All right, we are in Hosea chapter 13, and this chapter is filled with 16 verses.
And there's three areas that we're going to look at this evening that this chapter highlights.
Obviously, the theme of Hosea is just constant destruction, constant reminders of the judgment
that's going to come upon them.
And one thing that you'll see throughout these chapters is that God says the same thing in
different ways.
He hits the fact that He's going to judge them from different facets.
He uses different illustrations.
He's used cities in the past and how their condition was in the past to basically illustrate
what He's going to do to them at this moment.
And the three areas that we're going to look at this evening that we see in this chapter
is first and foremost, who's responsible for the destruction.
The second thing we're going to look at is the condition of their heart.
And obviously, we're not referring to every single heart that's found in Israel, but just
their heart as a whole, because He refers to them as Ephraim, as if they're an individual
person.
But we obviously understand not everyone who was in Israel at this time is sinning against
God.
They don't hold to the same things that everyone is doing, the vast majority of the people
that are doing there, because we understand that throughout the Bible, there's always
been a remnant.
But that's not to say that the remnant is not also going to suffer the consequences
of the nation, the actions of the nation.
Now the third thing that we're going to look at is the prophecy of the millennial reign,
and that's towards the latter end of the chapter.
But look down at your Bibles at verse number one, it says here, when Ephraim spake trembling,
he exalted himself in Israel, but when he offended and bailed, he died.
And now they sin more and more and have made the molten images of their silver and idols
according to their own understanding.
All of it the work of the craftsmen, they say of them, let the men that sacrifice kiss
the calves.
Now the first element that we can observe in this chapter is Ephraim's contrasting reputation.
Now you say, what do you mean by that?
Well look at verse one, it says, when Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel,
but when he offended and bailed, he died.
Now what is that referring to?
Well when it says that Ephraim spake trembling, it's simply conveying the fact that there
was a time when the nation of Israel was humble, okay?
They were humble, they needed God, and that's conveyed by the fact that it states there
that they tremble.
Now you say, what does trembling have to do with humility?
Well when the Bible tells us that we're to fear before God, that's exactly what it's
referring to.
It's referring to the fact that we're supposed to be humble and recognize that God can destroy
our lives, we recognize that we need to fear God and tremble before him.
Now you say, well hold on a second, but it says there that Israel exalted himself.
You know, that sounds like pride to me, well I'm gonna explain what that means in just
a bit, but go with me if you would to James chapter number four, hold your place there
in Hosea, I'm gonna read to you from Exodus 19 verse 16, and it says, it came to pass
on the third day in the morning that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud
upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that
was in the camp trembled, and Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with
God, and they stood at the nether part of the mount.
You see, it could be said that Israel had humble beginnings, there was a time when they
needed God, they cried out to God because of the oppression of the Egyptians, and they
trembled before him, even when they were in the wilderness, there was times when they
were afraid of God, they had humble beginnings, but then their heart was lifted up, they began
to serve other gods, they began to get into sin, and that's when God's judgment was performed
upon them, but there was a time when they were afraid of the Lord.
Now, again, when I mention when Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel, what's
being taught there is the principle that, excuse me, the principle that's being taught
there is that the repercussions to our actions, although they're administered by the Lord,
are ultimately a result of our obedience or disobedience.
So when it says there that Ephraim trembled, and they were exalted, it's referring to the
fact that because they trembled, God exalted them.
What that's talking about there is that because of their actions, God administered exaltation,
and that's what we see in the Bible, don't we?
When we humble ourselves before the Lord, when a nation humbles itself before the Lord,
the Bible tells us that God will exalt us.
Look at James chapter four and verse number seven, it says, submit yourselves therefore
to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you, draw nigh to God and he will draw
nigh to you, cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double minded,
be afflicted and mourn and weep, let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy
to heaviness, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up.
Now it doesn't say there that he's just gonna lift him up, look how many things you have
to do in order to be lifted up, okay?
You gotta be afflicted, mourn, weep, let your laughter be turned to mourning, your joy to
heaviness, humble yourselves and he shall lift you up.
Humble yourselves and God will exalt you.
So we see that we can compare that what we see in Hosea chapter 13 that when Ephraim
trembled, when they were afraid of God, then they were exalted and although God was the
one who was doing the exalting there, it can be said of them, yes, they exalted because
of the fact that they trembled before God.
Now this is true when it comes to the matter of having God's favor and his blessings but
it's even more accurate when it comes to his chastisement, okay?
Let's go back to Hosea chapter 13.
So yes, when we want God's favor, we gotta humble ourselves, we gotta be obedient and
the result of that is that God will bless us but in like manner.
When we disobey God, when we don't obey him, when we rebel against him, though God is the
one who's executing chastisement upon our lives, he will blame us for those actions.
Skip down to verse 9, look what it says, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself.
Now let me ask you, who's the one who's destroying Israel?
God.
Who's the one who's bringing the judgment upon that nation?
It's God.
But what does God say in verse 9?
You're destroying yourself.
Why?
Because your actions, the things that you're doing has evoked the wrath of God, it has
provoked God to chastise you and though he's the one who's administering that judgment
upon your life, guess what?
