man? How am I doing, man?

I mean, it really gets right down to the to the truth. What I'm not giving my daughter over to prostitution by any means.

But am I protecting my daughter? Am I protecting my son and am I leading them to godliness or am

I putting some other idol in front of them? Am I sacrificing their life on some other altar other than teaching them to lay down their life for Christ?

And so it's something very important for us to evaluate as we lead our families. Yeah. And if you don't mind and you did, you did this in your sermon.

I heard this this weekend. I won't give the specific context of the conversation, but the question was asked kind of in to me, but it was kind of a general question.

Where are the men? Yeah. So if you could just for a moment speak to us men today.

Well, what does the Lord require of us? Well, where should what should we be doing? What should it look like?

Sure. This this could be a really long answer, OK? So I'll try to I'll try to make it as plain as I can, but as as condensed as I can.

And I've done a lot of research on this. I really believe and this is not women's fault, by the way, when

I say this. So please don't take it as an indictment on women. But with the feminist movement, it is emasculated a lot of men.

And and so I think it's important for us to realize in God's design, there are things that men can do that women can and things that women can do that men can't.

And so it doesn't mean one is greater than the other. There's an equality of importance, but definitely different in roles.

And so our culture and our society has has really tried to diminish that.

And and we've said, hey, we can one up God in our design. So therefore, we have gender dysphoria and we have all the things that culture is is messing with.

And we find that those who really struggle with sexuality and the things that culture is dealing with typically have not had a strong male influence in their life, especially young men, young boys that really struggle with this.

They really have had a lack for a godly figure of a man and showing what a man is.

And so so guys, at the end of the day, where are the men at? You you you have laid down and allowed yourself to be taken over and you've you have bowed to the idol of what secular society has said.

And we need men of God to raise up. We need men of God to rise up and be what the spirit of God has equipped you to do and ordained you to do.

And then we need our women to understand that there is a design that God has given. And so so we need to fall into those specific roles, those specific responsibilities, because that's exactly what causes humanity to flourish.

When we abandon the specific things that God gave us to do, then people suffer and they suffer.

And this lack of knowledge that Hosea constantly talks about is really a picture of where they've abandoned the knowledge of the

Lord and they went after the knowledge of the world. And so when they abandoned the abandoned the knowledge of God, then there's not flourishing and there's not there's not a health that comes with that.

And typically it falls at the feet of the man because he is the first one to sit down and fold his arms and pout.

And so that's a pretty strong statement, I know, but that's what us men do a lot of times. And but God's calling us men of God to lead your family well, to love your wives, just as Christ loved the church, to not provoke your children to wrath, to not spare the rod and spoil the child, but to disciple them and to discipline them, not abuse, never, but very clearly disciplined, just like the

Lord disciplines us. And man, it was one of the greatest moments of my life when I held my son for the first time.

And it'd been a very stressful, stressful labor. And we had an emergency C -section and everybody ended up OK, thanks by the grace of God.

But I held my son and the Holy Spirit just just whispered in my heart, in my ear that the father that he will know in heaven is the father that you show him in earth.

And and so so I'm not making myself out to be God, but I want to be a good image bearer of the father.

And there's definitely times my children will tell you that I am not a good image bearer. And I make sure to tell them that, you know, that, hey, this is not of God.

This is of my flesh. This is of my failure. This is of my anger. God doesn't operate like this.

And there's been many times that I've come and had to tell my children, I'm sorry. But but that's a striving.

So that's the goal, that we'd be image bearers of God, God the father, be a good father in our families.

So you want to know how to lead your family? Look how Christ leads the church. And that's our our highest example. So, man,

I hope you receive the challenge, not condemnation, but rise up to the challenge. And that's not that's not weakness either.

Absolutely. To repent, to repent and say that you're wrong, that's not weakness. It's actually,

I would say, strength. Thank you. Yeah. All right, moving on, moving on to verses 15 and I think 15 through 17, basically,

I think what's going on here is. The Lord doesn't want

Israel to be an influence on Judah. And he Jonathan, I looked at this phrase, he the

Lord is telling them, don't sweat, swear not as the Lord lives, don't don't take this or use this as an oath.

