Let's just get there in Hosea chapter 12.
Hosea chapter 12 and look at verse number 10.
It says, I have also spoken by the prophets
and I have multiplied visions and used similitudes
by the ministry of the prophets.
The title for the sermon this evening
is the Ministry of the Prophets.
The Ministry of the Prophets.
So we obviously know that Hosea is the prophet
that God is using to write this book.
He's one of the prophets that God is using
to preach against this wicked northern kingdom of Israel.
And so we get a look into a little bit in this chapter
of what the ministry of the prophets is like
and what it should look like.
And so we're gonna sort of focus on that
within this chapter.
But if you look at verse number one,
Hosea chapter 12 verse number one,
it says, Ephraim, now don't forget Ephraim
refers to the northern kingdom,
Ephraim feedeth on wind.
So what do you think that's talking about?
If you're gonna feed on something,
you often think about I'm gonna feed on a sandwich,
I'm gonna feed on a piece of meat, right?
But Ephraim or Israel, they're feeding on a wind.
So what does that mean?
Are they actually being satisfied with how they eat?
No, you can't be full on wind.
You can't be full on air,
but this is what they're doing.
They're feeding themselves on wind.
And then it says, and followeth after the east wind,
he daily increase of lies and desolation,
and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians
and oil is carried into Egypt.
The law have also a controversy with Judah
and will punish Jacob according to his ways,
according to his doings, he will recompense him.
So I think what we start here in verse number one and two,
what I wanna look at, if I wanna title this sermon,
The Ministry of the Prophets,
I think what verses one and two allow us to draw from
is when and why a prophet is needed, okay?
When and why is a prophet needed?
Number one, when people are feeding on wind, okay?
And so there's a lack of spiritual food, all right?
This nation that they're not feeding on the word of God,
we know that the word of God,
it should be like our daily bread.
It's something that we should consume spiritually.
You know, we focus on our breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
or some of you guys miss breakfast,
but you know what I'm talking about.
We always go through our days and making sure
that our bodies are nourished, that it's being fed,
but we also need to feed the spirit.
We need to feed the new man that we have within us,
and we only do that by the word of God.
And so if there's a lack of spiritual food,
if people are feeding on wind or nothingness,
then that's where a prophet needs to step up
and preach people the word of God that they may be fed.
What's another reason why you may need a prophet?
Well, what else did it say there?
It says he daily increase of lies and desolation.
And so when the world is full of lies,
when people are lying to you about God
or people are lying to you about the word of God,
and not only that, but when you put on the news,
you turn on the media,
people are lying to you on the media,
hey, that's a time when a prophet needs to step in
and preach the truth, okay?
So that is the job of a prophet,
to combat the lies that are in the land.
Not only lies, they've increased, not lies and desolation.
So desolation is another way of saying destruction.
And so these lies are leading people to destruction.
We might think about maybe false gospels, right?
We think about churches that do not honor the Lord,
churches that do not preach the word of God,
but rather preach the so-called wisdom
or the foolishness, as I say, of man.
Well, you know, that will lead you to destruction.
That will lead you to desolation.
And so that's when you need a prophet.
You need a prophet to combat the destruction,
the lies that you see in this world.
Why else could we need a prophet?
It says, and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians.
So we know that the Northern Kingdom,
they're concerned about the Assyrians.
You know, this has been prophesied by God
that the Assyrians are gonna come
and take you into captivity.
And so what are they trying to do?
They're trying to make it a covenant,
trying to make an agreement.
They're trying to make peace with the Assyrians.
And so they've misunderstood the judgment of God.
They think they can deter the judgment of God.
Hey, maybe we can go our own way.
Maybe we can sort out the Assyrians
so this judgment of God does not come upon us.
Well, you know what?
A lot of churches misunderstand the judgment of God.
In fact, many churches do not even believe
in the judgment of God.
It's all love, love, love.
It's not the wrath of God.
It's not the anger of God.
It's not the judgment of God.
And so when it's a misunderstanding of God's judgment,
hey, that's when a prophet needs to step in
and preach to a nation.
What else do we read?
It says an oil is carried into Egypt.
And so the Israelites as well,
they were trying to, they took gifts of oil
because the land of Israel was known
for its oil production, right?
You know, it had plenty.
God had blessed that land.
And so oil, very precious, you know, very expensive.
They would take that into Egypt
and try to, you know, cause them to,
or, you know, create friendships with the Egyptians
if the Assyrians did come,
they were hoping that the Egyptians will come in,
step in and help them fight against the Assyrians.
And so this is kind of like, you know,
when you think of Egypt, we think about the world.
Normally in the Bible, Egypt represents the world
or it represents your unsaved state, you know,
before you came to the Lord.
And so what's happening in the Northern Kingdom,
they're making friends with the Egyptians.
They're making friends with the world.
And so this is another time when a prophet needs to step in
is when God's people are trying to be friendly to the world.
When God's people are patterning themselves
after the world, that's when a prophet needs to come in
and preach the word of God.
What is it saying there in verse number two?
God drew our attention, not just to the Northern Kingdom,
but to the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
And it says in verse number two,
and I will punish Jacob according to his ways, okay?
So we know that there's a controversy with Judah.
Judah's in a bad place.
Now God refers to both those nations as Jacob
because we know that Jacob's name was changed to Israel,
so he's referring to both the nations here.
And so when's another time that a prophet needs to step in?
Prophet needs to step in to call out sin, right?
To call out sin.
And so when people are walking according to their ways,
a way that God has not asked them to walk,
maybe a way that is contrary to the way God wants us to walk,
that's when a prophet needs to step in
and preach against sin.
And so the reason I basically went through that, brethren,
is if we're looking at the ministry of the prophets,
and look, I believe that I'm a prophet.
Say, oh, that's weird.
No, a prophet is a preacher, okay?
A prophet is someone that proclaims God's word.
And if you get behind this pulpit one day
and you get to preach God's word,
hey, you're stepping into the role of a prophet.
You're proclaiming God's words.
You're preaching God's word.
These are things that you need to think about.
I need to give people the spiritual food.