Ultimately, you're destroying yourself and what is the principle that we can learn?
Well, this teaches us that we need to own up to our actions and anything that takes
place in our life, any judgment that we receive, any chastisement, we can never really blame
God, can we?
Even if we know that God is the one chastising us, even if we know it's God who's judging
us, we can never blame God for those things because at the end of the day, we're destroying
ourselves.
Right.
Okay.
Now, hold your place there, we're gonna be going all over the Bible here.
Go to Job chapter 1, hold your place here in Hosea.
We can't blame God for anything.
Okay.
Obviously, that's a fundamental understanding of the nature of God, right?
We can't blame God and say, well, it's God's fault that I'm doing this, it's God's fault.
No, at the end of the day, our actions, see, we're not Calvinists.
Calvinists are just like, God's, he's at fault for everything.
They won't say fault, but that's exactly what they mean.
You know, any evil that takes place in the world, any sinful action, any wicked imagination
that a man conjures up at the end of the day, it's God who's the one who's puppeteering
that person to behave that way.
That's garbage.
That's heresy.
That's wicked to say that a holy God is responsible for any type of evil, sinful wickedness in
this world.
Now, does God perform evil?
Absolutely.
But evil's not always working in conjunction with sin.
Often, evil is just something that God's judgment, God's judgment can be considered evil.
But it's not always in reference to sinful things.
But look what, here's a perfect example of what I'm referring to here.
Job, Job was an upright man.
The Bible says that he's chewed evil, he loved the Lord, and yet Satan was allowed by God
to just basically destroy his life.
Now, he didn't die, but his children did.
His wife basically, you know, just kind of abandoned him.
You know, he lost all his wealth, he lost all his possessions, everything that he had,
he was just destroyed.
And in fact, his health was even affected by this attack from Satan.
But look at verse number 20 of Job chapter one, it says, then Job arose and rent his
mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped and said, naked came
I out of my mother's room and naked shall I return thither.
The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all this, Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly.
You see, I think it'd be very easy for someone like Job to say, man, why is God allowing
this into my life?
I've done nothing wrong, I serve God, I love the Lord, I try to keep his commandments,
and all this evil befalls him, and you don't want through it all.
I mean, losing your children, don't bypass the fact that that happened.
That's a huge blow to any parent's life, you know, who's not past feeling, obviously.
You know, any parent never wants to outlive their children, you know, but here we see
that though he lost all his children, he did not charge God foolishly.
What does that mean?
He didn't blame God.
He said, look, naked came I out of my mother's room, naked shall I return, the Lord gave
and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
I mean, talk about having the right disposition.
And when he went through a difficult trial, a trying time of death, of loss, of health,
he still didn't blame God.
You know why?
Because at the end of the day, these things are not God's fault.
Sometimes bad things happen to good people, you know, and it'd be foolish to charge God
foolishly, but on the flip side of that, when we do make mistakes, guess what, we are destroying
ourselves even though God is the one who administers that destruction upon our lives.
You know, it's God is doing it, but we need to own up to the fact that we're destroying
ourselves.
We're the one who is bringing this upon ourselves.
Now you think about, now there's an extreme aspect to this.
When you think about, you know, on Sunday night, I preached on the false prophet and,
you know, in second Peter chapter two, verse one, it tells us that there were false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you who privately
shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves
swift destruction, the Bible says.
Now here's the thing, who's destroying the false prophets when they die?
God is.
He's the one who's going to be casting all these wicked people into hell, throwing them
into the lake of fire, and later on in that chapter, it even says that he's reserved for
them the blackness of darkness forever, and it's God who's going to destroy them.
But you know what, they brought it upon themselves.
They bring swift destruction upon themselves, why?
Because they're the ones who denied the Lord Jesus Christ.
So the principle that we can pull away from Hosea chapter 13, go back there if you would,
is the fact that when we obey God, yeah, we're exalting ourselves, but not necessarily we,
it's God who's doing it.
But in the same token, when we sin against God, guess what, God's going to inflict punishment
upon us, but at the end of the day, we're also destroying ourselves.
So we can't say, well, I didn't know, it was, you know, how can God allow this into my life?
No, you're destroying yourself, okay?
We'll get into that in a little more detail further in the chapter.
Look at verse number three, therefore, they shall be as the morning cloud and as the early
dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor,
and as the smoke out of the chimney.
Now, if you remember in Hosea chapter six, he references this morning cloud and their
early dew, but he uses it in conjunction with their goodness, because you think about the
morning cloud and the early dew, it's there, but as soon as the afternoon hits, it's gone.
You know, you have the morning cloud and the early dew, as soon as that, that may be there
in the morning, but it's not going to be there in the afternoon.
And the truth that God has conveyed in Hosea chapter six in regards to their goodness is
that they're only good for a little time.
You know, they obey God for a temporary time.
You know, they basically, they're like the children of Israel in the book of Judges that
once the judge dies, they go back to their wicked ways.
You know, they start doing that which is right in their own eyes, corrupting themselves more
than their fathers, serving false gods, et cetera, et cetera.
That just shows that they're like the morning cloud and the early dew.
And here it says that because they're like that, they're going to be as the morning cloud
and as the early dew that passeth away.