And we both look this up and we both have some comments on this. And we actually the

Lord led us both to Jeremiah chapter four, verse two. And Jonathan, in our conversation earlier, informing that this oath is pretty popular and used 41 times,

I think you said in the Bible, and this is one of the references Jeremiah chapter four, verse two, and you will swear as the

Lord lives. Let me start in verse one, if you will return, oh,

Israel declares the Lord, then you should return to me. And if you put away your detested things from my presence and will not waver and you will swear.

So he's giving them a list of things to do. And you will swear as the Lord lives in truth, in justice and in righteousness, then the nations will bless themselves in him.

So there's a blessing involved if this oath is taken, taken in truth, in justice and in righteousness.

And but the context of Hosea, it seems is that Israel doesn't the Lord doesn't want

Israel to be an influence on Judah and don't take this oath as the

Lord lives. Basically, what they're saying is there's a certainty in God's existence, he and the fact that he is alive, he lives.

And with that certainty of existence. There's this they are invoking the same certainty on their behavior and what they are saying to the world by taking this oath is this behavior is just it's certainly acceptable.

It's. They're declaring this behavior of theirs to be in truth and in justice and in righteousness, and it clearly, by the indictment of the

Lord, is not in truth, in justice and in righteousness. And it reminded me of what

Jesus said to to the Pharisees, the Pharisees didn't want the folks to to cry out,

Hosanna, Hosanna and and and when he

Jesus was being baptized in both cases, the

Lord Jesus said to them, don't don't think that you're in good standing with God because your father is

Abraham. I can I can make children of Abraham from these rocks or I can make these rocks cry out.

And I think this this something similar is going on here where he is saying, don't don't swear this oath as the

Lord lives by saying that what we're doing is is just and true and righteous because because you have this heritage that you are my people and that you have this oath that you can swear by.

Don't think that that is going to get you by because you have this certain heritage and you have this certain oath that I've given you.

That's that's not going to do you any good here because your your behavior is not truth.

It's not just and it's not righteous. And share with us your thoughts on.

Yeah, that covers it really well. The only thing I would add to that is is just a couple of cross references.

Matthew 15, 18, you know, Jesus said, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

And he's quoting from Isaiah 29, 13. It says, therefore, the Lord said these people honor me or draw near to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

And so really, the the indictment of what he's saying is here is don't don't use and invoke the name of the

Lord without without a seriousness connected with it. And so it is making an oath as the

Lord lives and it is attached to a behavior, a lifestyle.

And so I've told lots of people before I would I would rather you do to deny believing in Christ and live sold out to the world rather than say, oh, how

I love Jesus on Sunday morning and then love the world on Monday. And and that that's something that's that has brought a high hypocrisy to the church is that we have separated the secular with the sacred.

You know, you and I were talking about that. They've separated those things out. And and at the end of the day, you know, as the

Lord lives, so we should live is kind of the underlying context there.

As the Lord lives with a certainty, then we should also live unto him with a certainty.

And so it is speaking of holiness. And but these people were were committing hearty and worshiping false gods.

And then all of a sudden, when it's convenient, OK, now we're going to go back to our Jewish roots, you know, and then when we're tired of that, then we're going to run back over here to another false god and God saying, stop it.

You know, don't don't be doing that. So, you know, in our conversation earlier, you made a pretty bold statement by doing this.

They're committing blasphemy. That's right. Absolutely. Absolutely. It is. So it's a it's a it's a very hard process there, you know.

But then but then on the flip side of it, it's it is as the

Lord lives and there is rich blessing that comes with honoring, knowing the

Lord lives. Therefore, we live unto him. And so so there is condemnation and there's blessing.

You know, there there is in the Old Testament, it's very clear. And and there's not this gray area a lot of times that we want to live in.

So right. And according to Jeremiah chapter four, verse two, the verse we read earlier, it's not just a blessing for Israel.

