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We're starting a brand new book this evening and of course we finished 1st and 2nd Corinthians and so I thought it fitting to go into the Old Testament and choose a book out of there. And so we will be in Hosea for the next 14 weeks and so look down at your Bibles, well let me give you an introduction first and foremost, let me give you just some ground work as far as the book of Hosea is concerned. Of course as I mentioned it's compiled to 14 chapters and Hosea is actually known as one of the minor prophets. Now when you hear that term minor prophets don't think that that means that God thinks anything less of the prophets and the minor prophets than those in the major prophets. You see the Bible is actually categorized in such a way to help us to basically identify where certain events are, certain rules, commandments, stories are. You have the first five books of the Bible that Moses wrote, then you have what's called the historical books. After the historical books you have the poetical books such as Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Solomon, you have the major prophets such as Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel and then you have the minor prophets. And what is the difference between the minor and the major prophets is simply this, the minor prophets are shorter books than those in the major prophets. And some books are so short it's like just a chapter long like Obadiah and some of these other books in the minor prophets but the minor prophets begin with Hosea and then they finish off in Malachi. Of course we understand as I mentioned that the major prophets have to do with Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. Now here's the interesting thing that the book of Hosea actually has 14 chapters whereas the book of Daniel who's in the major prophets has 12 chapters. You say well why would they not put Daniel with the minor prophets? Well the reason for that is because Daniel actually has 359 verses so there's actually more content within the book of Daniel than there is in Hosea because Hosea has a little over 150 verses. So though it has more chapters, as far as a whole it has far less verses than those in the major prophets. And so just to give you some groundwork there, the book of Hosea was actually written during the northern kingdom's decline. When I'm referring to the northern kingdom I'm explicitly talking about Israel. Now if you remember if you read the Old Testament you come across basically that there was a time when Israel was just a united kingdom. It was a united kingdom under Saul, it was a united kingdom under David, it was a united kingdom under Solomon but then Solomon had a son named Rehoboam and under Rehoboam's rule the kingdom was split. Ten tribes of Israel went to the north and were under the leadership of Rehoboam, two tribes stayed in Judah. You have the northern kingdom which is Israel with the capital being Samaria and then you have the southern kingdom referring to Judah which obviously we understand that the capital there would be Jerusalem. Now it never changed after that. Once the kingdom split it stayed split. They never reunited ever again. In fact when you start reading in the New Testament you confirm that to be true simply for the fact that when Jesus Christ commissions his apostles to go out and preach the gospel he says go into the house of Israel and don't go into the way of the Samaritans which is the capital of Israel in the Old Testament. And so even Jesus Christ himself did not consider anybody who was in Samaria as being part of Israel. In fact these kingdoms will never reunite until the millennial reign. And you have all the tribes of those who were saved in the Old Testament reunite within the millennial reign but we're talking about saved people. So when you look at both of these kingdoms it becomes very apparent that although they both had their share of bad kings the majority of the bad kings and the wicked kings came from Israel. Now Judah didn't have all good kings but for the majority of them they were good kings. Whereas Israel was just like wicked king after wicked king after wicked king after wicked king. So they became basically they had this stigma of just becoming polluted with idolatry with just learning the way of the heathen getting away from God and therefore God would have to bring punishment upon Israel over and over again because they got away from God. And this is where basically where we're at right here in the book of Hosea. God is sending Hosea to preach against Israel. Now look down at your Bibles at verse number one it says here the word of the Lord that came into Hosea the son of Beorai in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, excuse me can someone turn off the heater? I'm like burning up over here and I'm sure everyone's going to start falling asleep so I'm getting a little too comfortable here. It says the word of the Lord that came into Hosea the son of Beorai in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah kings of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel. So let me clarify some things in regards to verse number one and specifically in regards to the timing of Hosea's ministry because it says here that he begins to preach in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah these are four kings found on the southern kingdom which is Judah but then it refers to Jeroboam referring to the king in Israel. Now this Jeroboam that he's writing about is not referring to the Jeroboam that was ruling in contrast to Rehoboam when the kingdoms first split. We would think that because they have the same exact name but the reason we know it's not that king is because it's specifically referring to the fact that he was the son of Joash. Now Joash is the one who came before Jeroboam but not only that he was the eleventh king after Jeroboam the one who reigned when the kingdom split, yeah when the kingdom split and the ten tribes went north, two stayed in the south. The eleventh one after that was Joash and then after Joash was Jeroboam. We could