We need to combat the lies,
the destructive nature of lies.
We need to tell people about the judgment of God.
We've got to warn people
about the friendships of this world.
We've got to call out sin.
And these things are super important
for a preacher to cover.
Listen, if they're not covering those things,
if they're not preaching these things,
they're not a true prophet of God.
They're just there to tickle your ears.
They're not there to give you the nourishing food,
the spiritual food that you need
in order to live a Christian life.
Now, there in Hosea chapter 12,
we're going to now look at verses number three to five.
The next three verses is all about reminding the nation
of their beginnings.
How when they started as a nation,
they were doing quite well as a nation, right?
Verse number three, it says,
and the reason it starts with he
is because the name of Jacob was mentioned
in verse number two.
So we know that Jacob is,
like I said, his name was changed to Israel.
And so all the descendants of Jacob or of Israel
are the children of Israel,
which make up these nations.
And so talking about Jacob in verse number three,
it says he took his brother by the hill in the womb.
You may remember that story that they were twins, all right?
And Esau was born first.
But as Esau is coming out of the womb,
there's a little hand grabbing his hill.
It was his twin brother, okay?
And it says here in verse number three, it says,
and by his strength, he had power with God.
And so it's talking about his strength as a little baby,
holding the heel of his brother as it came out.
And so this is a strange thing.
My wife's given birth to twins.
I wish that happened.
I wish one of the twins was holding onto a heel.
That would be interesting.
But I don't think that really happens all that much, right?
So this was something that was quite unique.
And this is something that Jacob or Israel was known for.
And so obviously it requires a lot of strength
to be able to hold onto your twin brother's heel
as that baby's being delivered coming out of the womb.
And so this was to be used as a picture of Jacob,
that he was someone that was strong with the Lord.
God would use this birth as symbolic, as we're seeing here,
of the kind of character that Jacob would become, okay?
That he was not happy to be in second place.
We know that he ended up buying the birthright
off his brother Esau, right?
He wanted the blessings of God.
He wanted to make sure that he served God at his fullest.
He did not want second place.
And so that's what Jacob represents, right?
He was, his name is kind of,
what's his name mean again?
supplanta, his name means supplanta, right?
And so it basically means that he's taken over
another position.
That's exactly what Jacob's done.
He says, no, I don't wanna be second place.
I don't wanna get second place of the blessings.
I wanna be the person that God has promised
this blessing that came from Abraham
that would bring forth Jesus Christ,
the Savior of the world.
He wanted that.
Hey, that's a great thing to want, okay?
I mean, it's much better than wanting money
and a reputation, a worldly reputation.
No, he wanted to be known as someone important
that would bring forth Jesus Christ.
And so this is being characterized in his birth,
holding onto his brother's heel.
Look at verse number four.
Yea, he had power over the angel.
Again, speaking about Jacob,
what power over the angel?
And prevailed.
So this is about the time when Jacob would wrestle.
Remember that story that he would wrestle?
Let's keep going.
It says he wept and made supplication unto him.
He found him in Bethel.
Bethel means the house of God.
Remember that, Bethel?
And there he spake with us.
And so let's have a look at this story.
If you can keep your finger there
and go to Genesis 32.
Genesis 32, this is when he wrestled.
And the Bible's referring to,
sorry, Hosea's referring to this one
that he wrestled with as an angel.
Now, when we think of angel,
we might think of many things.
We often think about the ministry in spirits.
Maybe the seraphims and the,
what's the other one?
Cherubim, alright, the seraphim and the cherubim.
We think of those as angels.
Sometimes God represents, you know, speaks of men.
You know, men that have passed on as angels.
You know, that's where, you know,
the apostle John in the book of Revelation
came across one of those angels,
which was just a man that was in heaven.
God sometimes refers to angels as pastors,
pastors of a church.
Again, we see that in the book of Revelation.
You know, when you go soul winning,
you're doing the work of an evangelist.
Evangel, angel, evangelist.
You know, you're basically an angel,
because angel means messenger.
That's all it means, okay?
And so when you look at the term angel,
you need to kind of figure out,
well, what is he speaking about, right?
And so we know that he wrestled with this angel,
according to Hosea,
but when we look at Genesis 32 and verse number 24,
Genesis 32, verse 24, it says,
and Jacob was left alone
and there wrestled a man with him
until the break-in of the day.
So according to verse number 24,
who did Jacob wrestle against?
He wrestled against a man, okay?
So we've got a few things here.
We know that he wrestled with, he's an angel,
he's a messenger, he's also a man, okay?
And now drop down to verse number 30.
Genesis 32, verse 30, it says,
and Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,
for I have seen God face to face
and my life is preserved.
So who did he actually wrestle?
Who did he see face to face as he was wrestling?
He saw God, okay?
So we put all these three things together, right?
In Genesis, he wrestled a man, he wrestled God,
in Hosea, he wrestled an angel, okay?
There's only one who's God and man, okay?
That's Jesus Christ, okay?
So the one who's wrestling there in Genesis
is Jesus, hey, he prevailed against Jesus, okay?
It said there in Hosea 12, verse number four,
it says he wept and made supplication unto him.
So this wrestling match represents the supplications.
You know, when we go to pray before the Lord,
we bring our supplications before him.
We bring the things that we need.
And this is what that wrestling match represented.
It represented that he was praying before the Lord.
Yes, there was a physical wrestling match going on, okay?
But he was begging, basically, Jesus Christ to bless him
because he was in a hard time.
You may remember the story.
You know, he was gonna face his brother Esau
and he was concerned that maybe Esau would come
with all these men and kill him and his family.
And no, he prevailed.
You know, God answered his prayers
and he was able to make peace with Esau
and, you know, he didn't end up losing his life
or anything like that.
And so God is referring to Jacob
not only as someone that was born with strength,
the strength of a baby,
but also someone that has strength with God.
He's able to go toe-to-toe with God,
wrestle in prayer and ask God and say,
God, I don't wanna let go of you until you bless me,
until you come and answer my prayers.
We know that prayer is hard.