It says the nations will bless themselves in him. That's right. You know, if you behave this way, then it's going to have repercussions for other people.

Absolutely. Well, yeah, and that fits into, you know, even what we're facing as America.

We we have officially crossed the threshold of a post Christian culture. In America and there there are more people now as unbelievers, unconnected to church than there are connected.

And so so that's where numerically we would consider ourselves a post Christian nation.

And even though there's still a lot of Christians here. So that's that's a scary thing. And and so we're going to see consequences for that as the nation of America turns away from God and turns away from the principles of God as a nation.

There's going to be consequences. So but from the perspective of the individual, it's important that we know that we can still have that oath as the

Lord lives. So I want to live and God will still honor that for his people. So so I think that's a lot of what he's talking about in here, too, is the is that separation and not being not being connected to to those that live in a false, false culture, false worship.

Yeah. And the other thing you brought on in these verses as well is that doctrine of separation that you mentioned.

So I'd like for you to expound on what you saw in these verses that led you to to expound on this doctrine of separation and what you meant by that.

And then also make the distinction because we were like you said, we were touched on this earlier.

There seems to be this duality, this dualistic mindset that I'm, you know, for Christ over here is my spiritual life, but I'm not bringing

Jesus into these other areas of my life. And that's typically called the secular versus sacred.

I kind of live two different lives, but that's not what you're talking about when you were talking about the doctrine of separation.

So expound on those two things, if you will. So doctrine of separation, it's a doctrine,

I think, that in modern day church has been has been pressed away or even forgotten because now we're hyper tolerance or hyper inclusiveness.

And and so that's the influence of culture on the church.

And to say that culture does not influence the church is is is not true.

It does. The question is, how does it? There's things that we can adapt in culture to make the message clearer and learn how to communicate more effective, even just like what we're doing right now.

We're preaching the gospel to to to people across the Internet. And we're you and I are miles away from each other at the moment.

And how many, Deontay earlier, you know, he's in California and you know, wherever.

So so obviously we're adopting our methodology and adapting our methodology all the time.

But the principles don't change of what God's expectations are.

And and so in in the age of grace, if you will, there has become what

I would consider very cheap grace that I can do whatever I want to do. And God will just forgive me just because I ask him so I can.

And and and it really brings out that Romans six, one, do I continue in sin that grace may abound?

How could you? But somehow we found in our modern day culture, a rationalization of how

I can continue in sin, but then I can abuse grace and have a cheap grace to do that.

So the Bible is saying don't do that. Don't don't mix a sinful life with a godly life.

And and so for believers, we are to be separate. So this goes back to the introduction in verse 15, where he says, oh,

Israel, that's Northern Kingdom. Okay. It's not the whole nation of Israel. And he says, oh,

Israel, that's Northern Kingdom when he says Gilgal or Beth Haven, those are part of the

Northern Kingdoms. And so so he's saying Judah, which is Southern Kingdom.

Judah, don't get mixed up into this. Don't fall prey into what's going on in the

Northern Kingdom. Be separate from that. So even separate, are they still a part of what we would consider the whole nation of Israel, Northern, Southern Kingdom?

They are. But they're not participating in the actions of false worship, the prostitution, the hollow tree.

And God is warning Judah, Judah, do not become tainted with that. So that goes back to where our understanding in modern day culture is.

We are in the world, but we're not of the world. So so I don't

I don't even though I have friends and I do have fellowship with people that are far away from God, that that do crazy, wicked things.

Jesus did the same thing. He hung out with with drunkards and, you know, with sinners houses and ate with them.

But was Jesus participating in the sin? And the answer is clearly no. He never did.

And so that's that's the separation. So we may be in it, but we are not of it.

And what was happening is the nation of Israel was not only living in a culture of idolatry, but then they became a culture of idolatry.

And so the church has to be really careful of that as well. That's the big application is that we don't overly allow culture to to pull us to be of something, even though we live in that.

So so we're to be separate from the world to be not conformed to the things of this world being transformed.