call him Jeroboam the second in other words. So this is not referring to that person. Look at verse number two. And by the way this is important because he specifically refers to those four kings and if you actually study the lives of these four kings three of them were pretty good, one of them was really bad which is Ahaz. And there's a specific reason why Ahaz is being mentioned in this passage because of some of the events that are going to take place and why God is judging Israel and we'll see in just a bit. Look at verse number two. It says here the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea and the Lord said to Hosea go and take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms for the land hath committed great whoredom departing from the Lord. I mean the whoredoms all around. He's not sparing, he's not using any synonyms. He's not using any other words to try to describe, he's not grabbing a thesaurus to figure out what's another way to say whore, he's just saying look it's just whoredoms. So God rolls into this command along with the comparison. I mean the book just starts, look this is when he's preaching and this is my command to him. Now let me read that again it says the Lord said to Hosea go and take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms for the land hath committed great whoredoms departing from the Lord. Let me start off by saying that I believe that this is a command that was very unique to Hosea okay and should not be mirrored in our lives all right and you know you say well that's obvious but I just need to make that clear okay. Now look I'm not saying that a whore someone just sleeps around an abuser of themselves with mankind then they defile themselves with mankind I'm not saying that they can't get saved and just live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord find a great husband and just live happily ever after in the Lord okay. But a man should not be seeking a whore to marry. I mean the Bible tells us in first Corinthians 6 9 know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abuses themselves with mankind and then when we skip down to verse 15 it says know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot. What's a harlot? It's a whore. But know ye not that that which is joined to a harlot is one body for to saith he shall be one flesh but he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. So obviously there's a great you know God is basically saying hey don't be joined into a harlot don't be joined into an unclean woman why because she's been sleeping around you know and you know we the best place to find a spouse is in church amen. But even within church you need to make sure that you are discerning who you would want to marry because whoever you marry you're going to be with for the rest of your life. So take these things into account but I believe that this specific command that he gave to Hosea was specifically for Hosea okay. Now in the Old Testament why is that because in the Old Testament God would often have the prophets take these extreme measures to basically illustrate a spiritual point I mean you have Ezekiel eating cow muffins cow dung muffins you know preaching on his side for a certain amount of days and preaching on his other side for a certain amount of days you have Isaiah you know preaching in the nude and all these things things that God would not require of us he did require of them and it was unique to them for a specific ministry for a specific sermon okay. So I don't think these are things that we should mirror in our lives and don't allow these things to cause you to stumble when you read them and say man is God contradicting himself. It's just it's just unique to that person not a different dispensation unique to that person and look even in the New Testament we will see unique events take place that will probably won't take place today we don't know. For example in first Corinthians chapter 10 we read about Moses or excuse me Paul speaking about how God killed thousands of people because of fornication. Now does that mean that every single person that commits fornication is just going to drop dead? No but you know what we shouldn't take the risk. We see Ananias and Sapphira dying because they chose not to give the money right? Is that going to happen to every person who doesn't tithe? It'd be good but you don't know it's probably not it's very unique to that specific situation I'm not saying God won't do it but we obviously understand that God is not saying hey thou shall tithe or I shall kill you right that was specific for that story for that event to basically instill fear within the hearts of the people of the Lord and so we see that this is a specific task that Hosea has to marry a whore and take upon himself children of whoredoms. Now what I believe that's actually referring to the fact is that she's had bastard children and he's basically adopting those bastard children upon unto himself he's not only marrying her he's also becoming a father of these bastard children that's what that's referring to and the reason he's doing this is because he's using a literal whore to simulate Israel's whoredom of idolatry. By the way that goes to show you that God takes the sin of idolatry very serious even to the point that he would compare it to a whore just sleeping around you're like man that's that's kind of extreme well that's as extreme as he wants it to be so don't ever think that you know idolatry is not that bad no it's so wicked God would compare it to a whore that's just sleeping around with a bunch of guys departing from God to serve false gods and in fact we see later on in chapter two that Israel is actually worse than a prostitute why because a prostitute gets paid for being a whore Israel is not only doing it for free Israel is actually paying to be a prostitute because the Bible tells us in chapter two that Israel is giving gold and silver and treasures unto Baal what is that a picture they're basically giving money to be a whore is what they're saying so this is like worse than a prostitute this person is actually these people are