You know, I mean, you know,
I'm not just talking about praying before the service
or praying before you eat.
That's kind of simple, right?
But if you're spending just an hour of prayer on your own,
that's not easy.
Imagine going all night just praying.
That requires a lot of strength.
And so Jacob has been represented as someone
who has great strength.
Now, if you look at Hosea chapter 12, verse number four,
it also said, and there he spake with us.
And there he spake with us, okay?
He found him in Bethel and there he spake with us.
So God actually spoke to Jacob,
but, and by extension, he's speaking to the nation
of Israel and the nation of Judah, okay?
Now, what is it that God said at Bethel?
Well, again, can you please take your Bibles
and turn to Genesis?
Actually, you go to Acts chapter three.
You go to Acts chapter three for me.
You go to Acts chapter three,
and I'm going to read to you from Genesis 28, verse 12.
You go to Acts chapter three.
I'm reading to you from Genesis 28, verse 12,
which reads, and he dreamed,
and behold, a ladder set up on the earth
and the top of it reached to heaven,
and behold, the angels of God ascending
and descending on it.
You may remember that's when he goes to sleep in Bethel
and God gives him this dream or this vision, right?
And then in verse number 13, it says,
and behold, the Lord stood above it and said,
I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father
and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest,
to thee will I give it and to thy seed.
Now, I want you to notice verse number 14 as I read it.
It says, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth,
and thou shall spread abroad to the west and to the east
and to the north and to the south.
And then God says these words,
and in thee, that's to Jacob, and in Jacob,
thee and in thy seed shall all the families
of the earth be blessed.
Hey, this is what God spoke to Jacob.
Hey, this is what God spoke to all of Israel, okay?
This was for them.
This was an important message that they would be blessed
that all the families of the earth be blessed
because of Abraham, Jacob, yeah, that lineage and that seed.
And we know that seed, you know, is Jesus Christ, okay?
Now, if you can, please go to Acts chapter three,
verse number 25, Acts chapter three, verse number 25
because I don't know what it is, brethren,
but there's just Christians who struggle
with this one simple truth, okay?
They read, Genesis 28, they read this great promise
that all the families of the earth will be blessed
because of Abraham and the seed, okay?
They read this, and then they think,
well, therefore, we must get behind the Jews
and make sure that they get the land that they deserve
because that's where God promised to bless them,
and if we bless them, we're gonna be blessed.
They think the blessing comes from blessing the Jews
who today are ungodly, wicked people
that believe a false religion, and they, Christians,
I'm talking about independent Baptist belief,
if we just go and bless them, then God's gonna bless us,
and that's the blessing that comes
to all the families on the earth, if you bless the Jews.
Is that the blessing that God is speaking about, though?
Well, that's why we turn to Acts chapter three, okay,
verse number 25.
Remember, the New Testament sheds light
on the Old Testament, and in Acts chapter three, verse 25,
it says, ye are the children of the prophets,
and of the covenant which God made with our fathers,
saying unto Abraham, notice this,
and in thy seed shall all the kindreds
of the earth be blessed.
Hey, that's what we read in Genesis, okay?
Instead of kindreds that said families, same thing,
kindreds of your family, but then how is this fulfilled?
What was the fulfillment of this promise?
Verse number 26, it says, unto you first,
God, having raised up his son Jesus,
hey, that's the seed, okay, sent him to bless you.
There's the blessing, to bless you.
Say, what's the blessing?
In turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
The blessing that fell upon all the families,
the promise that God gave Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
which was passed down, that nation was supposed to know
about this, okay, was the blessing of Jesus Christ,
and that through Christ, our iniquities are turned away
from us, they were put on Christ.
He paid for them on the cross for us.
That's the blessing.
It's not bless the ungodly Christ-rejecting Jews
and you're gonna be blessed.
It's about salvation.
It's about what Christ has done for us.
It's why, you know, these things bother me, brethren,
because this is the plan that God had from the beginning,
that Christ would come and turn us away from our sins,
turn us away from our iniquity,
and then my brethren that I love and care about very much,
turn around taking this same promise and say,
well, that's for the Jews.
Bless the Jews and you'll be blessed.
You've gone insane.
You've been influenced by ungodly men, okay?
And this is why we need the ministry of a prophet
to preach the truth against these lies.
And unfortunately, yes,
even these lies creep into good churches.
I'm still gonna call them good churches
because I'm willing to put that aside.
If that's the only thing that is an issue,
as long as they're right on the gospel,
as long as they're saved,
as long as they're doing the works
that God has asked them to do,
I'm gonna say they're a good church.
Because read Revelation.
Read the seven churches in Revelation.
I mean, just about any good church,
any IFB church that's right on the gospel is okay
in comparison to some of those other churches
that God had in Revelation.
But even though the church might be okay,
or considered good, you know,
it doesn't mean that you just put up with the lies, okay?
I mean, a prophet of God is supposed to dig for the truth,
find the truth, and get rid of those lies.
And if, look, if someone is just honestly mistaken,
you know, I believe any pastor that just puts their hand up
and say, look, I was honestly mistaken,
I believe he's gonna have the respect
of the whole congregation.
If he's humble enough to say, look, I was mistaken,
let me just correct this teaching right now,
and let me tell you that the blessing
that was promised to Abraham was the blessing,
was the promise of Jesus Christ.
I think anybody would be like, praise God, okay?
Praise God that I have a pastor
that's willing to put their hand up and be humble enough
and make the corrections needed so we can learn the truth,
rather than being fed lies.
Back to Hosea chapter 12, verse number five.
It says, even the Lord God of hosts,
the Lord is his memorial, speaking about Jacob.
So for Jacob, God was his memorial.
You know, Jacob would basically remember
the great things that God has done for him.
Jacob would remember the great answer to prayer
that God would give him, okay?
But this nation, which was supposed to be
the children of Jacob, they had forgotten
and turned against the Lord, all right?
Look at verse number six, it says,
therefore, turn thou to thy God.
So look, just like Jacob, you know,
had God as his remembrance, you too need to turn toward God,
keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually.
Don't give up on the Lord is the message from Hosea.
