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This sermon is the hypocrisy of Israel the hypocrisy of Israel another name could be the fake Spirituality of Israel and so point number one here starting verse one We see the advance of the enemy the advance of the enemy notice what it says in verse one Set the trumpet to thy mouth set the trumpet to thy mouth now Why is he saying that set the trumpet to thy mouth keep your finger in Hosea chapter 8 go to numbers chapter 10 in your Bible Go to the Old Testament number chapter 10 numbers chapter 10 Numbers chapter 10 verse 9 Numbers chapter 10 verse 9 and what God's basically doing is he's kind of warning Israel God is sending destruction to Israel, but he kind of still gives them a warning He says, you know set the trumpet to thy mouth Basically prepare for battle the advance of the enemy is coming. Okay numbers 10 verse 9 And If you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you then you shall blow an alarm With the trumpets and he shall be remembered before the Lord your God and you shall be saved from your enemies So you see that before you go to battle you would blow a trumpet, right? And that makes sense because you're trying to rally the troops up and everything and then God's basically telling them You know what? I'm sending you an enemy. I'm sending you destruction He said set the trumpet to thy mouth go back to Hosea 8 Hosea 8 Hosea chapter 8 Hosea chapter 8 verse 1 Hosea 8 verse 1 so basically what he's doing is he's warning them that they are going to be destroyed now the enemy that's gonna destroy Them it's actually sent from the Lord, but he still gives them a warning here Hosea 8 verse 1 set the trumpet to thy mouth He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord notice How it says he shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord go to verse 3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good the enemy shall pursue him So what you're seeing is he's telling them to blow the trumpet because the enemy is coming after you you're getting ready for battle And what he said is he shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord now Go to Joel chapter 2 the next book in your Bible you got Hosea, then you got the book of Joel Joel chapter 2 Joel chapter 2 And I'll give you another example about how blowing a trumpet is basically sounding the alarm that the battle is about to take place Joel chapter 2 verse 1 Joel 2 verse 1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord cometh for it is nigh at hand So he says blow ye the trumpet in Zion sound an alarm Why the enemy is advancing the battle is about to take place That's what he's saying in Hosea 8 go to Deuteronomy chapter 28 Deuteronomy 28 Deuteronomy 28 and the other thing he said was this he shall come as an eagle Against the house of the Lord he shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord Notice what it says in Deuteronomy 28 verse 49 Deuteronomy 28 verse 49 and this is kind of part of the warnings here in Deuteronomy 28 where if you rebel against me Okay, and he's gonna say in Deuteronomy 28 verse 49 Here are all the curses that are gonna come if you rebel against me now if we remember it said in Hosea He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord Deuteronomy 28 verse 49 the Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far from the end of the earth as Swift as the eagle flyeth a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand So when you're cross referencing here in the Bible What he's saying is blow the trumpet the enemy's coming and these are part of the curses He warned them about a long time ago if you rebel against me if you break the Covenant because it's not an everlasting covenant If you break it, you're gonna have destruction and he's gonna send send an army as swift as the eagle flyeth Right. So in Hosea chapter 8 he's telling them that you know what? I'm sending this army to destroy you But he's sending them out a warning there in verse number one. He's letting them know this go back to Hosea 8 I know we're jumping around a lot at the beginning trying to cross last week. The sermon was almost 80 minutes long, right? So I'm trying not to go 80 minutes So if I go a little bit shorter tonight then balances out to just over an hour So that's okay, right? And so He said he's gonna send a nation against you if you rebel against me as swift as the eagle flyeth So Hosea chapter 8 verse 1 Hosea 8 verse 1 Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord He shall come he's sending the enemy in to destroy them Because they have transgressed my covenant and trespassed against my law, right? He didn't give them an everlasting covenant He said I've got this covenant with you But if you break it, I'm gonna send a nation against you as swift as an eagle and that's exactly what takes place Hosea 8 verse 2 notice the plea of Israel Israel shall cry unto me My God, we know thee My God, we know thee so they're crying out to God. How can you destroy us? Because we know you we're your people you love us. We got this covenant, right? We know you God. We love you Why are you doing this to us? We know thee. Okay now go to Galatians chapter 4 Okay, Galatians chapter 4 because I want you to realize something Everybody will say that they know God Everybody will say that they love God, right? I mean if you were to go out soul winning and I don't do this when I'm soul winning because the purpose of soul winning Is to win souls obviously, but if you were to go out soul winning and just ask people. Hey, do you love God? You know what? Everybody's gonna tell you Yes Every I mean, do you know a lot about God? Do you know about God's character? You know what the Bible says about God? Yeah, you know, I know about God right then you're telling them about stories of the Bible Right, you try to explain something like oh, you know Samson. Hey, who's Samson, right? Noah it's like Noah, you know, is that the one married to Eve? It's like no it wasn't right It's like they don't know anything about the Bible, but everybody