actually paying to become whorish and unclean and vile in the sight of God and so we see that there go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 10 1st Corinthians chapter number 10 hold your place there in Hosea go to 1st Corinthians chapter 10 I'll read to you from James chapter 4 where it says here in verse number 4 ye adulterers and adulteresses knowing not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God look at verse number 6 of 1st Corinthians chapter number 10 it says now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted neither be idolaters as were some of them as it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play and the only phrase that's missing there to help you to understand what they're playing is whoredoms to play the harlot to play the whores what that's referring to skip down to verse 13 there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it wherefore my dearly beloved flee from idolatry so not only tells us to flee from fornication it said hey you need to flee from idolatry as well thou shall have no other gods before me and look that's applicable especially in the month of December isn't it right where we're supposed to be celebrating celebrated the birth of Christ the fact that salvation was born as a man the word was made flesh and dwelt among us we beheld his glory as if the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth but what does it become idolatrous manger scenes you know you have Santa Claus on every corner always Satan Claus is his name I mean think about it you know you better watch out you better not cry you better not pal I'm telling you why Jesus Christ is coming he knows when you are sleeping he knows when you're awake that's a pervert so they're likening this guy to someone who has this omniscience and uh yeah this omniscience to basically know when you're good and when you're bad you know that's wicked that's idolatry oh you're just exaggerating the Bible tells us keep yourselves from idols so take the Santa Claus out of your house jolly old fat Saint Nick and burn them because it's idolatry Satan Claus manger scenes elf on a shelf that queer faggoty looking elf that people put on their shelf that's supposed to stay for X amount of days or whatever and they bring cookies and all that's idolatry they feed the stinkin thing what what what difference is there from what people used to do in the Old Testament they're offering food to these I mean these same people who are Christians who are partaking in this will go sowing knock on the door and make fun of a Buddhist for offering oranges to some I don't these guys are I you're well you got elf on the shelf fag on the shelf queer little elf on the shelf and you're worshiping that thing for an entire month so you know this is applicable to us today keep yourself from idols and making sure that we're we're staying away from that stuff because it's not pleasing unto the Lord go back to Hosea you know these idols will make a whore out of you bottom line oh you know my kids they just like elf on the shelf and you know they put the pictures oh he's leaving this clue for him I don't even know how it works it's like that's idolatry that's major idolatry well look at verse number three so so that's that's the beginning of the chapter he's it take unto you a wife of whoredom so he goes and he marries a woman who's a whore who has bastard children and he's just being obedient to the Lord to basically symbolize the condition the spirit can spiritual condition that Israel is in in the sense that Israel the northern kingdom has given themselves have given themselves over to idolatrous practices and there's nothing new under the Sun I mean they've been doing this for years and years and years look at verse number three it says so he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblem which conceived and bear him a son and the Lord sent him call his name Jezreel for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel it shall come to pass at that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel so now we see like an interesting portion of scripture right here that's it's almost cryptic because you don't necessarily know why this is taking place but he talks about Jezreel and if you study what Jezreel is it's simply a city within the nation of Israel okay and he says I'm gonna avenge Jezreel upon the house the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu now another thing that we that I want to get into before I explain what that means is that God will often use names to basically illustrate a spiritual condition or to foretell of a coming event or something that has already taken place so he says look name on Jezreel because Jezreel I'm gonna basically avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu that entire definition is what Jezreel means and he's saying look I want you to name this child Jezreel because this is what I'm gonna do to this place okay and he says for you a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel now here's the interesting thing because here's the question who is Jehu right and why is God bringing vengeance upon his house now look if you have read the Old Testament you have to have remembered Jehu he's a very memorable character in the Old Testament in fact I'll be honest he's one of my favorite characters in the Old Testament now he screws up and at the latter end of his life we're gonna look that tonight but man he's in my opinion he's one of the most hardcore guys in the Bible it's very zealous now he was not a king of Judah he was actually anointed by Elisha to be the king of Israel so he's actually one of the good kings of Israel though he finished his and the end of his life did not finish well the vast majority of his life he was just executing righteousness upon righteousness on the enemies of God okay we're gonna look at a couple of those passages tonight go to 2nd Kings chapter 10 2nd Kings chapter 10 so we're gonna look at some of the things that he did and you wonder like man this guy was righteous he was zealous he did so well why is God saying that he's gonna avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu you see Jehu did not start off as a king in fact he started off as a captain and I'm just gonna give you a brief synopsis of his ministry okay Elisha comes God says hey anoint this guy to be king and command him to basically destroy the house of Ahab all right Ahab obviously one of the one of the kings of Israel very wicked his wife was Jezebel which we obviously understand is a very wicked woman we won't get into all their history so he goes to Jehu he anoints him king and Jehu's like you know who you looking for and they're like we're looking for Jehu he's like I'm right here the anointing he's like this is God's command here's your commission go execute it and right away I mean this guy has immediate obedience just goes right into work he doesn't wait a month he doesn't pray about it he's not like well let me see if the scriptures are so about this subject no he just he receives the word of the Lord and he just goes to work by the way that's a great attitude to have when it comes to commandments of God is that once we hear something whether from a sermon or in our personal Bible reading that we don't delay to obey by the way delayed obedience is disobedience okay don't delay don't say well I'm gonna implement that in my life next year you know 2019 it's only a couple weeks from now no do it now you know don't wait till tomorrow to start reading your Bible don't wait till tomorrow to obey the command to get sin out of your life do it now as soon as you're anointed with the power of the Holy Ghost upon your life you know go put in work go do what you're supposed to do so he raises him up to basically execute this he goes out first and foremost he just gets rid of Jorah Jorah which is the the present king of Israel at that time goes there and it's just like the guy's like are you coming in peace he's just like there is no peace and the guy and then Jorah looks at a Isaiah which is the king of Judah he's like treachery let's get out of here this guy's coming to kill us because obviously now J who is the king so now he's usurping the king leak the kingly leadership of Jorah and he's like treachery so they start taking he's like go ahead and run but I got a bow and arrow and he's just like boom just kills him right then and there so he takes out Jerome which is wicked then he takes out a Haziah the king of Judah then he's not done there yet I mean his ministry is just flourishing at this point he goes to Jezebel that wicked woman and just just keep this in mind God hated Jezebel he pronounced judgment upon he's like the dogs are gonna lick your blood woman you know and he completes that prophecy through J who J who goes he he he rides there you know Jezebel sees him from the balcony and what does the Bible say she paints on her face I mean you just picture what that means you know just slaps on a grip a grip of makeup to basically try to flatter J who and she's like you know trying to try to flatter him with the words he just ignores her and tells the eunuchs next to her hey if you're with me throw her down throw her down she just splatters don't he grabs his horse and starts trampling on her you know and then the dogs eat her and the only thing that's left is like her hands on her feet or something like that you know that put that off the checklist the check that off the task list you know I love task list it's just like I'm done for this I'm done with this and you just at the end of the day you have a bunch of X's of the things you have to do well that's what he's doing he's just like all right took care of Jerome as I a Jezebel but then he goes after the 70s descendants of Ahab because remember he's there to basically kill the destroy the house of Ahab what is he referring to his sons 70 of them and he basically gets them all executed they chop off all their heads throw them over the wall and everything like that but here's my favorite one out of all his task list because the major enemy of the land was who is bail so they have all these bail worshipers in the land and you know and you could honestly honestly you know you look at a story like this and it's just like man this is cool but you could kind of see where God is basically I'm not approving of this in the manner in which you're doing it because what J who did was he said Ahab served bail much or little I will serve him much and he's being facetious he's lying is what he's doing because he's trying to trick the prophets of bail to say hey you know I'm gonna hold this feast well I think it was kind of cool you know I you know it's probably not the right way to do it but hey he got done and you know he's like we're gonna hold the feast to all the profit to bail I'm inviting we're gonna have a potluck we're gonna have all the prophets we're inviting all the prophets to come they all come and he tells the prophets hey make sure all your buddies are here go look around to make sure no one's missing you know so they're going around they're finding they're making sure confirming that everyone's there and then he basically hires 80 men and he says all right now you guys go in there and just kill them all and he says if anybody escapes then your life will go for his so he's basically making sure that the that these guys are pretty thorough it's like don't let anybody live because if anybody lives then we die you know so he destroys all the prophets of belt from the land I mean he just wipes them all out look at second Kings chapter 9 I know I had you to turn to chapter 10 but look at chapter 9 verse 6 he says here and he arose and went into the house and he poured the oil on his head and sentence him does say I'm sorry I think I got the wrong scripture here where to have you turn second Kings sorry I got jet lag go to chapter maybe I need to write down the verse don't worry about it so basically at the end the Bible says that he destroys bail out of the land I mean just one phrase he destroys bail out of the land I mean that's a that is a great accomplishment to say you know what he's not he's no longer even here you know that he basically destroys it now here's