I turn back to God, wait on the Lord.
You know, seek the mercy, seek the judgment
of God in your life.
And again, you know, God has just given these nations
another opportunity, you know, another opportunity.
Get right with me.
And we know eventually they got overtaken by the Assyrians.
So then, it's not a waste of a message,
because then we come along, we read these things,
and we better go, hey, you know what,
if I've been far from God, I better turn back to God
and get right with him and have my Lord
as my memorial as well.
I need to keep him in remembrance.
Remember, these things are written for our learning,
for our admonition as well, okay?
Verse number seven, it says, he is a merchant.
Now, I believe this is speaking about Jacob as a nation,
the nation of Israel, okay?
Because this merchant, it's not about God,
because it says, the balances of deceit are in his hand.
He loveth to oppress.
So obviously, we can't refer to God as someone
that has deceit or loves to oppress.
That's not God, okay?
But this is speaking about the nation of Israel, okay?
The nation of Israel has the balances of deceit.
What this is talking about is, instead of dealing honestly,
you know, in their merchandise,
you know, instead of dealing honestly with their buyers
and things like that, you know,
they made their wealth by deceit and oppression, okay?
So in the time of Hosea, again, this nation of Israel
had made their wealth by deceit and oppression.
Look, that sounds a lot like the Jews today.
I mean, it hasn't changed, all right?
It hasn't changed.
I mean, this is still what Jews are known for, okay?
And I'm not talking about even from a church,
I'm just talking about, you know, the nations,
you know, the generations that have gone before,
they recognize that the Jews, they're not honest dealers,
okay, they're not honest merchant men,
they actually use deceit and oppression to make wealth.
This is no secret.
You know, any research, any historical research
on central banks, especially, will uncover the truth
that, look, they're doing the same practices.
They follow the same way.
You know, you turn against the Lord,
the Lord who's given them everything,
you know, has given them profits to preach on the truth,
you turn against them, they're gonna seek after money,
and they're going to do it dishonestly.
But look at verse number eight.
It says, and if we am said, so this is what Israel says,
this is what they're saying about themselves,
he says, yet I am become rich, yeah, I'm rich,
I have found me out substance, but look at this,
in all my labors, they shall find none iniquity in me
that were sinned.
So the prophet is saying, you've made money by deceit
and oppressing people, but the children of Israel go,
no, you're not gonna find any sin in us.
You can go through our records, you're not gonna find
any place that we've wronged anybody, okay?
So look, they're not honest enough to claim,
you know, the sins that they're doing.
They're trying to hide their sins, they're trying to say
that their substance, their increase,
is just by honest dealings.
It's not, okay?
And you know, it's funny because when we think about Jews,
okay, we say, oh man, this is an anti-Semitic sermon.
It's not, okay?
I'm talking about those that believe in a false religion.
I'm talking about Christ rejecting Jews.
I'm not talking about DNA here, okay?
Because listen, if you're a Jew and you believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm not talking about you.
My wife did a DNA test, she's got 1% Jew in her, okay?
So don't tell me I'm anti-Semitic, I married one, okay?
1%, all right, no.
But look, you know, what do they do?
You know, how is it that they've made themselves
so rich and powerful, you know, when they're such
a small minority in the world, you know?
We know about the charging of usury, you know?
We know about the setting up of central banks,
as I mentioned.
We know that they profiteer off war, okay?
That they were profiteering.
We know about the setting up of the entertainment world,
you know, that they're behind the Hollywood movies.
You know, they're behind the music industry, you know?
They're behind the pornography.
They're behind these kinds of entertainment
and things that people love to flock to
and feast their eyes upon and people are willing
to throw money at these things.
Hey, these are wicked and sinful things.
That's how they make the money, okay?
It's deceit, it's wicked, it's sinful, okay?
This is why they're so powerful today.
This is why they have so much influence today.
It's by dishonest means.
And what's funny about this, funny, sad, maybe sad.
What's sad about this, brethren,
is just like in verse number eight, all right?
Sorry, let me read verse number nine, okay?
So why is it that they believe they're rich?
Because in verse number nine they say,
and, so this is something else they're saying,
that, sorry, and I that am the Lord thy God
from the land of Egypt will yet make thee
to dwell in tabernacles as in the days of the solemn feast.
So they're saying that God promised us
that we're just gonna live it up,
that we're gonna be able to feast it up,
we're gonna do so well because we're God's chosen people.
That's why we're rich.
That's why we have so much influence in the world.
That's what they're saying back then.
And you know what?
You come to a Christian, you go to a believer,
people that I know, and you show them the scriptures
that the Jews are not God's chosen people today.
I mean, the fact that they're Christ rejecting
should just tell you they're not God's chosen people.
But they're like, yeah, but can you explain to me, you know?
Why is it that they're so wealthy?
Why is it that they're behind so many banks?
Why is it that they're winning the Nobel Peace Prizes
and they're coming up with all these things
and they've got their hands in Hollywood
and they've got their hands in this business
and they've got their hands there?
Why is it surely you can see how God has blessed them?
That's why they're doing so well.
Has anyone come across that kind of thinking before?
Listen, it's exactly what they said here in Hosea,
chapter 12, okay?
So this is not the thought of a Christian.
This is not something you read the Bible in
and you end up thinking, okay, God has blessed them,
therefore they're in charge of Hollywood.
What kind of blessing is that?
That's a curse, okay?
But they're repeating the same things that they said here.
You know, oh, we're rich, we've done nothing wrong,
God has promised us, he's gonna bless us,
he's gonna give us tabernacles, nice houses,
he's gonna let us feast because we're God's people.
That's what they're still saying today.
And unfortunately, that's what churches
are still saying today, okay?
They've not listened, they've not hearkened
to the prophet Hosea.
Verse number 10.
Then God says this.
I have also spoken by the prophets
and I have multiplied visions.
So we start to see a little bit of a picture
of what God wants from his prophets.
First of all, you can see that God
has multiplied visions to a prophet, okay?
Now, obviously, we don't receive the word of God
by visions today, but we do have the word of God
in our hands and in fact, I can put my vision
upon these words and I can preach God's word
just like any other good prophet could, okay?