feels like they know God I mean, it's it's it's in and brother Jared said this in California. This is so true This is like the only book in the world where people will know absolutely nothing about it. And yet they think they know a lot Right. I mean if you've never taken a math class or you never taken count, you're not gonna say man I I understand this calculus book I understand everything about calculus if you've never taken a calculus class, but with the Bible people have never read it They don't go to church. They don't memorize the Bible, but yet they know God It's like I know God I know what the Bible says it's like the only book in the world I haven't figured out exactly why that is But you know what the amazing thing about the Bible is the more you read it the less like you feel, you know Right. I remember when I first heard the gospel I thought in my head man I know what the Bible says and I was arguing about how hey the Bible says if you commit suicide you're going to hell Right because I wasn't saved. So I'm the person who's getting saved during the conversation. I was like, no, I don't care I was like Mike you don't know what you're talking about I said the Bible teaches that if you commit suicide you go to hell, right and then I realized during the conversation I don't know what I'm talking about You know what? I've learned through the the time I've been saved in 18 years of being saved almost 18 years The more I read this book the more I realize you know what? I'm barely scratching the surface There's so much. I don't know we're going through the book of Hosea here, you know in Wednesdays And I've learned a lot memorizing Hosea and and and studying and preparing these sermons But I'll be the first to tell you there's a lot of verses in the first half of Hosea where I'm just still kind of like Not sure I'm not sure the exact connotation and I'm sure there's things that I preach where maybe I'm getting some of what God's trying to say But you know if the Holy Spirit was here just to just open up his mouth and tell me he'd be like, okay this this this It's like I'm really barely scratching the surface of it, right? But this is the one book where people feel like they know God and they feel like they know this book even though they've never Read it, right? So Hosea chapter 8 verse 2 what they said is we know that what is saying Galatians 4 Galatians chapter 4 verse 8 Galatians 4 verse 8 How be it then when ye knew not God ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods, right? He says when he didn't know God you were worshiping idols and false gods But notice verse 9 notice this but now after that ye have known God But notice or rather are known of God. You know what Paul's saying there He's saying because here's the thing people use this terminology Yeah I know God and they try to link in it Liking it to salvation Paul says after you that you knew God or rather are known of God because what is salvation? When God knows you that's what salvation is my sheep hear my voice and they know me No, no my sheep hear my voice and I know them. That's what salvation is Here's the thing to be saved. You must understand salvation. That doesn't mean that you really know God though Right. I mean if you want to know God That's a lifetime of studying the Bible and getting close to God to say that you actually Know God and yet Israel was saying in Hosea chapter 8 we know thee and God's like, you know me It's like I don't even know you Because here's the thing, you know, but before we know God first we he needs to know us we need to get saved We need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ And then we got to actually study his word and start living for God and until we do that We can't say that we know God Right me even even Paul talked about how he's pressing on the upward way that I may know him is what he said now was Paul already saved. Yes, he was but here's the thing. He still was getting to know God and getting close to God, right? I mean if you want to know God that takes a lifetime Yes, you know what if you get saved God knows you my sheep her my voice and I know them that doesn't mean that you know God, but it's funny how we go soul winning and everybody says that they know God and You know God's thinking man. I don't even know you you're not even saved go to Hosea 8 Hosea chapter 8 Hosea chapter 8 I Mean and here's the thing. I don't try to use like, you know examples always to prove what we believe I mean, it's better just to use verses but here's the thing I mean in in some ways the Bible says that we're married unto Christ, you know, that's an analogy given right? Obviously, it's not a perfect analogy. It's it's just symbolism. Here's the thing though when you get married. You can't really say Oh, I know everything about my spouse now now you might feel that way when you get married But then it's like no you're learning your entire lifetime, right? I mean, it's just like you can't say I know everything about them right now when you get saved though I mean God yeah, he knows he knows you but you're still getting to know him just like when you get married You're still getting to know your spouse for the decades that you're married right until you die You're still learning about him and still getting to know them, right? And so notice what it says in Hosea 8 verse 3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good the enemy shall pursue him So what are we seeing in these first few verses? We're seeing the advance of the enemy. God's warning them sound the trumpet It's gonna come as an eagle as I warned you about in Deuteronomy chapter 28 and he's giving them a heads up Why because they broke the Covenant and they're crying out. Well, we know the God God's like no He's just like I don't know you you're not even saved. Okay, so we see the advance of the enemy That's point number one point number two We see an adoration For idols we see an Adoration for idols a love of idols. Okay Hosea 8 verse 4 They have set up kings but not by me They have made princes and I knew it not