the thing is that at the end of his life the Bible says that the golden calf was not removed so even at the end of his life though he destroyed bail out of the land and though he took care of business he still was following in the footsteps of a lot of the wicked kings of Israel and permitted the the golden calf not to be taken away and in fact the Bible even condemns him at the end of his life God condemns him and says look you did right and I'm gonna allow your children to remain in the kingdom until the fourth generation but after that I'm not because the the golden calf was not taken away and look that goes to show us that God wants us to be thorough in our Christian life you know he wants us to be complete he would he doesn't want us to be in balance where you're winning victories on this end but you're losing the fight on this end and you think that just because you know you're doing a work for God on this end that God is gonna excuse your sin on this end you know God did not forget the fact that he had the golden calf yeah you know he got rewarded and got honored for taking out bail and the prophets of bail he was honored for taking out the 70 sons of Ahab he was honored for taking care of business when it came to Jezebel but God did not forget the fact that he kept the golden calf he didn't wink at it he didn't overlook it in fact he remembered it later on and the Bible tells us that God was gonna avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu I believe that's one of the reasons I mean you look at all the keys most people say yeah J who did not finish his life well why is that because he didn't take care of that one thing and maybe that'd be a lesson to us that hey in our Christian lives we need to make sure that we're trying to cover all our bases don't have this mentality just because you're serving God in one area or you're succeeding in one area that you could basically slack off on the other don't have this mentality just because you're succeeding in this one area or this one sin or because you're so winning a whole lot that you could have just allow sin to run rampant in your life because God's gonna wink at it he's not God doesn't respect our people and if J who didn't get away with it neither are we okay so I thought I really had the verse here let me see verse 28 I really want to read this verse it's a verse 28 of chapter what chapter 10 let's go there oh yeah here we go verse 25 yeah here we go it says here verse 25 and it came to pass as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering that J who said to the garden to the captain's go in and slay them let none come forth and they smote them with the edge of the sword and the guard and the captain's cast them out and went to the city of the house of Baal and they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal and burned them and they break down the image of Baal and break down the house of Baal and made it a draught house unto this day thus J who destroyed Baal out of Israel that's a good phrase right there let's keep reading how be it from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat who made Israel to sin he this is the first king J who departed not from after them to wit the golden calves that were in bethel and that were in dan and the lord said unto J who because thou has done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes and has done into the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel but J who took no heed to walk in the law of the lord god of Israel with all his heart you see that partially he won't get it with all his heart for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam which made Israel to sin now I want you to pay attention to verse 32 look what it says in those days the lord began to what cut Israel short and Hazael smote them in all the coast of Israel you see it's almost as if God was giving Israel a chance with J who he's like here's the opportunity for you to kind of take the ship and turn it around but yeah he didn't remove the golden calf and because of that they suffered greatly and in fact the bible says God cut Israel short and Hosea chapter one he's like I'm going to execute you know vengeance the blood of Jezreel upon the house of J who I think that's one of the reasons and I think it's a valid reason because he didn't get rid of that calf and I think we will suffer the same consequences if we don't work on being complete in our Christian life and and not try to have this compartmentalized type Christianity where we think we can get away with other things just because we're being obedient in certain areas now I believe another reason why he says the house of of Jehu is because Jehoahaz and Jehoahash the the descendants of Jehu were very wicked kings and they did very wickedly you study their lives they did evil on the side of the lord according to all the kings of Israel and I think also that plays a part in God wanting to execute and avenge the house of Jehu as well so go back to Hosea chapter one so look that's a great principle that we need to learn to make sure we we we take give heed to and I'm not saying we need to be perfect but we need to strive for perfection we need to strive for obedience and not hypocrisy okay oh man but I do a whole lot of sowing yeah but you know what the bible also says to put on the breast plate of righteousness along with putting on your feet the gospel of peace and the breastplate of righteousness is moral virtue in in in excellence moral excellence you know we need to make sure we have the whole armor of God and we will fall and and fail and falter but at the end of the day we need to just evaluate our spiritual lives and see hey do I have the entire armor of God am I failing in a certain area if I am I need to make sure that I that I seal up that breach and not allow certain bad habits or certain sins into my life that can really mess me up in the long run look at verse number six it says here and she conceived again and bare daughter and God said unto him call her name laruhama for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel but I will utterly take them