There's so many other passages scripture. That's Romans 12. I mean, but so many other passages of scripture that we could reference with that.

So that's a that is a very important part of this. And and then what happens also is the enemy uses this going back to what you're saying a second ago, secular and and sacred.

The enemy then uses this also to cause the church to be double minded in a lot of ways that that my faith has no part in my business.

Okay, I've known very good businessmen, if you would, in the world standards become very wealthy by by acts of lack of integrity, but yet they're on the deacon board or the leadership board at at a church.

And the reason they're on that leadership board is because they're good at business. We're good at making money.

How they're making their money, you know, is not honoring it to the Lord. And so so they're saying, hey, my church life and my business life are separate or my church life and my politics are separate.

I know this is going to sound harsh and and again, it's not that I'm trying to drag us into political debate, but you know, for the life of me,

I have a hard time understanding, regardless of what you write down, Democrat, Republican, independent, how people could vote for platforms that are anti the things of God that are the very opposite of what

Scripture says when it comes to the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage and the things that God has ordained.

I don't understand how anybody could vote for platforms that go against that.

But what they do is they rationalize it in their mind that we've separated my faith and my politics.

And guys, Christians don't do that. Our our life is as the

Lord lives. So I live and so we live unto the Lord, whether I live or whether I die.

Right. I'm the Lord's. So whether I live or live under Christ and if I die, I die under Christ.

And so so it really doesn't come down to any kind of affiliation except I am Christ's.

And and unfortunately, in American culture, the churches started dividing that.

And so so that doctrine of separation says I'm going to be different. And it's and and that there is no separation, if you will.

It's kind of a play on words there. But it just means there is no separation between my authentic faith in Christ and then how

I live that out. There's no economy there at all. So so it's it is hypocrisy in the church.

It is a delusion in the church. And it's one of the main things, in my opinion, that has weakened the the testimony and the impact of the church in our local cultures.

So I hope that makes sense. Absolutely. And thank you guys for the profound comments.

I don't have time to read them all, but I really appreciate you guys participating and commenting. Thank you for the profound thoughts that you're sharing with us.

Really, really do appreciate it. Now we're hitting on the last two verses of your sermon. When when they're drunk, when their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring their rulers dearly love shame and a wind has wrapped them in its wings and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

And this leads to the I think the the shame part of your title and in some way

I was this I was making this comment in our conversation earlier in some way just as you mentioned at the beginning of your message how not being satisfied is a grace of God because he's not letting go of them not letting them be satisfied in those things because he wants them to turn back and I think in the same way shame can be used as a grace because it's a warning.

But in this case in the case of the people that's being addressed here in the book of Hosea that shame they have ignored this the grace part of it and this shame has led to them being ashamed and that's led to and leading to their destruction.

What are your thoughts on 18 and 19? Sure, that's a good lead into that because we know

Isaiah 53 Jesus bore our shame. So so therefore we no longer have to be ashamed because he bore our shame but here this people rather than repenting and turning to God they continued in and they rejected the truths of God's grace

God's mercy. And so now the ashamedness is they are they are going to face the consequences of that and the consequences there.

It's a neat word says a wind has wrapped them in its wings and they shall be ashamed that the wind is really a picture of the whirlwind and you sow to the wind you shall reap the whirlwind and the imagery that we get here without over personifying

God the imagery that we get here is the frustration of God's breath.

It's a it's a huffing it's it's a frustration that God has with his people here and he clearly demonstrates that frustration through the language with this whirlwind.

Can you imagine being caught up in the nostrils and the breath of God and it's the same breath that that it hovered over the waters and the same breath that the wind that hovered over the water is the same breath when he formed

Adam and he breathed into his nostrils and the same breath that gives us life in salvation that that breath of God is also now here used as judgment, you know, it says life giving but it's also judging.

And so in this this verse in particular is the breath of God the whirlwind of God that's bringing a judgment from God's frustration.

And so so we opened up talking about satisfaction then in the shame and at the end of the day guys that the book ends of this are very plain.

