August 5, 2001

Hosea 8-10

ch. 8

Parallels in the demise of Israel and the decline

in American churches and society today.

The punishment of apostasy! An apostasy is a

falling away - II Thess. 2:1,3 - “....the coming of the

Lord Jesus Christ.......that day shall not come, except

there come a falling away first”

Buzz words - Liberal, Conservative - political connotations-

Involved with religion also - I would like to think God is

a Conservative because He says “I am the Lord, I change

not” - Mal. 3:6, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today,

and forever’ - Heb. 13:8

We have Liberals involved in churches today - why they

get involved, I know not. They are generally associated with

undermining what God hath wrought.

Now it seems like our church is not immune. When I compare

Second Baptist to what it was thirty years ago, there are few

favorable comparisons, it makes me sad to think about it.

We have not lasted a century, now there is a movement to

move - for what purpose I do not fully comprehend. To me

it is a cop out, it is admitting defeat, the world winning the battle

of “you can’t preach to people” - Some worldly way does better.

I hope we never become like the Pharisees which

Jesus denounced in Matt. 23:15 - “Woe unto you

for you compass sea & land to make one proselyte

and when he is made, ye make him twofold more

the child of hell than yourselves”

We would be safer if we had more beseeching God’s

will as in the service last Sunday night.

I just hope we seek God’s guidance, not just to get

His approval on something we already have our mind

made up about.

Conversation with owner of WHOP at local eatery

Friday - good for business - need a police escort to

take the money to the bank.

Reminds me of the Western Kentucky Fair in 1985

which I approached God about. Already had my

mind made up.

It would have been the right thing to ask His blessing,

I was asking His will & already had my mind made up.

v. 1 - “Set the trumpet to thy mouth” - “they have

transgressed my covenant & trespassed

against my law”

v. 3 - “Israel hath cast off the thing that is good”

v. 4 - “They have set up kings, but not by me”

Conduct not guided by Divine direction nor with

Divine sanction.

A misuse of their silver and gold.

v. 6 - “the workmen made it, therefore it is not of God”

“Moses was admonished of God when he was about to

make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make

all things according to the pattern shewed thee in the

mount.” Heb. 8:5

v. 7 - Sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind

v. 8 - literally

v. 9 - “a wild ass alone by himself” - ch. 4:16b

v. 10 - “they shall sorrow a little”

v. 12 - written to him great things/accounted as a

strange thing?

The idea conveyed here is numerous directions,

the commandments so full & explicit, comprehending

alike both great things and little, the details, both

minute and manifold.

These were communicated verbally & orally as well as

committed to writing. A permanent record.

They were regarded by many to whom they were addressed

as instructions foreign to their interest with which they

had no concern and consequently no claim on

their life styles.

II Kings 17 - Ponder closely the whole chapter.

v. 13 - “but the Lord accepteth them not; now

will He remember their iniquity, & shall

visit their sins”

v. 14 - “For Israel hath forgotten his Maker”

ch. 9

v. 1 - Israel, out to lunch, taking a siesta, not manning

their station. “gone a whoring”

v. 2 - “they shall not dwell in the Lord’s land”

Deut. 8:6-14

v. 4 - Vain oblations -

v. 7 - “Days of visitation are come......Israel shall know

it.....for the multitude of THINE iniquity.”

v. 8 - the watchman - unfaithful - Ezek. 13:10 -

“Seduced my people.......daubed it with untempered

mortar”

v. 9 - “corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah”-

The election of Saul - Historical - Judges 19 & 20

ch. 20:3,12 - 25,100 died - almost wiped out a tribe of Israel.

v. 10 - Jer. 2:1-13

“separated themselves unto that shame”

“their abominations were according as they loved”

Guided in their choice, not by the Word of God or Law of

God, but by their own inclination. Concerning religious

worship, men should beware of being influenced by their

personal likings, private inclinations or aesthetic tastes

BUT MAKE SURE OF A WARRANT FROM THE WORD

OF GOD

v. 12 - “woe also to them when I depart from them”

Ch. 10:5 Eli’s daughter-in -law - grandson

Ichabod

v. 13 - “planted in a pleasant place” - bloom where you

are planted.

v. 14 - Hosea frustrated - no children, no pregnancy, no

conception - v. 11

Hosea is at a loss on how to pray for this people - for their

good or God’s glory - he does not pray for peace, nor for

deliverance nor prosperity. He dared not venture - he knew

too well the sins of his countrymen, their abuse of Divine

mercies, their contempt of warning, their hardness of heart,

their seared conscience.

Better perish before birth, or from the birth than live a life

of sin & misery, & die a death of hopelessness & violence.

He prays either that children may not be born at all or

that they might not be sustained so as long as to survive

their birth.

Good for that man if he had never been born - Matt. 26:24

Luke 23:28-31

Barrenness in lieu of fruitfulness. Barren fig tree -

v. 15 - “all their wickedness is in Gilgal” -

* First camp in the promised land - Joshua 4:19-24

* Where the 12 stones were erected commemorating

crossing Jordan dry shod in flood season. ch. 3:15

* Where they kept the first Passover after the Exodus

ch. 5:9-10

* Here the reproach of Egypt was rolled away. 5:9

* Here the renewal of the rite of circumcision, the

seal of the Abrahamnic covenant was renewed after

its omission in the wilderness. 5:1-8

* Here the firstfruits of the promised land were eaten

* Here the Captain of the Lord’s Host met Joshua

& assured him of God’s protection - 5:13-15

* At Gilgal the tabernacle had stood before its

removal to Shiloh.

Now the scene of such blessings had become the

center of idolatry and iniquity.

Here Israel rejected the theocracy, here the calf

worship had been developed, where the form

of civil government had been shaped to their own

erring fancy, here their form of religious worship

had been corrupted.

Judges 2 & 1 ****** 3:5-7

“their princes are revolters”

v. 16 - “root is dried up” - John 15

v. 17 - “they shall be wanderers among the nations”

Jude 13 - Why? - “because they did not hearken

unto Him”

DIVINE DISSERTION - When God withdraws from

a people or a person - He withdraws His goodness,

His mercy, common graces, gifts & comforts.

I Sam. 28:15