away now I want you to pay attention to the wording here because it sounds almost contradictory but it's not look what it says for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel but I will utterly completely take them away but I will have mercy upon the house of Judah and will save them by the Lord their God and will not save them by the bow nor by sword nor by battles by horses nor by horsemen go to second Kings chapter 16 hold your place there now why is he stating that he's not going to save them by bow and what does he say that by bow nor by sword nor by battles nor by horsemen and this is the reason why I said it's important that we take heed to the kings that are being mentioned in verse number one because look what it says in verse number five second Kings chapter 16 verse number five it says then resin king of Syria and Pekah son of Ramilliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him at that time resin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria and drove the Jews from Elath and the Syrians came to Elath and dwelt there unto this day so Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria saying I am thy servant and thy son come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel which rise up against me so what is he doing he's basically making affinity with a foreign nation to help him to win the battle against resin so what is he doing he's paying is he going to God is he going to be is he asking Lord you know I need your help I want to turn from my wicked ways I need your help to deliver my nation no he's going to a foreign nation look what it says in verse number eight and Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king's house and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria and the king of Assyria hearkened unto him for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it and carried the people of it captive to Ker and slew resin and king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria and saw an altar that was at Damascus and king Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest the fashion of the altar and the pattern of it according to all the workmanship thereof and Uriah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus so Uriah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus so what do we see here he decides to go to a foreign nation for help but not only that after he wins what did he do he's like Uriah man you got you got to look at these plans the way they were worshiping these false gods and let's just go ahead and copy the what exactly what they're doing so he's taken Judah into a road of whoredom just like Israel so that's why in Hosea we see God saying hey I'm gonna deliver you but it's not gonna be by bow it's not gonna be by sword it's not gonna be by battle it's not gonna be the way Ahaz did it you know it's not gonna be the way he did it using his own knowledge and his own wisdom and his own understanding I'm actually gonna deliver you by my power by my hand now go to Romans chapter 11 because this is has an immediate fulfillment but it also has a future fulfillment referring to the fact he's gonna save Israel okay all Israel shall be saved and that's what he's actually referring to because at the end of the day God can care less about the land God can care less about just the nation as a whole he's thinking in terms of the millennial reign he's gonna say he's saying one day I'm gonna save the entire thing I'm gonna reserve the entire thing unto myself and it's not gonna be by sword it's like it's gonna be by the millennial reign he's gonna set up his kingdom there with and you say well hold on are you saying that you know that's what it's gonna happen to the nation of Israel yeah spiritual nation because remember he's talking in Hosea to the old testament saints right he's talking to old testament Judah he's talking to old testament Israel and the people who are found within those tribes who are saved now look what the Bible says in verse 26 of Romans 11 and so all Israel shall be saved as it is written there shall come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins now I find it interesting that he's basically saying in Hosea hey it's not gonna be by battle by sword by all these things yet here in second kings chapter 16 he's doing it by sword by battle and all these other things and then what happens after that after the victory they start doing idolatry again it just goes to show what Jeremiah chapter 6 says when he says the finer burn it melted in vain for the wicked are not plucked away reparate silver shaman call them for the Lord hath rejected them why because the wicked are not plucked away before before the king the kingdom cannot be established in righteousness why because the joss has not been removed from the silver so even though they got that victory even though these this foreign nation helped them out and they got the victory they're still going into idolatry it's like people who are like oh I just need to get this one break in my life and this one break it's gonna help me to serve God no it's gonna help you to serve the devil it's gonna help you to serve your own belly it's gonna help you to serve your idolatrous desires it didn't help out Ahaz Ahaz by the way just a reminder Ahaz was one of the kings of Judah you know they're supposed to have this stigma that they're all good but guess what Ahaz was not good he didn't depend upon the Lord he didn't ask God for help and in fact he took Judah into more idolatry is what he did but again this is a reference to the millennial reign now look at verse number one of Romans 11 it says I say then hath God cast away his people God forbid for I am also an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin it's interesting you know where was where was Benjamin northern or southern southern kingdom Judah yeah Paul is saying here I am also an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin so people want to say oh you know yeah because he's in Israel yeah but he's referring to spiritual Israel you got to get your geography right you know don't tune out when we talk