You can either be satisfied in Christ and be unashamed or you will attempt to be satisfied in the earth and live ashamed that that's the only two outcomes that you have.

And so that's where there is a beauty in this for us. Even though we know the sad part about it is this whole generation of Israel passed away without without repentance.

So therefore they died ashamed. They died in their shame. They bore the guilt of their shame.

But I just love first Peter, you know, when we get in here for this you were called because Christ also suffered for you leaving you an example that you should follow steps footsteps.

He committed no sin. The deceit was found in him and when they heaped abuse on him. He did not retaliate when he suffered.

He made no threats. He entrusted himself to him who judges justly so entrusted himself to God then he himself bore our sin in his body on the tree so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

So there's the separation. We're going to be separated. We're going to die to sin live to righteousness. And how does that happen by his scribes?

We are healed for we all like sheep have gone astray. But now you've returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your souls.

And so this this healing that we get through through the lashes of Christ.

Is it some physical healing? It's not something. So that's a verse is taken out of context so many times.

It's not some kind of silly physical healing or temporal healing. It is a satisfaction in Christ.

It is it is a story of our salvation that where our souls were sick because we were pursuing the whoredom and the wine and the new wine and the false gods.

We were sick and Jesus died and by those stripes now we are healed and in that healing man.

We're so satisfied our satisfaction comes to Christ. And so at the end of the day, you know, that's where Jeremiah made made this bold statement.

And when we're talking about Old Testament passages, they all parallel. It's it's it's incredible how

God's word is so consistent. So the same indictment that's happening in Hosea is a similar indictment that was already happening in Jeremiah generations before it says

Jeremiah 2 13 for my people have committed two evils. And so so to sum up what all that those whole verses say have committed two evils number one, they forsaking me the fountain of living water.

So they forsaken Christ, the fountain of living water. They forsaken

God. They forsook the rock that traveled with him throughout the wilderness that provided water in the desert.

They have forsaken the fountain of living waters for false gods.

They forsaken God. And what did they do? Since they hewned out and that Jeremiah 2 13, they hewned out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

In other words, that will have no satisfaction for them. So they're trying to create something better than what

God has has already given them. And and it's broken cisterns that will hold no water.

It will bring no satisfaction. And so when it comes to God's standards of living, that's not legalism.

That's actually flourishing and living water. It's when we go against God's standards of living.

That's broken cisterns. That's going to lead us to be ashamed. So God's standard of living for righteous people in Christ when and there is a law of Christ of how we should honor

Christ as ambassadors for Christ. So that's written on our heart. So that standard of living.

Why does God do that? Just to take away fun from us? No, he gives us that because that standard of living brings a satisfaction and in that we will not be ashamed.

But when we hewn out our own ways and when we do what's right in our own eyes, it's what the book of Kings writes this and it's quoted several of the places that the children of Israel did what was right in their own eyes, that there was no king in Israel and they just did what was right in their own eyes.

When we say there's no king in my life, we forsake our king and we go do what's right in our own eyes.

The result is we've hewn out to ourselves broken cisterns that will not satisfy that we're going to be unsatisfied.

And then just like we said a while ago in Hosea, we're going to be ashamed. We're going to end up being deeply ashamed.

And all of us, if we're honest about that, we have that, you know, that's that's a part of our story.

So I'm I didn't preach this message from a position of perfection by any means.

This is my story that I for sure many times and I'm still tempted to many times go hewn out some other broken cistern because there's something in my flesh that I think needs to be satisfied.

And rather than turn into Christ who is my satisfaction, I know better. I know what the word of God says.

Yet for some reason my eyes wander back over here and I'm thinking I remember days when that felt good or I remember times when these things satisfied me, but it didn't lead to permanent satisfaction.

It was only shame. And it is mind boggling how we can so easily slip into those things.

And that's Romans 7 where Paul says the things that I seem to want to accomplish. I can't quite the things

I don't want to do. It seems like I do and evil makes its bed right beside me. And then he cries out who will save me from this wretched man that I am.