of their silver and their gold have they made them idols that they may be cut off now Notice that they have silver and and gold and what do they do with that silver and gold they make idols out of it Look there's nothing dumber to do with silver and gold then make an idol. I Mean, there's literally nothing dumber. It's like that. That's that's a lot of money you're wasting Right. Sometimes I think you know whenever I walk down to the riverbanks They're they're always like selling idols on the side of the street They're not using gold and silver but there and I'm just thinking man so much time is being invested in so much money and effort And it's just like, you know, what what what are they doing? It's like and I get tempted as I'm going by that one little store on the side I just want to smash all those idols, right? It's like of course, I'm not gonna do that. But here's the thing It's just like, you know of their silver and their gold have they made them idols It's not like Israel could say you haven't provided us the corn and the wine that they were just worshiping other idols No, it's like God gave you money and then you're using it on idolatry What I found in idolatrous countries you might have this big You know festival of idolatry or this big statue that that people worship like there's certain places here in the Philippines Feast of the black Nazarene things such as that but then people also make a lot of little idols as well And I'll tell you what, there's a lot of Catholics here that have idols in their house, right? I mean my wife's relatives. It's like they got Buddha statues They got Joseph and Mary and all these statues and statues and all this idolatry and everything It's like man if you had just used that money to like buy a car Or a down payment on a house. I mean, it's like they spend a lot of money on idolatry and It's crazy how people will spend all of their money to buy an idol to buy something that the Bible says can't see can't hear Can't speak and it's like you're spending all your money on something that has no value And the only thing you're getting is the curse of God upon your life, right? And so they of silver and gold have they made them idols that they may be cut off What does be cut off mean? Well, it means to be killed or to be destroyed, right? That's what cut off means in the Bible. Hosea verse 5 thy calf O Samaria hath cast thee off. So they're crying out. Why are we being destroyed? Well, it's because of the golden calf you're worshiping That's what the Bible saying thy calf O Samaria hath cast thee off, right? Don't blame God for getting rid of you Don't blame the enemy for destroying you that is taking place because of the golden calf that you're worshiping The same thing they're wasting their money on that is also what brings destruction upon them thy calf O Samaria hath cast thee off mine anger is kindled against them How long it will it be ere they attain to innocency they claim innocency? We've done nothing wrong, but God's anger is kindled against them for that idol that they're worshiping, right? But what is that referring to thy calf O Samaria? Okay, go to first Kings 12 first Kings 12 Let's go back and see what this is actually talking about first Kings 12 first Kings 12 Now if you remember the story of Solomon Solomon ends up marrying a lot of women and he ends up you know having all these idols because of his wife and Solomon basically has the kingdom taken from or most of it after he's gone Like basically he's told how it's gonna be taken from him and then you know You have Jeroboam who's actually one of the right-hand men of Solomon and then Jeroboam's gonna get ten of the twelve tribes And then all of a sudden, you know Solomon finds out he wants to kill Jeroboam Jeroboam's on the run Then all of a sudden he comes back the kingdom goes to Rehoboam Solomon's son Right and then all of a sudden they come to him Jeroboam is with the other people and then they said your dad Your father made the yoke really difficult. He made it so difficult on us And then it's like can you just make it a little bit less and then we're gonna serve you now my opinion Is that Jeroboam was a very smart guy who's just a phony because he already knows it's been promised to him, right? It's just kind of his plan where he knows what's gonna take place. He's a smart guy Okay, and then Rehoboam gets advice from the old man and the young man and the old men say hey Yeah, make it a little bit easier and everything like that on them and then the young people say hey just go to town on these people just make it really difficult and look that makes perfect sense because That's the difference between people that are younger and older young people want to go to war and then older people have a little bit More wisdom, right? That's just kind of the way it is. Okay, you say brother suck. Yeah, I still want to go to war It's like well once you get older and you know, the wisdom will come right and so That's what takes place and then Jeroboam's told he's gonna get get most of the twelve tribes But then all of a sudden Jeroboam later on he doubts after he's already gotten ten of the tribes He starts to doubt that they're gonna follow. He's afraid they're gonna go and start going back to Rehoboam, right? Now he shouldn't have that fear because he was already told that this belongs to you, but he has that fear So in first Kings 12 verse 26 notice this this is Jeroboam. This is not Solomon's son Rehoboam is Solomon's son but Jeroboam said in his heart and this is the one who's the leader of the kingdom of Israel as the kingdoms have been divided and Jeroboam said in his heart now shall the kingdom return to the house of David So inside of his heart he said, you know what? I believe these ten tribes are gonna go back to the southern kingdom of Judah and Rehoboam's gonna get all twelve tribes because what was Taking place was God said, you know, I don't have a system of a king But then the people beg for a king King Saul becomes the king, right? He ends up becoming bad He persecutes David David gets the