about which is the northern kingdom in the southern kingdom because it makes a lot of sense when you read passages like this just like people allow the Jews the Jews well hold on a second do you know where Jews are from from Judah buddy I mean you think Jews existed before the historical books they call them Hebrews oh Abraham was a Jew no he was a Hebrew get your facts straight verse two God has not cast away his people notice this which he for knew don't scribble it don't do like Justin LeBlanc and just put your thumb over it why ye not what the scripture saith of Elias how he maketh intercessions to God against Israel saying Lord they have killed the prophets and dig down thine altars and I am left alone and they seek my life go to Romans chapter 8 so keep that in mind he says God has not cast away his people which he foreknew and he's saying he's not cast me away because I'm an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin he's talking about being spiritual Israel but he says that God has not cast away his people which he foreknew well where do we see that phrase and that word used also in Romans chapter 8 verse 29 for whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren no that's referring to the fact that he foreknew the Jews no because he says here to be conformed to the image of his son Jews are not being conformed to the image of his son Jews mock the image of the son Jews hate the son okay so obviously that's not referring to them moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified whom he justified them he also glorified and one thing you'll see as you read through the Old Testament when God talks about delivering Israel saving Judah there is an immediate fulfillment to that or a future fulfillment but even further than that it's often a prophecy of the millennial reign so these Christian Zionists just need us to get over it and realize that the end fulfillment of all the culmination of all these prophecies in the Old Testament when God delivers Israel he rescues Judah hey the culmination of that is actually the millennial reign get that in your mind that when you hear him talking about delivering giving the land all these things the culmination is in the millennial reign that's what that's referring to okay go back to Hosea chapter one it says here verse number eight now when she was weaned Lorahama she conceived and bear his son then said God call his name Loami for ye are not my people and I will not be your God yet the number of the children of Israel look another contradictory statement right no but if you understand replacement theology this makes perfect sense because he says for you're not my people and I will not be your God yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbered and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them you're not my people there shall be said unto them ye are the sons of the living God so remember what do we see in verse 10 you're not my people what do we see in verse excuse me at the end of verse 10 I'm sorry verse at the end of verse 9 says for you're not my people and I will not be your God what do we see at the end of verse 10 ye are not my people there shall be said unto him ye are the sons of the living God so it's not a contradiction he's talking about the chosen generation the royal priesthood he's talking about believers then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head who's the one head Jesus Christ and they shall come up out of the land for great shall be the day of Jezreel so the first thing I want to highlight there is that verse 8 is showing us the natural way to have children okay I mean amen because he gives us there it says in verse in verse number eight now when she had weaned Laruhama she conceived and bear a son what does it mean to wean a child is basically to no longer give them breast milk and introduce them to solid foods okay now the reason breastfeeding naturally will prevent pregnancy is because breastfeeding basically changes the woman's hormones and when it changes the woman's hormones they basically prevents ovulation is what it does okay so for example if someone is breastfeeding a child they they don't have to take birth control because that's abortion they don't have to use condoms they don't have to use all these contraceptives and things that God is against he has set forth a natural way to prevent having another child while you're giving food to the current child so that's a form of birth control not really because you're actually planning to help this child to grow by giving him mother's milk now when you begin to wean that child and introduce them to solid foods you know at that point the hormones go back to normal and then they're able to have a child again okay so we see that according to that verse there now look at in verse 9 through 10 again it seems almost contradictory but it's not because it's referring to what we see in Romans chapter 9 go to Romans chapter number 9 he says he says there you know you're not my people but then he says but you're my you're going to be the children of the living God he's not making a contradictory statement because we see almost the same fashion the same statement in Romans chapter 9 verse 6 not as though the word of God had taken an effect for they are not all Israel which are of Israel that sounds like a contradiction but it's not because he's saying not everyone who is of the nation of Israel is of saved Israel is what he's talking about neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seed be called that is they which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seed go to verse 24 verse 24 of Romans chapter 9 is quoting the book of Hosea and it says in verse 24 even us whom he hath called not of the Jews only but also of the gentiles as he sayeth also in oc referring to Hosea I will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved which was not beloved who's that talking about everyone other than the actual physical nation of Israel okay and it should come to pass that in that place where it was said unto them you are not my people there shall they be called