In other words, if your goodness only lasts for a little bit, guess what?
That's exactly what's going to happen to you.
You're only lasting for a little bit, and I'm going to take you away.
He says as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor and as the smoke
out of the chimney.
Now, hold your place there.
Go to Psalm chapter one.
Just put a bookmarker there or, you know, a piece of paper or something, but we're going
to continually go back to that.
You know, it may not be said of us that our consistency or lack thereof is not like the
morning cloud or the early dew, that we will remain faithful and consistent.
One of the character qualities that many Christians lack today is simply faithfulness.
Consistency in the smallest of matters.
Bible reading, prayer, church attendance, soul winning, confessing of sin, being a blessing
to others.
The Christian life is made up of these basics.
You know, not anything grand, not anything great.
It's simply the smallest of matters that God requires us to be faithful in.
A faithful man shall abound with blessing.
Being consistent in the smallest of matters will do that.
But that's not going to happen if you're like the morning cloud or the early dew.
You're going to go away.
But here it's talking about the fact that because they're wicked, God's going to take
them away.
And he compares them to chaff.
Look at Psalm one, verse one.
It says here, blessed is the man that walketh, not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seed of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in
his season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
So what is the promise there?
If you're in the word of God, you're delighting in the Bible, you're going to flourish.
You're going to grow.
You're going to have substance in your Christian life, and you're going to bear a lot of fruit.
Look at verse number four.
Look at the contrast.
The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff, which the wind driveth away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous.
For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
That can be comparable to what we see in Hosea chapter 13.
That's why he's telling them you're going to be like the wind, like the chaff, which
the wind driveth away.
And if you remember last week, what were we talking about?
We talked about the east wind.
That east wind that comes in as judgment from that Arabian desert that comes and just
destroys everything, and the application that was the Assyrians were going to come and destroy
them because they're coming from the east.
But he's telling them, hey, you're going to be like that chaff, which that east wind is
going to come and drive away.
Now go back to Hosea chapter 13 here, and look, an application that we can gather from
that is that don't grow weary of wicked people in this world because they're like the chaff.
I'm sure all of us can attest to that one wicked person on the internet, that one stinking
reprobate that trolls us via YouTube or Facebook or whatever it may be, that coward that just
hides behind a screen and uses different names, and just these wicked people, they're like
the chaff.
And though it may seem that they have, look, even if they have 80 years of life in this
life, that's still nothing in comparison to eternity.
They're going to be driven away.
That east wind is going to come and destroy them.
And sometimes those people can tire you out, but at the end of the day, they're going to
get what's coming to them.
The chaff, the ungodly are not so.
The righteous will be planted by the rivers of water.
We shall not be moved.
We have an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, the Bible says, that cannot be
moved.
We were saved.
We're going to heaven, but the ungodly are not so.
They're like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
God's just going to blow them right into hell.
And look, that sounds a little harsh, but you know what?
There's nothing more harsh than what God says when he cast them into the lake of fire.
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you.
Talk about love, right?
Where's the love in that?
God loves everyone.
Well, what about when he says, depart from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you.
That's not very loving.
Lord, that's not very loving.
Yeah, it's not very loving.
In fact, it's pretty hateful to do.
But that's what happens to the chaff of this world.
That's how God views the wicked and the ungodly of this world.
That's chaff that just a wind just blows away, it dissipates, it disappears, it's nothing
in the eyes of God, okay?
And that's what he's telling Israel.
You're like the morning wind, you're like the early dew, you're like the chaff that
I'm just going to destroy.
Look at verse number four.
Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me,
for there is no savior beside me.
Now it's not saying that God is from Egypt.
He's referencing the fact that he was the one that saved them out of Egypt.
And that's why he says, for there is no savior beside me, he's referencing what took place
in Egypt.
Verse five, I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.
According to their pastures, so were they filled.
They were filled and their heart was exalted, therefore have they forgotten me.
This is pretty sad.
You know, according to their needs, God gave them according to their needs.
That's what he's telling us here.
And when God gave them according to their needs, were they grateful?
No.
God gave them everything that they needed.
Did they show gratitude?
No.
What happens?
Their heart was exalted.
And look, the application that we can get from here is the fact that, you know, maybe
things are going well for you.
You're like, well, things aren't going well for me.
Okay, well, apply this in like six months from now when things are going well for you,
okay?
Don't ruin my illustration, right?
You know, if things are going well for you, thank God for it.
Amen.
Humble yourself.
Amen.
Don't rain in the latter rain.
Don't be like the children of Israel who when they got what they needed, their heart was
exalted and they forgot God.
You know, when the bills were being paid, food was on the table, everything was going
fine and dandy, a bed of roses, you know, they're just enjoying life, what happens?
They get prideful, they get haughty, and they forget God.
And by the way, if that happens to you, you know what?
God's basically going to take the carpet from under you to humble you so that you can call
out to God again.
But I'd rather not do that.
I'd rather not get the carpet pulled out from under me.
I'd rather in time of prosperity and success, thank God for it.
Amen.
Well, it's me that, you know, I'm the one who, it's not God, it's not anybody else.
That's a foolish and haughty spirit and attitude to have.