kingdom David passes it on to a son Solomon And so now they have this system of kings where it's gonna be passed on to one of the sons, right? So Solomon's gonna pass it on to Rehoboam But Solomon sinned and so most of that kingdoms taken away Most of it goes to Jeroboam but Jeroboam afterwards in first Kings 12 He said in his heart now shall the kingdom return to the house of David So he's afraid those ten tribes are going to depart from him verse 27 If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem Which is in the southern kingdom of Judah then shall the heart of this people turn again on to their Lord Even on a Rehoboam king of Judah and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah So what he says in verse 27 is what I'm worried about is this that these ten tribes They're gonna worship God in the southern kingdom of Judah and their hearts gonna make them want to go back To Rehoboam. They're gonna leave me because they're worshiping in the southern kingdom. And so he's worried about that I cannot have them worshiping God in the southern kingdom of Judah I need them worshiping God here and not in Jerusalem. That's what he's saying So what's his plan verse 28 where upon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said on to them? It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem Behold thy gods of Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt And so so so what you see Jeroboam saying is this he's like, you know It's just too far to go to Jerusalem to worship God. I don't want it to be too difficult on you to worship God So here's the thing. I'm gonna create these two calves for you and you can just worship God right here, right? You don't have to go all the way to Jerusalem to worship God because here is your God that brought you out of the land Of Egypt, right? I mean, there's no new thing under the Sun. I mean the golden calf in Exodus 32 right and he's like but here are your gods and and and and here's the thing about this, you know It's it's not really all that shocking that they went into idolatry because many Christian people are in idolatry and they're worshipping the the creature rather than the creator or they're worshipping just a graven statue and Rehoboam basically, he creates these calves. So that way the people would not go to Jerusalem to worship. It's like oh man I got God right over here and you have to understand something people want to feel spiritual Everybody wants to be spiritual even if they're ungodly. I mean, have you noticed that? Everybody wants to be spiritual right? They'll worship something in it, but still commit their same sins See that's different than the Bible because the Bible expects you to change to meet who God is, right? You can't live a wicked life and then say you're close to God, but people want to be spiritual Okay, so these two calves are made and notice what it says in verse 29 and he set the one in Bethel and the other Put he in Dan the one in Bethel and then the other he puts in Dan now Bethel was you know Basically known as the place where he worshiped God the house of God Dan Was one of the twelve tribes and if you remember in the book of Revelation Well, actually you don't remember because Dan's gone That's that's what you remember that no, wait a minute. I don't remember Dan at all. That's right I mean you're paying attention cuz why Dan was removed Right twelve tribes and Dan got removed. Why? Well, they are the most wicked they spiritually separated from God They also physically just geographically separated from where God wanted them to be and they got removed and you say why well You can point back to this verse because they got a golden calf They're worshiping and they were already bad and they got worse and worse and worse and worse Make no mistake about it when you got a lot of idols around is an ungodly area That's reality. You want to look at the place that are the most dangerous where there's a lot of idolatry Right. Yeah, I've said it before, you know I read that book that that president Duterte recommended on the Catholic Church when I preached through the dark history of the Catholic Church and You know you think of the areas of the Philippines or the area which is probably the most zealous the most religious You're probably gonna say Pampanga. That's where they're crucifying themselves and beating themselves and everything like that You know, it also has the highest percentage of pedophilia cases with the Catholic Church of any area Almost one-third of them have actually been under the investigation. I the altar of secrets I think was a book that he recommended and I was like that is the area that has the highest percentage I'm not shocked. It's the most religious area of the Philippines Right. That's just the way it works If there's a lot of idolatry around it's gonna actually be a dangerous area because people are spiritual and they'll they'll think that They're godly because they're spiritual and then they can still do ungodly things. That's reality, right? You know, I'm sure that if you look at that big what are that big Jesus statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, right? That's probably one of the most it is one of the most dangerous places Rio de Janeiro is in like the top five in sodomite percentage in this world, but they got that big statue of Jesus They must be godly right now actually the opposite That's the way it works and with the idol being set up in Dan Dan became a wicked location Dan became a wicked location. They end up being rejected as one of the twelve tribes Go to Amos 8 Amos 8 Amos 8 Amos chapter 8 Amos chapter 8 And so here's the thing about this, you know, what was it talking about in Hosea 8 where it said thy calf Oh Samaria, what was that referring to? Okay Well, what does it say in Amos 8 verse 14 they that swear by the sin of Samaria remember the calf? Oh Samaria Amos 8 verse 14 they that swear by the sin of Samaria and say thy God. Oh Dan right What's that referring to it's referring to the golden calf that they were worshiping Jeroboam says I'm gonna