Thanks be to God, Jesus Christ. He's the satisfier. He's the bread and he's the water and he's the rock and he's the tower.

And thanks be to God, Jesus Christ. And so Church of the Living God, if I could just encourage you, we are all tempted to do just like what the children of Israel has done.

We're all tempted to that. But turn to Christ and call upon him and be satisfied in him.

And in that there's such a joy to be satisfied, but not only to be satisfied, but to not be ashamed, you know, that we can live before the

Lord and that's getting into the next sermon that I preached. But the end result in their repentance is there's a promise that they can live before the

Lord because Adam and Eve went hidden shame. Yeah, but God doesn't want that. He wants us to live open before him without shame.

So anyways, so that's I could preach a long time about that. I'll try not to.

Well, I don't want to stop the direction of this conversation because we're at the end and we're going to wrap up this video, but I don't want to stop the direction of this conversation.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Jonathan, I want you to know him.

We want you to be saved. We want you to be a part of this family, be a part of his kingdom.

And we want you to know the only one that can truly satisfy as Jonathan was telling us.

And so Jonathan, would you please share with anybody who doesn't know

Jesus but would like to know Jesus? Would you share with them the gospel and the proper response to the gospel?

Amen. Honestly, if you've been listening to this, you've heard the gospel.

So let me let me try to to to narrow it down into a more digestible format. And if you if you don't hear anything else from this message tonight and from our story and our conversation,

I hope that you will listen to this because you see in the beginning, God had a perfect relationship with mankind.

And then in Genesis chapter three, there was a great fall. In other words, sin entered into the world and God had given specific instruction to Adam and Eve of how to live and what to do.

And they rebelled against him. And ever since that time, man has been rebelling. And there's many places that the

Bible says that God does not take pleasure and discipline or the destruction of those that are evil, those that have sinned against him.

And the reason he takes the pleasure in that is because we've all sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory of God.

So that's that's the bad news. And we want to somehow balance that out to where, well, my sin's not that bad or whatever.

We want to we want to measure it by our works or our morality. But think about it this way. God said the only way to get to heaven.

The only way is to be just as equally as perfect as he is perfect. And we'd all have to admit

I'm not. So God has a standard of holiness, which is up here and even the smallest lie or the smallest, you know, sinful thought or whatever.

If it brings us one step below that line of holiness, then we have to say you're not as holy as God is holy.

And I get it. There's many depths of sin that would take us even deeper if we had if we wanted to try to do that.

But at the end of the day, all have sinned. And so now we all have a problem.

And the Bible says that that for those that do not believe on him, they are condemned already.

It's not that Jesus came into the world to bring condemnation to the world. It's because we have sinned against God and we're already condemned.

So the good news now is that Jesus comes. See, God sent his son in the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through him can be saved and he that believes on him.

You won't be condemned, but you have everlasting life. And that's an amazing truth to me.

I mean, it really is just an incredible truth. And in Romans 8, one says for all that in Christ, there is no longer any condemnation.

So now you have a choice. You can either live in the condemnation of sin because we've all sinned and fallen short of God's expectation of holiness.

And you can live under that sin and you can and live ashamed before God, just like Adam and Eve did.

They ran and hid themselves. Or I believe with all my heart that if you're listening to this,

God has a different plan for you. See, John chapter 6, verse 44 says no man comes to the father unless he's drawn.

And I believe you're listening to this because God has sovereignly appointed a place for you to hear the gospel and to be drawn unto him so that you don't have to live ashamed before God.

And we don't have to just toil and toil and toil to try to make up for your sin, which you could never do.

But we're all guilty before God. And God said, you know what? I know they can't fix this themselves. So I'm going to fix it.

And how God fixes it is he sends his only begotten son to pay the penalty for sin foresee in God's God's system.

The punishment for sin is death and ultimately eternal death. It's the wrath of God. And he said,

I'm going to send my son. And I already quoted this to you a couple places because it parallels so well with Isaiah 53.

It says it pleased God to crush his son. It wasn't that God was happy and like cheering because he pleased him.