Humility is recognizing that the success that I have in my life is due to God and others
who have invested in my life.
Okay?
Now, verse 7 says, therefore, I will be unto them as a lion.
As a leopard, by the way, will I observe them.
I mean, picture that.
That's not, he's not talking about like, you know, the lion of Judah that is just going
to come rescue us.
He's saying that he's going to view, he's looking at them.
As a leopard, by the way, will I observe them?
How does a leopard observe, what does that mean when it says a leopard observes them,
by the way?
He's basically looking at his prey.
He's about to kill them is what he's saying, okay?
Now, here's what it gets pretty gory.
Verse 8, I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps and will rend the call
of their heart and there will I devour them like a lion.
The wild beast shall tear them.
Why don't we hear about this more often?
That's God saying this, you know?
This is Hosea's sermon right here, okay?
It's called As a Bear That is Bereaved of Her Whelps.
Now let's pause here for a moment and let's basically dissect what he's trying to say
here.
Because remember, nothing in this book that we've seen so far is accidental.
A lot of it's figurative, symbolic of what God's trying to convey here, what he's trying
to explain and these terminologies and these phrases that God is using is going to give
us basically an understanding of what he's trying to communicate here.
Now go to 2 Samuel chapter 17.
That phrase, as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps is only used a few times in the
Bible.
I think it's only used like three times.
This is the third one of them.
One of the times that it's mentioned, it's mentioned in the book of Proverbs, completely
unrelated to what we're going to look at here.
But the second time that we see it is when David is on the run, okay, from his son.
And we see that they're basically trying to capture him.
Ahithophel gives counsel and says, man, we should go for them, we can get them, we can
overcome them.
Now look at verse number seven of 2 Samuel.
It says, and Hushai said unto Absalom, the counsel that Ahithophel had given is not good
at this time.
For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men.
That's not speaking ghetto, okay, they be mighty men, right?
And they be chaffed in their minds as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field and thy
father is a man of war and will not lodge with the people.
So this is the second time that this phrase is used and the precursor there is that he
says that they're chaffed in their minds.
Now what does it mean to be chaffed in their minds?
In other words, they're weary, they're tired.
It's a word that simply means like to irritate or to annoy, okay?
So it says because they're in this condition, because their minds are in this condition,
they're gonna meet you as a bear robbed of her whelps.
Welps is referring to her children.
Now I don't wanna know what that's like, but I'm assuming if you rob a bear of her children,
it's probably not gonna go very good.
Even if you meet a bear and you don't do that, it doesn't go good.
Nothing's good when you go meet bears at all.
The only time I wanna meet a bear is at a zoo.
Behind a gate where I can taunt him and make fun of him, make noises and he can't do nothing
about it, okay?
Much less because I stole one of their whelps.
I mean bears, in my opinion, are pretty, like I remember when I went to Big Bear and there
they have black bears, they're not as big as the grizzly bears and I remember, you know,
I went on vacation with my wife's family, this is before we got married and I had my
own room and the boys, her younger brothers were supposed to take out the trash, but they
forgot to take out the trash and then he left it literally outside of my window.
So I'm sleeping and I just hear rustling and growling, I'm like, what in the world, is
that a dog?
And literally I poke my head up from the window at the same time a bear pops up.
And face to face.
And luckily he was more scared of me than I was of him, he took off running, you know?
But I'll be honest with you, I was more scared of him than he was of me.
Because I don't want to mess around with any bears, you know?
But especially if you rob their children.
So here we see that David, because he's chaffed in his mind, he's annoyed, he's irritated,
he's going to meet whoever comes to get him as a bear robbed of their whelps.
Well, that could be applied to what we see in Hosea chapter 13.
Why is God going to meet the children of Israel as a bear robbed of their whelps?
Well, because he's chaffed, he's irritated.
Because he's warned, he's rebuked, he's instructed, he has sent prophets, and they're just like,
no.
You know what that does?
That irritates someone.
When you're admonishing someone, you're trying to correct them, you're trying to reprove
them, you're trying to help them, and they just are just stubborn.
They're just prideful.
They're just not willing to adhere to instruction.
You know what that does?
That chaffes you.
And ultimately, you want to meet that person like a bear robbed of their whelps.
And when it comes to God, that means he's going to basically destroy them.
That's the picture that we see there.
But that's not even the worst part of what he states here in verse number 8.
Go back to Hosea chapter 13.
I will meet that he has a bear that is bereaved of her whelps.
Those whelps were taken from the bear, and he says, I'm going to meet you like that.
And then he states here, and I will rend the call of their heart, and there will I devour
them like a lion.
Now, this is crazy, okay?
Now when it says rend, that word rend simply means tear.
He's going to tear it up, is what he's talking about.
You know, when you go to a restaurant, get some good food, and you tear it up.
Here he's saying that he's going to rend the call of their heart as a lion.
Now let me just break this down for you, okay?
If you've read the Bible any amount of time, you should be familiar, that word should sound
familiar to you, call.
And specifically from the book of Exodus, but more specifically from the book of Leviticus.
Because in the book of Leviticus, God gives a lot of instructions of how to do offerings.
And he's very descriptive within that book of the instructions that he gives on how to
do those offerings.