make these golden calves Here's gonna be your gods and then that's exactly what it's referring to in Amos 8 verse 14, right? They that swear by the sin of Samaria and say by God. Oh Dan right notice the lowercase G there thy God. Oh, Dan. That's the idol that they're worshiping, right? So that's what's being referenced in Hosea chapter 8 are the idols that Jeroboam made. Okay, go back to Hosea 8 Hosea 8 Hosea chapter 8 Hosea chapter 8 You say brother stuck you we're looking at so much Bible here tonight Well, I mean this is Wednesday night Bible study, right? I mean you're going we're going to a book of the Bible minor prophet You got to dig up the interim and you know The stuff isn't exactly as much on the surface as when we went go through Romans, right? So you got to kind of dig in here and figure out what phrase is talking about That's what it's referring to in Hosea 8 verse 5 and this shows you how bad Idolatry is because God says this is the reason that you got cast off It traces back to Jeroboam making these golden calves and that's why they end up getting destroyed, right? So here's the thing. We don't just you know, mock these things like the Feast of the Black Nazarene. It's actually very wicked It's not just it's not just stupid, right? I mean it is it is dumb It is ridiculous to think that you're gonna rub the feet or whatever and you're gonna get healed But you know, it's also wicked, right? I mean this is actually why Israel gets destroyed because they get into sin and then all of a sudden these idols are created and These idols are created and they just want to feel spiritual, but they don't want to be spiritual So, you know what you can do you can just worship a golden calf and you don't have to change anything because here's the thing You can worship something like this and just make up your own rules and you can feel spiritual Here's the problem though if you're worshipping God You got to go by his rules, which means you got to change right? And so that's what took place in Israel Notice what it says in Hosea 8 verse 6 For from Israel was it also the workmen made it right the workmen fashioned it with his hands He made that idol therefore it is not God Right. Well, obviously, you know, it's not God I mean it's made with hands But the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces that kind of reminds me of that verse in in acts, right? I can't remember how exactly it goes I preached through it a couple months ago, but basically what he's saying in Hosea 8 is if you made it with your own hands How can you say that's God? It doesn't make any sense, right? I mean if I make something well, this is God I mean you just created it. So if you're the one who created it, then how could that be God? It doesn't make any sense and any idol and any statue that's made that was made by a man So that man's above the statue. So how could the statue end up being God? It doesn't it doesn't make any sense, right and it's clear as day But that's what he's saying there where it says, you know, it's made by somebody therefore it is not God Right, but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces, you know, the Bible says the calf is going to be destroyed It's gonna be broken in pieces Right Exodus 32 for some reason they went to the golden calf Here that's what they make Right. It just seems to be the thing that people like to worship you say well, it's just a coincidence Well, why is it that the animal of worship in India is the cow? It doesn't seem like it's a coincidence it seems like just what people like to worship I mean, I don't know. I mean the white and black combination pretty animal I guess I don't know It's like here's why I think that the cow is worshipped why they pick it because a cow is very valuable The milk and the meat is extremely valuable. I Mean, it's a lot more I mean, I personally like chicken more than beef but a cow is more valuable than chicken unless it's a super huge chicken Right and my cow is a very valuable animal and you know milk Here's the thing in India for most of their history, right? I mean go back to the Vedic religion which supposedly they're based on the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita in those books You go back to the Vedas though, and and the the gods are eating cows, right? It's like their favorite food and it was a delicacy and then somewhere along the line. They changed it now It's like a terrible sin. It's like in the Catholic Church is committing suicide in India. It's eating cows That's like the sin that will you know curse you or whatever, but here's the thing though They still use cows for milk and milk is extremely valuable and especially if you're in a in a poor country That milk is going to be extremely valuable, right? And so I believe that's why cows are really the animal of worship from people that are just not worshiping God But it is the choice you see this in the Bible. You see it in secular history with India. That is the animal It's not the only animal that they worship It's not the I mean I know the monkey gods big in China and some other areas and and you know But the cow seems to be the biggest one I would say that's the reason why because it's a very valuable animal in terms of financially, okay Jose 8 verse 7 For they have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind It hath no stock the bud shall yield no meal if so be it yield the stranger shall swallow it up And so notice how it says you've sown the wind and you're gonna reap the whirlwind and what he's saying is this You basically committed sins But what you're gonna reap is gonna be a lot bigger than what you commit committed, right? You've sown the wind but you're gonna reap the whirlwind right and God was very very long suffering for Israel And they were his people The Word of God was poured out there and to whom much is given much is required and it's like you've sown the wind You know what? You're gonna reap the whirlwind because here's the thing. It's expected that Assyria and Egypt They're gonna have false gods that they worship. They're