But notice it's a multiplied visions.
And so what it's teaching us here
is that the prophet ought to be someone
that is not stuck on one hobby horse, okay?
He's someone that has multiple things
that he can preach about.
He can preach about the church,
he can preach about family, he can preach against sin,
you know, he can preach about maybe finances,
he can preach about several things,
like different little, you know, different topics
and that's what a prophet of God should be like, right?
He's not got one or two hobby horses,
he's someone that God has given multiple visions to
and can preach multiple things.
And then it says, and use similitudes.
What's similitudes?
Well, these are basically illustrations,
things that are similar.
Similitude comes from the word similar, okay?
And so as we've been looking at Hosea,
you know, the prophet Hosea is preaching God's word,
he's describing the nation of Israel
as an unfaithful wife, remember that?
Well, it's not that God was actually married,
this is where people misunderstand as well.
You know, people that believe pastors can get divorced,
you know what they say?
They say because God was divorced.
You know, God divorced Judah, all right?
And so because God's divorced,
surely God's pastors can be divorced.
That shouldn't be a disqualifier for him, okay?
No, it's a similitude.
It's an illustration.
Marriage is between one man and one woman.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother
and cleave unto his wife.
That's what marriage is.
Marriage is not between God and a nation, okay?
But God uses these similitudes,
these illustrations to teach us some spiritual lessons, okay?
And so, you know, when you're reading the Bible,
you gotta be careful.
Don't take everything literally, okay?
Because a prophet uses similitudes, he uses illustrations.
In other words, he tries to make the word of God
easier to understand by showing descriptions and pictures.
You know, Jesus Christ used parables.
You know, these kinds of things will help, you know,
the word of God be easily understood by the hearer.
It says, and then it says by the ministry of the prophets.
By the ministry of the prophets.
So I thought, you know, let's have a look at the prophets.
Let's understand a little bit about the prophets.
Understand this.
Because there are a lot of people that believe
there are no New Testament prophets.
I just told you, I am a prophet.
You know, I'm not ashamed of that, okay?
That's exactly what I am, all right?
But when we think about prophets,
who would you think, just anybody can give me your opinion,
who do you think was the first prophet,
at least the first prophet that's mentioned in the Bible?
Does anyone want to give me their opinion?
Yeah, Callum?
Abel?
Oh, not bad.
Yeah, brother?
John the Baptist, the first prophet?
All right.
Well, if you can please keep your finger there
and go to the book of Jude.
Go to the book of Jude.
And I might be wrong, okay?
I was kind of looking, okay, who is the first person,
I'm not saying who necessarily was the first prophet,
I'm saying who was the first person
that is referred to as a prophet in the Bible?
Hey, maybe we'll be able.
Because his blood, right, testifies on things of God.
But anyway, I wanted to look at Jude 13.
Jude, verse number 13, Jude verse number 13.
Speaking about false prophets, it says,
raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame,
wandering stars to whom is reserved
the blackness of darkness forever.
So these are about reprobate false prophets.
But then look at verse number 14.
And Enoch also, so I'd say it's Enoch, okay?
And Enoch also, the seven from Adam prophesied of these.
So you can see a prophet is someone that prophesies, okay?
So this was the first mention that I could see
of a man who was prophesying or caught a prophet, okay?
But what did he prophesy of?
He just told us that he, sorry, prophesied of these.
Prophesied of what?
Of false prophets, okay?
The first guy that's being referred to as a prophet here,
what was he preaching?
He was preaching against false prophets.
He was preaching against the lies of the day
that was being preached by other people, okay?
He prophesied of these.
And then it says, saying,
behold, the Lord cometh with 10,000 of saints.
So he also preached about the end times.
But then what about the coming of Christ
was he focused on, verse number 15,
to execute judgment upon all
and to convince all that are ungodly among them
of all their ungodly deeds
which they have ungodly committed
and of all their hard speeches
which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
So Enoch comes on the scene.
He starts preaching against the false prophet
and says, you know what?
When Christ comes, he's gonna judge you, okay?
When Christ comes, you're gonna be,
you've got the eternal darkness reserved forever, okay?
So I like that about him
because we see that, yeah,
he's a man who lives in a time of lies
and he preaches the truth.
Hey, he's a man that preaches the judgment of God.
Hey, there was a misunderstanding
of what the judgment of God is
and that's exactly what he's preaching.
He's preaching the truth.
He's preaching the judgment of God, okay?
He's preaching against sin.
All right, now, who do you think
was the last Old Testament prophet?
Last Old Testament prophet.
Does anyone wanna give me their opinion?
This one's a bit easier, I think, should be.
Yes, Hayden?
Malachi, well, I see why you said that.
Yes, Matthew?
John the Baptist, okay?
Not the first, the last Old Testament prophet.
So can you please go to Matthew 11, verse number nine,
Matthew 11, verse number nine.
Matthew chapter 11 and verse number nine.
Now, the reason I'm going through this
is because I had this misunderstanding
at some point in time.
I had a misunderstanding that the prophets
were just Old Testament, okay?
Or before the Old Testament.
I had this understanding.
I don't know why, I don't know where he came from,
but I realized that actually quite a few Christians
actually believe this.
They actually believe that there are no such things
as New Testament prophets, but it's so easy to debunk.
Like, I don't know why people think that.
I thought that, but anyway, you know,
Matthew 11, verse nine, the words of Jesus Christ.
But what went ye out for to see?
A prophet?
Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.
Again, speaking of John the Baptist here.
He says, for this is he of whom it is written,
behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women,
they have not risen greater than John the Baptist.
Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he.
Now look at verse number 12.
Oh, it's really 13.
It says, and from the days of John the Baptist until now,
the kingdom of heaven suffered violence,
and the violent take it by force.
And then it says this, for all the prophets and the law
prophesied until John.
Until John.
So John is the last of all the prophets and the law.
So when the Bible speaks about the law here,
we know that's talking about the old covenant.
It's talking about the Old Testament.