But the word really is it satisfied God. We've been talking about satisfaction tonight and and God was satisfied in the life of his son, the penalty of his son's death.

So therefore, the wrath of God and the condemnation of God that was on us, Jesus says, I want to take their place.

And that satisfied the justice of God because God being a good judge could never ignore our sin.

That penalty has to be paid. So therefore, Jesus says, I'll pay the penalty. It's satisfied

God and it pleased the heart of God that now because of Jesus, we can be saved.

And how are we saved? It's to believe what I just told you. I think sometimes we've so mystically made out this prayer or or this formula.

I mean, I heard a guy say one time that if you told people to get out in the food line parking lot and take a number two pencil and get on their hands and knees and roll that pencil across the parking lot on their note with their nose and you'd be saying people line up by droves to do it because it's somehow we're going to get to take credit for what

I did to be saved. But here's the thing, guys. There's no credit to be taken except it's finished.

We just celebrated Easter and that is no doubt my favorite passage in the

New Testament. When Jesus says tell a less time it is finished.

Thanks be to God. I don't have to work anymore, but Christ paid the penalty that satisfied the expectations of God and in that I am satisfied.

I find rest for my soul. Jesus has become our living water and he has become our bread and we don't have to labor anymore.

We enter into his rest and we're satisfied and so really what salvation is the response to this gospel is to believe it.

This if it's a gift of faith and then yes, there is a praying that comes along with that.

It is a calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved, but even in that I'm not going to stand before God and say

I'm saved because I said the right words in my prayer or I'm saved because I've attended church all my life or I'm saved because of this or because of that.

I'm going to call on the Lord and say God tonight. I acknowledge I am a sinner and I need a

Savior in Christ. What you did is enough and I believe on that and the Bible says that all that call upon the

Lord and believe in that they're saved. That's what we mean by being saved. They're saved from the wrath of God.

And so there is no work to be done. It's simply believe. Believe what

God has already said that you have sinned against him. Jesus paid the penalty of the sin and it is finished.

And so tonight if that's you to say man, I have been trying to outweigh it.

I've been trying to make my good outweigh my bad, you know, and I believe I'm going to get to heaven because I'm not that bad.

Listen to repent from that thinking turn away believe on the finished work of Jesus that that was enough and the

Bible says you'll be saved. Call upon the Lord while he's near. I hope that's encouraging to you. Amen.

Thank you, Jonathan. We want you to come to Christ. Amen. Find him satisfying and you will when you come to Christ.

Let me let me pray for us. Let me pray for you. And let me specifically pray for Tammy.

She is requested prayer. So join me and we'll close this close this thing in prayer father.

We thank you so much for your son and offering us. The satisfaction that we so desire.

Father, we stray so far trying to seek other means of satisfaction.

Father open our eyes open our blind eyes peel away the the curtains unveil our eyes and our minds father help us to see

Jesus and and know him as all satisfying father you you are worthy of worship and praise and we pray for you and we just thank you for the time that you've given us tonight to look at Hosea.

Look at your word and how you spoken to us. Thank you for the grace that you've given us not letting go of your people but not letting go of us so that we're not satisfied in other things but continue to seek after you and the satisfaction that you bring.

Thank you for the warnings. Thank you for the gospel father. We want to pray for Tammy and and whatever she's facing.

We pray blessings on her protection and care encouragement and peace in her life and her family father.

Thank you for Jonathan and we want to pray for his family that you would watch over them and bless them and give them strength as they work and minister day by day and we pray for for Jonathan and his church that you would continue to blessing and grow as you use them to proclaim the gospel of your son and of your kingdom.

We pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen, Jonathan. I appreciate you so much.

Thank you for joining me and sharing with us your sermon and Hosea and I really hope that I can have you back on to look at another sermon or even another topic.

I'll be absolutely honored to thank you my friend for your ministry as well. And what you're doing to encourage all of us.

Fantastic. Remember guys that Jesus is King go live in that victory and let's continue to go out there together and share that gospel.