gonna have idols that they worship but God's people Because I guarantee you during this time period people would say well, you know what? Yeah, I believe in Jehovah God While they're worshiping idols Right, so don't try to mix in worshiping a false religion with God right like people today I saw this post here today because people commented on it and it was it was someone who was like really defending the LGBT It's like well, I'm appalled I'm a Christian and I'm appalled at the hate Of people that are saying, you know that the LGBT that that's sinful. I'm a Christian. I can't believe it. It's appalling, right? It's like don't attach Something that's not attached to God and then say you're a Christian and say that's in the Bible and say that Jesus Christ said That's okay. That's what I mean when people say they're Christian and then they just believe the exact opposite of the Bible It's like well, I'm a Christian but how dare you judge a woman who got an abortion Really? Is that what the Bible says? I mean, I'm pretty sure the Bible says abortions murder So why are you trying to attach Jesus Christ to something that's ungodly, right? I mean if you're gonna say you believe the Bible you need to believe the Bible and here's the thing You can preach this and you can follow this and realize you know what? I'm not perfect I make mistakes, but you know, I still believe what this book says and just because I commit a sin that doesn't make it Okay, right Noah got drunk. That doesn't mean it was okay, though. It means he sinned right People commit sins. We can't blame God or try to say well, you know, I'm God's okay with it. No, he's not Right, and this is what Israel was doing, right? They're worshipping a golden calf and I'm sure they'd say well we believe in Jehovah God So is that cow that golden calf is that Jehovah God Right. I mean it's a shame to God Right. I mean and it's the same thing here people that say they're Christians and they got every idol under the Sun It's like well, where is that in the Bible? Is God okay with that? Because in Hosea 8 it looks like the idolatry is what got them destroyed Hosea 8 verse 7 for they have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind and this is the way it works Right, you're gonna reap the whirlwind so point number one we see the advance of the enemy point two We see an adoration for idols point three We see adultery on God we see spiritual adultery adultery on God Hosea 8 verse 8 Israel is swallowed up now that shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure For they are gone up to Assyria a wild ass alone by himself Ephraim hath hired lovers, right now Ephraim referencing Israel in verse 9 when it says Ephraim hath hired lovers It's referring to Assyria as one of the lovers It doesn't mention the other ones I'm sure Egypt is one that it's referring to when it says lovers, but it's saying Assyria is one of its Lovers and realize this is in the same chapter where it talks about idolatry and it's talking about committing adultery Spiritually on God. So what it's saying is they're basically Worshipping the gods of Assyria They're basically taking the customs of Assyria and not taking what the Bible says when they're hiring lovers Basically, they're committing spiritual adultery on God. They're worshipping gods that are not the God of the Bible So when it comes to Assyria, here's just an article I I I I have written here Let me read it to you about the main God in Assyria. Okay, the main God Asher Asher, A-S-H-U-R, otherwise A-S-S-U-R and it says about this God Some scholars have claimed that Asher was represented as the winged son that appears frequently in Assyrian iconography, right? You sometimes you see that winged son You know what I'm talking about? You see the son and then it's you know, I've seen that that kind of image before It's not just isolated to Assyria Because like these nations they pass around their gods Right. I mean like, you know the Greek gods and the Roman gods It's like I don't really see much of a difference there You know, then the the the the the Catholic saints and the Roman gods is pretty much one in the same, right? It just gets these these gods just get passed around in these other areas, right? They're not isolated to one area Then it says many Assyrian kings had names that included the name Asher included above all Asher-Ubalit Asher-Nesirpal Ezra-Hadon, right? You recognize that name from the Bible, Ezra-Hadon and Asher-Bnipul, right? Epitaphs include great lord, father of gods, great mountain, god of Asher This and so basically what what you're seeing is these names of these gods They actually had the name of God in their names, right? It'd be like if I renamed myself if I became the president and I just said, you know My new name is Jesus Matt instead of Matt, right? Where I gave myself a new name with the name Jesus in it It's like that's what Assyria was doing because with many of these cultures When people become the king in a lot of ways they look at them almost like they are God Right, you kind of see that with a serious culture in the Bible where basically the leaders of the country It's almost like they are God or they're almost a manifestation of God, right? Julius Caesar wanted to get crowned as like the king but he literally believed he was was basically like God or God's representative on earth King Henry the eighth kind of leaned that way in certain times and until recently in Japan for They always said that the leader was basically like God the Emperor was sort of like, you know The the almost like God or almost like his representative of an earth almost one in the same. It seems crazy to us But that's how in a lot of areas they look at their kings almost like their gods, right? And so they a lot of the kings they put the name of Asher in their name when they became king Okay And it says about this God the symbols of Asher include a winged disc with horns Enclosing four circles revolving around a middle circle rippling rays fall down from either side of the disc a circle or wheel Suspended