And so all the Old Testament prophets were basically,
they all ended at John.
John is the last Old Testament prophet, okay?
Because we know when Christ came and he died on the cross,
the death of the testator, he brought in the new covenant.
He brought in the New Testament.
Now some people, I was actually thinking
maybe someone would say that Jesus was the Old Testament,
last Old Testament prophet, okay?
Now I've come across recently
and I wanna preach against this so badly,
but now's not the time,
but I've come across recently that what Jesus taught us
in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is not for us.
That's for the Jews.
The only thing that's for us brethren,
according to these people, is what Paul wrote.
Just the epistles of Paul, that's it.
Not even what John wrote, not even what Peter wrote,
just what Paul wrote.
Just ridiculous, all right?
And so the idea there is that Jesus,
well, we know when Jesus was walking the earth,
most of his time, his ministry, before he died,
yeah, he was living in Old Testament times
because he hadn't yet died.
So we know he's living in a time that is,
yeah, he's got to interact and deal with
the Old Testament practises and the laws
that were put in place.
But you know the New Testament,
that these stories of Jesus, what he said,
was not recorded until the New Testament.
So like everything Jesus taught, right?
If you read it, all right, you read it basically
after Jesus died, so you read it during
the New Testament times, but it's actually not for you.
Like you missed out, that was before the New Testament.
But that doesn't make any sense.
What's the point of writing that then?
If it's not gonna benefit anybody, okay?
So what about Jesus?
Was Jesus a prophet?
Well, we know he's God, and we know that God
uses his prophet to speak his word.
So Jesus Christ is God, but yeah, you know what?
The Bible also refers to Jesus as a prophet.
Can you please turn to, I'll get to go to Acts chapter three,
Acts chapter three, Acts chapter three.
And as I was thinking about this,
I was thinking about the woman at the well,
remember the Samaritan woman at the well?
And she says these words in John 4.19.
The woman saith unto him, sir, I perceive
that thou art a prophet.
You may remember those words from the woman.
I perceive that thou art a prophet.
You might say, yeah, but that's her opinion.
She doesn't realize that he's actually the Lord God
manifesting the flesh.
Well, yeah, I understand that, but there's a reason
why the Holy Ghost recorded this for us as well, all right?
Now, you're in Acts chapter three, verse number 20,
and before we read that, I'm going to read to you
from Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 17.
Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 17.
It says, and the Lord said unto me,
that's the Lord said unto Moses,
they have well spoken that which they have spoken.
Then it says this, this is what God says to Moses.
It says, I will raise them up a prophet
from among their brethren, like unto thee.
A prophet just like you, Moses, okay?
And will put my words in his mouth,
and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him,
and it shall come to pass that whosoever
will not hearken unto my words,
which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
Now, I remember as a child reading this for the first time,
and I just met, that's Jesus.
This prophet that God is speaking about,
that's gotta be Jesus, all right?
That's what I thought, but you know what?
Some people actually argue that.
They say, well, that's just some other prophet.
Could be Elijah, and it could just be anybody,
but then you got Acts chapter three, verse number 20,
Acts chapter three, remember New Testament times now, right?
Acts chapter three, verse 20, it says,
and he shall send Jesus Christ,
which before was preached unto you,
whom the heaven must receive until the times
of restitution of all things,
which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets,
since the word began.
For Moses truly said unto the fathers,
that's what Moses said, truly said,
a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you
of your brethren, like unto me,
him shall ye hear in all things
whatsoever he shall say unto you,
and it shall come to pass that every soul
which will not hear that prophet
shall be destroyed from among the people.
Okay, so what do we learn there?
That the New Testament is teaching us
that what God told Moses, right, in Jeremiah 18
was about Jesus Christ, was that the father
would send the son, and so you can see
that God has no problem referring to Jesus Christ
as a prophet, okay, Jesus Christ as a prophet.
Now, you're still there in Acts chapter three,
look at verse number 24,
because I want you to think about this.
It says, yay, and all the prophets from Samuel
and those that follow after, as many as have spoken,
have likewise foretold of these days.
Hey, what is the job of all the prophets?
To preach unto you Jesus Christ.
That's what a true prophet will do.
They will glorify Jesus Christ,
they will uphold Jesus Christ.
That's what a true prophet of God will do.
A false prophet, and I'm not here
to preach about false prophets today,
but a false prophet will edify himself, okay?
That's what they do.
They love to boast of themselves, okay?
But a true prophet of God is there to testify,
to speak about what Jesus Christ has done.
Now, you might say, well, what about
the New Testament prophets?
And I'm just gonna rattle these off to you.
You know, in Acts chapter 11, verse 27,
it says, and in these days came prophets,
prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.
That's from the Jerusalem church to the Antioch church.
Guess what the church has had?
Prophets, okay?
Acts 13, verse one.
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch
certain prophets and teachers.
So the church at Antioch had prophets.
Acts 15, verse 32.
And Judas and Silas, we know these are guys
that started New Testament churches.
It says, being prophets also themselves
exhorted the brethren with many words and confirmed them.
So what is another job that we see of the prophets?
To exhort the brethren, all right?
To lift you up, to build you up.
That's my job, to exhort you, to build you up
with knowledge, to build you up
in your love toward the Lord.
It says in Acts 21, verse 10.
And as we tarried them many days,
they came from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus.
Another prophet there.
Now I'm going to read to you from 1 Corinthians 12, 28.
It says, and God have set some in the church,
first apostles, secondarily prophets,
thirdly teachers, after that miracles,
then gifts of healings,
helps governments, diversities of tongues.
But you'd see that God has set prophets,
hey, what does prophet mean again?
To prophesy, to proclaim, to preach God's word.
Now, can you please actually turn to 1 Corinthians 14.
1 Corinthians 14, verse 37.
Because if you go to a Pentecostal church right now,
you know, if you spent this Wednesday night
at some charismatic church,
and they get their prophet to come up,
what are they going to say to you?
What are they going to say?
I mean, I've been in those churches maybe less than five,
I can probably count on my hand
how many times I've been in one of those churches.