And one of the things that he mentions is he says, take all the inward parts out, all
these surgical removals that they have to do, all the inward parts, and he talks about
the coverings.
But he specifically talks about the call that is above the liver.
You're supposed to take all that, and you throw it in the altar, and you burn it, okay?
And you see that over and over again.
So a call is simply the covering that's above the liver.
But here it says that the call of their heart.
So what is the call exactly?
What is that?
Well that would be considered like basically the double walled membrane of a heart.
Like we have that, okay?
We have that over our heart, it's a double walled membrane that's over the heart that
just simply covers the heart.
That's what it is.
Animals have it, we have it, et cetera.
Now look at chapter four, if you would, go to chapter four.
So that's pretty, why didn't he just say, I'm just gonna eat your heart, you know?
By the way, that's what animals like to do, they like to go for the organs, like wolves
and stuff like that.
When they kill an animal, they go for the organs.
And he's, obviously he created the line so he knows what they like.
But he's, for some reason, he said the call of the heart.
Now look at Hosea four, verse number eight, it says, they eat up the sin of my people
and they set their heart on their iniquity.
Look at verse six, oh I'm sorry, go back to chapter 13.
So throughout the book of Hosea, we already see the condition of their heart.
Their heart is set on iniquity, their heart is set to do wickedness, their heart is set
to just do that which is displeasing in the eyes of the Lord.
Look at verse number six, it says, according to their pasture, so were they filled.
They were filled and their heart was exalted, therefore they have forgotten me.
So let me ask you this, when a heart is exalted, what's another word for that?
What?
Pride.
A heart that is exalted is a heart that has pride.
Now with that in mind, go to Psalm 95, go to Psalm 95.
So keep that in mind, their heart is filled with iniquity.
The Bible says here that their heart was exalted.
And then he states, I'm gonna eat the call of your heart.
Look at Psalm 95, verse seven says, this is also quoted in the New Testament in the book
of Hebrews, it says in verse number seven, for here is our God, and we are the people
of his pasture and the sheep of his hand, today if you will hear his voice, harden not
your hearts, as in the day of provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
So what do we see here?
That when a heart is exalted, it's prideful, it's because they're resisting the message
from the man of God, and their heart becomes hardened.
So what he's saying here is this, oh, when I come and destroy you, I'm gonna tear through
the call of your heart.
You know that hard heart that you have because you just refuse to adhere to my prophets?
You know that hard heart that you have because you don't wanna adhere to what I'm saying?
You know how you just did not listen when you heard my voice?
Well, I'm gonna tear through that call.
And this goes to show us that God, the Bible tells us that hell and destruction before
the eyes of the Lord, how much more are the hearts of men.
You know, God's like, you know what, you can be as hard as you want as a nation, but I'm
gonna meet you as a lion, and I'm gonna tear through the hardness of your heart.
Now what is it gonna take for him to do that?
Just basically make everything desolate?
Let me say this, obviously there's people in this world who have hardened their heart,
and then God begins to harden their heart, and they become what's called a reprobate.
But there are Christians who can also harden their hearts.
They can also harden their own hearts.
How do they do that?
They just don't wanna listen to instruction.
You know, there's pastors who are like that, who when they're shown from the Bible that
they're wrong, and they're shown from the word of God what the Bible actually says about
a subject, and they said, I don't wanna hear it, you know what they do?
They're actually hardening their heart.
That's why I've known people who knew the word of God very well in times past, but as
the years go by, and they reject what the Bible actually says, they actually become
like spiritually dumb.
Spiritually idiotic, to the point where they can't even understand the simple doctrines
of the Bible.
Does that mean they're not saved?
No, they're saved, they're just hardening their hearts.
And any Christian can fall into this trap of hardening your heart.
You don't wanna listen to reproof, you don't wanna listen to correction.
You think you're always right.
You know, if you wanna succeed and move forward in your life, every once in a while you gotta
admit that you're wrong.
Because we're not always right.
I'm not always right, you're not always right, you need to learn how to take correction.
And look, if you wanna be a leader in this church, if you wanna lead, if you wanna do
something great for God in a leadership-type position, it requires correction.
It requires someone telling you, that's wrong, this is right.
And look, maybe some of it might be subjective, but at the end of the day, if you're wrong,
you're wrong.
Because if you don't, you know what's gonna happen?
You're gonna harden your heart.
And a good explanation of what a hard heart looks like is when someone simply grieves
the Holy Spirit.
They quench the Holy Spirit.
The Bible gives us specific instructions not to quench the Holy Spirit of God.
He gives us specific instructions not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are
sealed until the day of redemption.
That's a commandment for Christians.
What does it mean to quench?
It means you put out the fire.
So when the Holy Spirit is speaking to you through the word of God, and you choose not
to adhere, you're actually hardening your heart.
You know, we wanna make sure that as Christians and as a church, we keep a tender heart.
You know, it's easy, and by the way, when I say harden heart, that's in all aspects
of the Christian life.
Your heart can be hardened towards the lost.
You know, when you really don't care about soul winning as much as you used to.
You don't care about lost people as much as you used to.
You know, it doesn't burden you a whole lot when it comes to soul winning.