from wings and enclosing a warrior drawing his bow to discharge an arrow the same circle the Warriors bow However is carried in his left hand Well, the right hand is lifted uplifted as if to bless his worshippers and it's you have like a bow You have a warrior and one thing you're gonna see with a serious culture and you see this in the Bible And I preached on it is that they were a country of war more than any country They considered war a really good thing. I remember the first time I preached on Assyria I think it was called the pride of Assyria, but it might have been another sermon brother Matt was visiting us from Hong Kong and I was preaching against Assyria and saying how in their Architecture and in their designs and and basically what they left of us when the civilization was dug up. It shows them brutally Murdering and harming people and torturing them and he was here and he said yeah, I went to a big museum I think it was in the UK and he said yeah I saw it in person like they literally what they have about themselves is like torturing people that they took over That's not what people you know, basically sculpted of them. That's what they sculpted for themselves Why because their God was a God of War that's what you're seeing what I read with a bow He's a warrior and so basically when they would take over an enemy they considered it glory when they would just Destroy them and kill them and torture them. They considered that a good thing Right and you see that in the Bible with and it's just like what are you doing Israel? Do you not remember what happened in the past where they're mocking you remember rapshackie, right? They're really funny interesting entertaining story in the Bible and it's just like but now they're going after The same gods as Assyria, right? It's like well, yeah God's really gonna be kind to you when you start worshipping a false god Right. And so that's what it says in in in Hosea 8 verse 9 Ephraim have hired lovers one of them being Assyria go to Jeremiah chapter 3 Jeremiah 3 Jeremiah 3 Now look any any idol that you're gonna worship is bad But that's probably the worst one you could because Assyria is by far It's not even close of all the empires They are by far the worst so much worse than Egypt so much worse than Rome or Greece I mean when you're reading the Bible, there's there's no other conclusion that you can come to I mean and and and here's the thing It's not just the wicked things that they did think about this Nineveh was destroyed Greece wasn't destroyed Rome wasn't destroyed and look they're filled full of sodomy, but Assyria was destroyed Egypt wasn't destroyed. But you know what Assyria was worse They were far worse They were so arrogant and so wicked you see that throughout the Bible and what's interesting about this because Assyria is one of the great Six empires when I when I say great, I mean like powerful. I don't mean great as an oh, man They're awesome, right? but one of the six great empires that have ever existed Egypt in Assyria being kind of the forerunners and then the big four that's Mentioned in Babylon with you know Babylon and Persia and Rome and Greece and then of course There's gonna be a seventh end times Empire which we believe in teaches the United States But in terms of the ones before that it's one of the six big empires and yet it's the one that we don't really hear Anything or know anything about in the secular world why God wiped them out you always hear about Egypt you always hear about Rome You always hear about Greece Everybody knows Nebuchadnezzar Nobody knows any of the leaders of Assyria Right people know King Tut People know Julius Caesar people know Alexander the Great Assyria Sennacherib is that really a name that rolls off the tongue in the secular? Nobody knows why God destroyed them He wiped them out because they were so wicked and that's who Israel is going after to worship Jeremiah 3 verse 8 now I want to I want to explain something to you though because Israel commits adultery on God the Bible says The Bible teaches against divorce right no question about it. You're married you stay married That's what the Bible teaches the one exception is except it be for fornication, right? That's not the same thing as idolatry or as a well certainly not the same thing as idolatry It's not the same thing as adultery either. Okay fornication is before you're married and adultery is after you're married now If you had somebody who was single and they get involved with someone who's married then I guess you could say that it's dual Both fornication and adultery, but basically adultery is in reference to when somebody's married and fornication is when they're not married Okay Now here's the thing about this the Bible says except to be for fornication and what it's saying is when you have a really rare situation like Joseph who's married to marry and he's waiting and Then all of a sudden he hasn't been with her yet because basically in the Bible You usually see like kind of two stages to marriage There's kind of like the legal aspect and then there's the consummation of the marriage and he hasn't consummated the marriage even though it says He's espoused to her they're married right and then all of a sudden she ends up being pregnant So, of course Joseph is thinking well, obviously some she you know Cheated on me. That's a that's a bad sin, right? And so he's thinking man. She's not pure Well, see that is the rare situation where excepted be for fornication when you're married legally, but you haven't come together and You know what in in that story, they're not immediately together They do the legal aspect that there's kind of a delay when they actually come together So that's the example of excepted be for fornication pretty rare situation, right? We're basically you get married, but you haven't actually come together as husband and wife yet That's the only grounds for divorce in the Bible, right? It doesn't say well if adultery is committed then you can get a divorce No, it says except to be for fornication Well people think though