But for some of you that came out of those churches,
you know the kind of, I was going to say crap,
can I say that?
You know the kind of crap that comes out of their mouths.
All right?
But 1 Corinthians 14, verse 37 says this.
If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual,
let him acknowledge that the things that are right unto you
are the commandments of the Lord.
So what does the prophet, what is his job?
What is the job of a prophet?
Okay, to acknowledge the things that are right unto you
are the commandments of the Lord.
The prophet's job is to teach this word.
That's the prophet's job, to take what is written
and say, hey, these are the commandments of God,
you better do them.
You know, you want to live a godly, righteous life,
do the commandments, these are the commandments,
let me teach you the commandments of God.
Let me teach you what God wants in your life.
That's what a prophet does.
But these prophets in his other,
oh man, I just saw a vision, you know?
I just saw a unicorn walk in the background there.
That must represent that we're just about to be blessed.
Raise your hands right now, catch the blessing of God.
Come on, raise your hands, everyone.
And you know, the music starts playing.
I don't know, I'm probably being, I don't know.
It's something like that, it's something like that, okay?
No, no, the prophet's job, the spiritual prophet,
the true prophet of God is to proclaim God's word.
Okay, to acknowledge these things
are the commandments of God.
Okay, that's what a prophet does.
Acts chapter 10, Acts chapter 10 for me, please.
Acts chapter 10, verse 43.
While you turn to Acts 10, I'm going to read to you
from Revelation 19, verse 10, Revelation 19, verse 10.
It says, and I fell at his feet to worship him.
And he said unto me, see thou do it not,
for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren
that have the testimony of Jesus worship God.
And it says this, for the testimony of Jesus
is the spirit of prophecy.
What is the spirit of prophecy?
It's the testimony of Jesus.
A true prophet, if he's got the spirit of prophecy in him,
he's going to testify of Christ.
He's gonna tell you, look, pay attention to Jesus.
Do what he says, live the way he wants you to live.
That's the spirit of prophecy, okay?
It's not, oh man, I saw a vision.
And I got this once, okay, I went to this church
and I got a prophet to pray over me or something.
And he says, I saw a vision, you're gonna have
hundreds of thousands of people listening to you on,
you know, you're gonna be preaching God's word.
I'm thinking, man, when's that gonna take place?
Well, the church is growing, praise God,
but I don't know if we're gonna get to
hundreds of thousands at New Life Baptist Church.
Hope so, hope so, okay?
But you know, that's the kind of crap, okay?
That's the kind of nonsense that they cover.
No, we gotta testify, it's a testimony of Jesus.
Sorry, where did I get you to turn?
Acts 10, Acts 10, 43, Acts 10, 43.
What else are prophets of God, true prophets?
How do you know a true prophet of God?
Verse number, chapter 10, verse number 43.
To him give all the prophets witness
that through his name whosoever believeth in him
shall receive remission of sins.
How do you know a true prophet?
Well, first of all, he's gotta be someone that says,
hey, you wanna have your sins forgiven?
You want remission of sins?
It's by believing in Jesus.
A true prophet preaches salvation in Christ alone
and by faith alone.
It's only in Jesus, believing in Jesus Christ.
That's gonna give you remission of sins.
So if they're telling you,
ah, you gotta turn from your sins,
ah, you gotta get baptized,
they're telling you, ah, you gotta keep the commandments,
okay, hey, you can mark it down straight away, false prophet.
I don't have to tell this church, you know that, okay?
But there's a verse right there.
That's what all the prophets did.
They said, hey, you wanna get saved?
You wanna have your sins forgiven?
Just believe in Jesus.
It's faith alone and what Christ has done for you.
That's it, okay?
That's what a true prophet will preach, okay?
Elevate Jesus Christ.
Back to Hosea, chapter 12, verse 11.
Verse 11, it says, is there inequity in Gilead?
Surely they are vanity.
They sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal.
Yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field.
And Jacob fled into the country of Syria,
and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife,
for a wife who kept sheep.
I want you to notice verse number 13, though.
It says, and by a prophet,
the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt,
and by a prophet was he preserved.
So what is a prophet that brought Israel out of Egypt?
We know it's Moses, okay?
So Moses was a prophet that brought them out of Egypt.
Remember what I told you, that Egypt represents the world,
or Egypt represents your unsaved state, as it were, okay?
This is, and by a prophet was he preserved.
So Moses' job as well wasn't just to deliver them
out of Egypt, but to preserve the nation,
preserve the people.
That's why God had him to, you know,
the Ten Commandments and the five books of the Bible,
the first five books of the Bible.
You know, these were instructions for the nations,
that they can live a life that would preserve them.
They would be right with God.
This is the job of a prophet, okay?
Number one, to get people saved.
You know, the deliverance out of Egypt
represents salvation, remember?
It was the Passover, it was the blood of the lamb, okay?
And all that, that's similitudes, they're pictures,
illustrations of what Christ would do.
And so as the Israelites came out of Egypt,
that pictured salvation, okay?
But not only that, once they were saved, now what?
Well now let's get the commandments of God, right?
They entered into that old covenant, you know,
and God told them how to live,
God told them how to be a righteous nation,
and that would preserve them.
That is the job of a prophet,
not just to preach the gospel and get people saved,
but to teach things that'll preserve the people of God.
Okay, so it's a two-fold ministry.
Get people saved and teach them all the things we need
in the word of God to be preserved.
You know, in James chapter one, verse 27,
sorry, sorry, wrong passage.
First Thessalonians 5, 23, it says,
and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,
and I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body
be preserved, blameless,
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That is the job of a prophet, okay?
To help you, to encourage you to live a life
that'll keep, you know, if you live your life
how God wants you, it's gonna preserve your soul,
your spirit, your body, right?
Instead of giving your body over to fornication,
adultery, things that'll destroy your body,
and it'll keep it safe,
keep it safe from those sinful things, right?
It'll keep you, you know,
preserved at the coming of Jesus Christ.
Because when Jesus Christ comes back,
we want him to say those words
to our good and faithful servant.
We want him to be pleased.
We want him to find New Life Baptist Church,
blameless, preserved, right?