You know, that's something we gotta continually work on.
I have to continually work on that.
Where sometimes you just grow cold towards soul winning.
You know, the pleasures of life or the stresses of life or whatever it may be, things begin
to just take precedence over the main responsibilities of us as a Christian, and we actually grow
hardened towards soul winning, where in times past, you couldn't wait to get out there.
You couldn't wait to learn memorizing the verses, doing what you're supposed to do in
order to get out there and win someone to Christ, but now it's just like a passing thing.
You never wanna get to that point, and if you're at that point, here are your options.
You could either sow yourselves in righteousness and reap in mercy, break up the fallow ground,
or God can eat the call of your heart.
You know, he can eat through that membrane up into your heart, and often he can hit it
where it hurts.
Okay?
I mean, when you talk about the heart, eat your heart out, right?
He's gonna get to the heart of the matter is what he's gonna get to, literally.
And that's often what it takes.
That's why it's best to just examine ourselves and say, man, how am I doing in this area?
How am I doing in the area of soul winning?
Do I still have a tender heart for the lost?
Do I still have a tender heart for the gospel, for the word of God?
Every once in a while, look, I'm not saying be a little sissy, but you know, there's reasons
why God allows us to tear up every once in a while.
Every once in a while, you should meditate upon the lost that are going to hell.
And if it's hard for you to do that, think about your family, family members who are
not saved.
Why don't you think about them and how they're gonna spend the rest of eternity in hell?
You know what that does?
It'll bring tears to your eyes.
And what that'll do is it'll cause you to have a tender heart again.
I don't wanna have a tender heart towards false prophets and be a little, you know,
sympathizer towards these wicked people.
You know, I don't wanna sympathize and be a bleeding heart for wicked, reprobate people
who hate God.
For infiltrators and heretics, I have no love for them.
But you know where I direct that love?
Towards the lost.
I wanna make sure that I stay tender.
And look, don't get so caught up in fighting the reprobates that you just become cold all
across the board.
Gotta have a balance.
Keep the reprobate.
You better believe that.
But keep a tender heart for the person who's just lost.
You know, how about this?
How about just keeping a tender heart just for the goodness of God?
You know?
Why don't you think upon the fact that you didn't have a church to go to in times past?
And God brought you a church.
You know, what about the relationships that you've made here at this church?
People that mean something to you now.
You know?
That should bring a tear to your eye.
I try to think about that as much as I can because I don't want my heart to be exalted.
You know?
I don't wanna take the things that God has done for me for granted.
And you know what?
You know how you can tell if you're taking things for granted is when you start becoming
a complainer and a murmur.
You start complaining about all the little details of our church, about people.
You know, check yourself before you wreck yourself, amen?
When you start seeing yourself murmur and complain over the little stupid idiosyncrasies
or whatever it may be, you know, check yourself and get a tender heart again.
Be thankful.
And it doesn't take much.
You know, just think upon the goodness of God, the blessings that you've gotten throughout
your life as a Christian in this church.
Let a tear come to your eyes.
Oh, I don't wanna watch me crying.
It's okay to cry every once in a while.
Hike's sweaty.
Oh, beautiful.
When she gave her vows, I was this close to saying someone else is freaking beautiful.
Hey, that was great.
I wanna keep a tender heart to those things, amen?
Why not?
Two people getting married, they're in the way.
You know, when I think about my children, I want to still shed a tear for the fact that
I have children.
You know what I mean?
Because my son, I prayed for my son, you know, probably eight years before I ever got
married.
I had a little prayer book, and on that prayer book, I said, I pray for my firstborn to be
a boy.
And I would pray for him every single day of my life.
You know what?
He's a testament to me that God answers prayer.
You know, through thick and thin, God answers prayer.
You know what that does?
That creates a tender heart is what it does.
You know, so you could either do that or God can just eat your heart out.
And more specifically, he'll tear through the call of your heart.
He'll tear through the membrane of your heart.
In other words, he's gonna get through.
He will get through to you if he needs to.
Okay?
Let me see here.
Go to Joel chapter two, if you would.
Joel chapter two.
Keep a tender heart.
And look, keep a tender heart towards visitors in our church when they come.
Be nice to them.
Be kind to them.
Be meek around them.
Watch your mouth around them.
You know?
We need to make sure that our mouths have governors.
That we watch what we say when we're around new people, when we're around visitors.
Now when you're around us, just let it loose.
I'm just kidding.
I'm kidding.
But you know, we gotta make sure because, look, church is for the saved.
Amen?
Church is for believers.
Amen?
But the fact is we do so much soul winning that we're gonna have a lot of visitors come
to our church.
Whether saved or unsaved.
And you know what?
We need to make sure that we're a good testimony when they come.
Now this Sunday we had three visitors and it was just like, you guys picked a weird
Sunday to kill, a really bad Sunday to come.
We're throwing out a hair take.
You know, I screamed my lungs out and ripped off.
Fortunately those guys were listeners already.
And they met me after service.
We're like, we love that.
You know what I mean?
Amen to that.
And we've had times when people who are not listeners come to our church and have to take
care of business, you know, and it was a little rough for them.