the children of the living God and here's the thing that irritates the fire to me when it comes to Zionists trying to back up this stupid Zionist agenda is they'll say well yeah we're the children of God you know but they're the people of God he just told him in Hosea in the old testament you're not my people you're not my people yeah but it says he will they will be their people but that's talking about what Romans chapter 9 is talking about the gentiles they not only are you my people but you are the children of the living God quoting Hosea chapter number one it says there is zaias also crieth concerning israel though the number of the children of israel he has the sand of the sea a remnant shall be saved so don't give me this oh you know the children of God is different from the people of God they're the same thing what in the world you know they're just grasping at straws to just prop up their beloved Christ rejecting Jews just dump them God dumped them he doesn't regard them anymore say it the Lord you know we need to take God's position on this as harsh as he takes it yeah you know I don't believe it I just believe you're a little too hard no I'm not as hard as God is I'm not as hard as David was I'm not as hard as Elijah was who prayed against Israel I'm not as hard as Isaiah was I'm not as hard as Jesus was these people are a lot harder on the Jews than we are and it's very clear that the people of God is synonymous with being the children of God okay so anyways so verse 10 basically debunks the whole Jews are not the children of God but they are still the people of God that's a stupid theory go back to Hosea chapter one let's see here it says he had the number let's read it again he had the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbered and it shall come to pass them in the place where it is said unto them you are not my people there shall be said unto them you are the sons of the living God then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head now what is that actually referring to well I mentioned it before it's referring to Jesus Christ but in the spiritual aspect it's actually referring to the fact that God has taken the Jews and Gentiles and broken the middle wall partition between them and has made one man according to the Bible I had to turn to Hosea but go to Ephesians look at look at Ephesians chapter 2 Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 14 it says here for he is our peace who hath made both one now what is that both referring to if you read the previous verses he talks about the circumcision and the uncircumcision circumcision referring to the Jews uncircumcision referring to everyone else he says for he is our peace who had made both one and has broken down the middle wall partition between us having abolished in his flesh to enmity even the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to make it himself of twain that means to one new man so making peace and that he might reconcile both into God in one body by the cross by the cross having slain the enemy thereby and came and preached peace to you which were a far off into them that which were nigh tonight for through him we both have access by one spirit unto the father now therefore year no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets jesus christ himself being the chief cornerstone and whom all the building fitly framed together growth unto an holy temple in the lord in whom you're also built it together for an habitation of god through the spirit now look people will often say well you know yeah but when the jew gets saved they're a maisianic jew though i don't see maisianic jew in the bible in fact the only time i hear the word maisianic or messiah is when sam gibb is saying that he's jesus christ is not his messiah and that's the only truth he's ever told you know he's not apt to tell the truth that's the holy fact he's ever stated i agree with him on that jesus christ is not not his messiah because he's not saved he's the devil but here he's basically stating hey there's no specific special title for old testament jews you are now the people of god okay you're the chosen generation now because when you're saved there is no difference between the jew and the greek for the same lord over all is rich into all who call upon him the bible says so it doesn't matter what race you are even in the book of hosea he's saying this stuff so though the transition did take place when jesus christ was crucified on the cross and the new testament the new covenant came into play god was just already waiting for this in the old testament he's like look there's going to come a day it's almost like i can't wait to that day and amen to that so what is hosea really talking about here well we're going to look in the coming weeks of the whoredoms the things that have taken place that took place in israel and how we can apply what he's preaching the topics he's preaching to them about not only only in our personal lives but just in our nation just in general because at the end of the day our nation is filled with whoredoms right the fornication adulterous whoredoms but also idolatry as far as whoredoms are concerned all right let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer follow me thank you for your word thank you for the book of hosea and uh lord i pray god that you'd help us to be like him in the sense that we just obey even when we don't understand certain things and i'm sure that between those verses there is some thoughts in his heart or maybe some questioning there but lord we understand that jose obeyed and he just did what you what you told him to do to illustrate beautifully what you were trying to accomplish in the nation of israel and i pray god that you'd help us to make application to our lives fill us with your power and your spirit to live a life that's pleasing unto you and help us to be cognizant of the fact that you know we're still susceptible even to idolatry even in our day help us to preach against it to stand against it and i pray god that you bless us as we go on our way and we pray these things in jesus name amen you