Physically, and the soul and the spirit,
all these things are preserved blameless.
But we can only do this by following the commandments,
you know, doing the things that God has asked us to do.
I'm not talking about salvation here.
Of course we know salvation is your position.
That never changes.
It's imputed righteousness of Christ.
I'm talking about our walk.
I'm talking about our works,
the things that we do for the Lord, right?
In order for him to reward us in his coming,
in his second coming.
All right, can you please go back to Hosea?
Oh, I think you're already there.
12, verse number 14.
Hosea 12, 14.
It says, Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly.
Now, I'm not sure, brethren,
I'll just be honest with you,
I'm not sure if the him in verse number 14
is referring to God or Moses, okay?
Because in verse number 13, remember it says,
and by a prophet, the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt.
So the him might be Moses, because we know, yeah,
Israel or Ephraim did provoke him to anger.
In fact, the reason why Moses
did not go into the promised land,
remember he struck that rock twice, okay?
And you know, there were times that he was angry
with the nation that he was leading, okay?
So it might be Moses, but it might be the Lord.
It might be referring to the Lord here.
But either way, whatever view you have on that verse there,
on the word in there, basically,
you know, let's say it is the Lord, right?
Ephraim has provoked him or God to anger most bitterly.
It's because they did not hearken to the prophets.
It's because they did not listen to Moses, okay?
So whether it's Moses that got angry,
or whether it's God that got angry,
it's because they did not listen
to the preaching of the prophets, okay?
They came out of Egypt.
What are they doing?
Complaining, ah, you know, out here in the wilderness,
it would've been better if we just were back in Egypt, okay?
Hey, these things provoke God's anger, all right?
Whining, complaining, murmuring, you know?
I mean, God, we know the story of Israel.
God brought judgment upon them so many times, okay?
Why?
Because they did not listen to the prophets, okay?
They disregarded the prophet.
They did not honor the prophet.
They did not honor the message.
Now, can you please turn to Matthew chapter 10?
We're gonna end on this one.
Matthew chapter 10 and verse number 40.
So, you know, I am a New Testament prophet.
I am preaching you the word of God.
I do uphold Jesus Christ, okay?
That's my task, that's my job, all right?
And so what I'm trying to say to you, brethren, is,
and this, you know, I don't wanna say these words, okay?
But, you know, be thankful.
Be thankful that you have a pastor.
That loves this church.
Be thankful that I'm willing to fly up here, all right?
Or when the reverse was, I was thankful to them
that I was able to fly down to Sydney.
Now, these things aren't easy to do.
It takes up a lot of time, you know?
It's physically draining.
It can be mentally draining a little bit as well.
And I'm not saying this because,
oh man, I'm so good, I'm so special.
Pay attention to me, brethren.
Don't be like the Israelites who didn't listen to Moses.
No, it's for your good.
It's so that you would be preserved.
You're saved, praise God that you're saved.
But I want you to be preserved for the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, okay?
You know, it's for your prophet to listen to the preacher,
to listen to the pastor, to listen to the prophet
as they preach the word of God to you.
Matthew chapter 10, verse number 40.
Matthew chapter 10, verse number 40, it says,
he that receiveth you receiveth me, words of Jesus.
And he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
Then it says in verse number 41,
he that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet
shall receive a prophet's reward.
And he that receiveth a righteous man
in the name of a righteous man
shall receive a righteous man's reward.
You know what we're commanded to do, brethren?
We're commanded to receive the people of God.
And if we receive the people of God,
people that are saved, brethren,
you know what, we're generous, we're hospitable to them,
we show them that we love them.
You know what, God says that I'm gonna reward you, okay?
I'm going to receive you.
And if you receive, if I receive Jesus,
you're gonna definitely be received by the Father.
I mean, that's an exciting time, right?
Think about every time you receive your brethren.
You know, you show them love, you show them care.
You know, you've encouraged them.
That's gonna be somehow rewarded to be shown, you know,
when you appear before the Lord God, all right?
But then it says there, he that receiveth a prophet
in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.
Right, so, you know, there's a reward for a prophet.
You know, God's gonna reward the work that we do
when we prophesy, when we proclaim God's word.
But you know what, there are some people that are,
for whatever reason, unqualified to be prophets,
maybe unqualified to be a pastor one day.
Hey, maybe you're a lady.
You'll never be a pastor, okay?
But you want a prophet's reward?
You wanna get the same reward a pastor will get?
All you have to do is receive him.
What a promise.
What a great thing, you know, that any of us
can receive a prophet's reward
so long as we receive the prophet.
So what I'm telling you, this, you know,
telling you, brethren, is when a prophet gets
behind the pulpit and preaches you the word of God,
hey, receive the message.
Receive the message, okay?
Don't be like, you know, I'm not so keen on this preacher.
I'm not keen on that one.
Pastor Kevin, oh man, I wish there was
someone else this Wednesday, right?
Receive the word of God.
It's going to preserve you, okay?
But also, be hospitable, right?
I mean, and I thank you guys.
You know, I've had many of you guys say,
hey, if you need a place to stay on a Wednesday night,
come and stay at my house.
I'm actually quite comfortable here, to be honest.
But anyway, hey, you know what?
That love, that hospitality, God's gonna reward you.
The same reward that I get for coming here
to preach to you guys, you're gonna be rewarded
the same thing for having that heart toward a prophet, right?
And so again, it's not about me, it's about you.
I want you to be rewarded by God.
I want you to be preserved blameless
at the second coming of Christ.
I want you to be rewarded handsomely.
And the way you do that, brethren,
is by listening to the ministry of the prophet, you know?
Give the prophet some honor, some respect, okay?
You know, it's not always an easy job.
It may seem easy, but it's not, okay?
And you know, we can touch upon these things
in some other sermon.
But brethren, you know, God has given us,
in the Old Testament, also in the New Testament,
prophets, this ministry, to serve the body.
We know the church, to serve the body of Christ.
You know, be thankful for the men, not just one man,
for the several men that we have in this church
that get up here and partake in this ministry.
Okay, let's pray.