We've had people walk up and out, but for the most part, look, you guys can't control
what I do back here, but when we're all down there and we're face to face with new people,
be kind to them.
Amen.
Shake their hands.
Look them in the eyes.
Tell them thank you for coming.
Be nice.
Keep a tender heart.
Let's not have this us four, no more type of mentality that when we come to church,
we just gravitate towards our buddies.
You know what I mean?
There's nothing wrong with that, but keep an open eye for new people.
Keep an open eye for new people.
Get to know them.
Greet them.
Keep a tender heart towards those people.
Look what it says in Joel chapter two, verse 12.
Therefore, also now say the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting
and with weeping and with mourning and rend your heart and not your garments and turn
it to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness
and repents him of the evil.
You see, renting your garments was almost symbolic of you rendering your heart, but
apparently there's a lot of people who are doing that, but they weren't really repenting
of the sins that they were committing.
Whereas here it says, hey, you need to rend your heart and not your garments.
And the concept that we see there, you don't have to turn there, but in first Corinthians
11 31 says for if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
You know, we need to make sure that on a continual basis, we're judging ourselves, rending our
hearts, making sure that it stays tender, it stays loving, it stays warm towards lost
people, towards the brethren and never grow cold towards the things of God.
Go back to Hosea chapter 13.
That's pretty descriptive there.
You know, he's, he's like, I'm going to cook.
I'm going to tear your call in your heart.
I'm going to eat you like a lion.
You know, I hope there was someone there paying attention to understand like, I know what
he means by that.
This is going to be bad.
That means we're, we're hardened towards the things of God.
We've closed our ears towards the word of God.
And look, let me get back to this point here.
You know, the newness wears off.
The newness wears off.
And it's going to, it's just going to keep, continue to wear off throughout the years.
You know, in the beginning when the church first started, it was just like, yeah, reprobate
Hayden Church, post-trim, anti-Zionist.
But then as the, as the months go by and the years go by, someone offends you in our church,
you know, not every sermon is about reprobates.
You know, you start, you start drifting in your thoughts.
You start not really caring about church as much as before.
You know, you got to be careful with that because coming to church is a lifetime responsibility.
Amen.
It's a lifetime responsibility and it's as exciting as you make it.
Church is as exciting as you make it.
Now, a thermometer.
I always get these mixed up.
A thermometer does what?
It tells the temperature.
A thermostat sets the temperature, right?
Be a thermostat, not a thermometer.
You know, a thermometer comes in and is just like, yeah, it's not like it used to be.
A thermostat turns it up.
Well, if it's not like the way it used to be, why don't you do something about it?
It's not like it used to be because you're cold.
You're affecting the temperature of our church.
So get your butt on fire and change the temperature.
You know, instead of coming in here and just like, hey, by the way, no one's doing this,
okay?
If you're wondering like, who's you on tonight, you know.
I'm not talking about anybody in specific.
This is preventative, amen.
Now you might be like, you're talking about me, then yeah, hey, if the shoe fits.
I heard that sometime this week.
You know, don't come in here and just like start criticizing everything.
You know, just because we're almost two years into this thing and maybe some things have
changed whether people have come and gone or whatever it may be.
You know what?
You need to be the one who sets the temperature.
Because at the end of the day, you can't change anybody but yourself.
So instead of trying to change everyone else to make them just like you, why don't you
get on fire for God and that fire will influence other people to get on board as well.
You know, why don't you become zealous for the things of God and that will influence
others to become zealous for the things of God.
Set yourself on fire and people will come watch you burn, amen.
That's what you have to do.
But we need to make sure that we're judging ourselves, okay?
In our church.
Look at verse number nine.
I didn't even know where I was going with that but it was good.
I forgot.
I went back for some reason, let me see here.
Anyways, look at verse number nine.
O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thine help.
I will be thy king.
Where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities?
And thy judges of whom thou sayest, give me a king and princes?
I gave thee a king in mine anger and took him away in my wrath.
In other words, he's stating, look, don't look for a physical king to come deliver you.
It's not gonna happen.
Look, I gave you Saul, you know, in mine anger, but he didn't work out and I took him away
in my wrath.
Because Saul was a fallible man who made mistakes and I ended up killing him.
So you know, what he's basically telling them here is that obviously they're in the midst
of judgment.
Assyria's about to come and destroy them.
So what's the automatic thing that they want?
Well, we need a leader, we need a physical king to rise up and deliver us from the Assyrians.
And God's saying, look, that's not the answer.
The answer is not a physical king to come deliver you out of the hand of the Assyrians.
I'm the one who's destroying you.
The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up.
His sin is hid.
That's in reference to that call, okay?
The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him.
He is an unwise son for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of
children.
Now what is that talking about there?
Well, when it talks about travailing, every woman who's had a child knows what that is.
I don't know what that is.
I've just seen it.
I've heard it.
I've heard travail, okay?
I'm not going to get into that anyways.
I've heard travail twice, okay?
I'm going for a third one in October.
And he's right about that.
To compare the travailing of a woman to how they're going to travail, that's a good comparison
there.
And he's telling them for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of
children.
And what he's saying there is that they're going to be travailing, but it's not going
to be forever.
Now, when a woman is in labor, I'm sure they feel like it's never going to end, right?
Am I right?
Okay.
The women are, you know.
But travail, let me read to you from John 16, 21, a woman when she is in travail hath
sorrow because her hours come.
But as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish for joy
that a man is born into the world.
So in other words, it's saying that when a woman is in travail, it just seems like it's
forever.
When the child's born, it's like it's over and done with.
I remember when my son was born, it was very difficult for my wife.
She didn't get the epidural, so she just did it.
And a lot of pain, and there's times when she wanted to just give up.
But you know what?
As soon as it was over and Bruce was in this world, you know what?
She literally can attest that she just completely forgot of all the pain, the fact that she
had her son.
You know what?
At that time, that pain seemed like it would never end.
But then it did end.
And what he's saying here is like, look, I'm going to be judging you, and you're going
to experience destruction, but it's not going to be forever.
Because there's going to come a time, even if it's not immediately after this or even
70 years after this, when is this going to take place?
When the millennial reign?
When the actual Israel, saved Israel, will be restored.
You say, yeah, but that's like a long time from now.
But yeah, but in the scope of eternity, it's not that long.
When it comes to God's timetable, when it comes to God's perspective, it's not very
long.
You know, and this goes to show us that when we're going through difficult times in our
life, you know, trying times, times of difficulty, times when we were forced to be patient with
our situation, guess what?
It doesn't last forever.
It may seem as though the travail just never ends, but you know what?
For he should not stay long in a place of the breaking forth of children, it's not going
to last for very long.
Because ultimately, guess what?
Even if it never ends in this lifetime, it will end in the life to come.
Like, man, but that's like decades and decades.
Yeah, but you know what?
You're actually going to live longer, obviously, if you have eternal life, you're going to
live forever, but you'll live longer in the millennial reign, you'll be longer in the
millennial reign than you and your sinful flesh here in this world.
A millennial means a thousand years.
That's a long time.
So our life in comparison to that thousand years is nothing, okay?
The difficulties that we go through in this lifetime is nothing in comparison to when
the child breaks forth.
Now look at verse 14.
It says, I will ransom them from the power of the grave.
I will redeem them from death.
O death, I will be thy plagues.
O grave, I will be thy destruction.
Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
I believe this is a reference to the resurrection.
Because obviously, if you read that, you know, 1 Corinthians 15 should come to mind.
Now I'm going to read that to you.
Verse 54, 1 Corinthians 15, you don't have to turn there, it says, so when this corruptible
shall put on incorruption, and this mourner shall have put on immortality, then shall
be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?
So I believe what he's saying there in verse 14 is like, look, even if it doesn't change
now, you know, it will change then.
You know, if you're saved, you'll be resurrected, and I'll redeem you, okay?
Let's finish it up here.
Verse 15, by the way, that's why we really don't have anything to complain about.
Things can go really bad in this lifetime, and I don't want to even think about the extent
of how bad it can get.
You know, obviously it can get really bad, but as bad as, you can think of the worst
thing that could ever happen to you in this lifetime, it's still nothing in comparison
to the fact that we're going to resurrect one day, and we have eternal life.
Nothing in comparison.
You know, God's not going to shortchange.
God will shortchange no man, you know, especially when it comes to just being saved.
We have the resurrection that we have to look forward to so much.
Look at verse 15, don't think he'd be fruitful among his brethren, and east wind shall come.
The wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry,
and his fountain shall be dried up.
He shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.
Samaria shall become desolate.
Of course, Samaria is in Israel, that northern kingdom.
For she hath rebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword.
Their infant shall be dashed in pieces, and their woman with child shall be ripped up.
That's pretty descriptive.
It's pretty violent.
But you know, God didn't use the sandwich method here.
The point before this was positive.
It was like, hey, you're going to be redeemed, you know, millennial reign, but you guys are
all going to become desolate.
In fact, this is specific.
But that's probably why he had to tell them that before this verse, to say, hey, what
I'm about to tell you is pretty harsh.
So just remember the resurrection, but your children are going to be dashed in pieces.
But it goes to show you the gravity of their sin.
You know, how wicked these people have become to incur the wrath of God, incite the wrath
of God upon their life in such a way that even the children, the infants will be dashed
in pieces, and the woman with child shall be ripped up.
That's pretty violent.
But it just goes to show you that, hey, don't mess with God.
You know, stay in the way, stay in the path of God.
Keep His commandments, keep a tender heart, and don't grow hard and towards the things
of God.
Let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the book of Isaiah, and throughout these chapters we
learned a lot.
We've got one more chapter to go.
I pray, God, that you'd help us to keep a tender heart.
If there's anything that anybody takes away from this message, it's simply this, keep
a tender heart towards the things of God.
Be balanced, Lord.
We need to be balanced.
We need to be balanced in our hatred, but also in our love.
And we ought to be a people that is characterized by our love, not by the haters of the Lord,
not by the people on the internet, but rather by the people in our city, in our community,
that they know that we love them because we're going out there and giving them the gospel.
And those who come to our church to visit, I pray that you'd help us to keep a tender
heart towards them as well.
And I pray, God, that you'd help us in this area, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.