well if somebody commits adultery then you're allowed to get a divorce That's not what the Bible teaches and they're gonna take Jeremiah chapter 3 out of context Okay, and I need to explain this to you as we're talking about this. I want to show you the difference here Jeremiah 3 verse 8 Jeremiah 3 verse 8 and I saw when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce now putting away is Basically the legal aspect of getting a divorce right and it clarifies and given her a bill of divorce So basically God's married on to Israel Israel commits adultery and then God divorces Israel and see people try to use this and say we'll see this makes you know Divorce, okay for adultery. Well that would contradict where it said excepted be for fornication Right, we're basically that's the only situation you would be able to get a divorce you say well Here's what's the difference between this? Why does it say? You know, he divorced when adultery was committed and how come that's not acceptable with two people being married Here's the difference when you get married you say till death do us part What did God say to Israel as long as you keep your end of the bargain then I'm gonna Stay with you. It wasn't an everlasting covenant. See marriage is till death do us part till the very end We're staying married that isn't what God said to Israel though, is it I know that's what Baptist churches say That's not what the Bible says though. He says you're mine as long as you don't break the Covenant They broke the Covenant. They're worshipping another God Right. And so here's the thing God didn't give them an everlasting covenant And the other thing is this when you're looking at a story when there's when there's clear verses That's what you base your doctrine on Right people want to go to the book of Ezekiel I can prove you can you can lose your salvation because in the book of Ezekiel chapter 22 when he's prophesying It's like yeah go to the most confusing book of the Bible and pull out a verse, right? Why not John 3 16 where it says everlasting life and it's really clear Right and they go to a story and they try to use this story to say we'll see when adultery is committed Then you're allowed to get a divorce. Well, this is God married to a nation That's not the same thing as two individuals being married and the difference is when two people get married. It's till death do us part That is not the Covenant that God made with Israel He said you are mine as long as you stay faithful. That was part of the agreement. It was like a prenuptial Agreement sort of right and it's like that's what God said to them So he gave them a bill of divorce because they committed adultery and this was part of the rules that they already knew Yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not but went and played the harlot also and it's like what are you doing Judah? It's just like you know You just saw Israel get destroyed the book of Hosea talks about the destruction of Israel with some warnings to Judah Hey Judah, I don't want to have to divorce you too. I mean keep this in mind What's happening to Israel and yet they don't pay attention to it yet our treacherous sister Judah feared not But went and played the harlot also and it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom that she defiled the land and Committed adultery with stones and stocks and yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned on me with her whole heart But faintedly right but basically fake Judah turned on to God but not with their whole heart as we talked about last week, but it was just kind of fake Faintedly saith the Lord and the Lord said on to me the backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah go and proclaim these words toward the north, which is the northern kingdom of Israel and say return now Backsliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I Will not keep anger for ever now Isaiah and Hosea are contemporary prophets and then Jeremiah comes after Isaiah and You know Isaiah and Jeremiah those are primarily written to the southern kingdom of Judah But Judah's basically being reminded. Hey, this is what happened to Israel Don't go down the same road and it's while they're going through this transition and they should be able to figure this out But somehow oftentimes when people go through problems, they don't realize all you know, it's because of my sin I mean you're worshipping golden calfs It's like you should be able to figure out that's why our nation's being destroyed go back to Hosea 8 Hosea 8 All right, I guess I lied. It's not gonna be a short sermon. I thought it was but I tried to go fast. I already preached fast enough. I can't make it faster, right? Hey, at least I'm not preaching a 50-point sermon like Pastor Jimenez did because then we'd be here till like midnight or something like that right Hosea chapter 8 verse 10 Hosea chapter 8 verse 10 Yea, though they have hired among the nations now I gather them and they shall sorrow little for the burden of the king of princes and it's saying, you know They hired among the nations. They basically Hired among the nations. They're worshipping false gods. They're linking up with Assyria and Egypt. They've got all these lovers God's like hire whoever you want Right hire 1 million bodyguards and you'll still be destroyed is what he's basically saying You can hire among the nations all you want. Just keep wasting all your money. It's not gonna do you any good Right. I mean the same thing is true for us in a spiritual standpoint that you know God can protect us especially from dangers that take place But that hedge of protection can be gone if we live a wicked lifestyle and that's what we're seeing here in in Hosea chapter 8 Verse 10 right you can hire among the nations. It's not gonna protect you right? You're gonna be okay, right Hosea Or you're you're not gonna be okay Hosea 8 verse 11 point one advance of the enemy Point two an adoration for idols point three adultery on God, but they notice this point for adorning spirituality Adorning spirituality and what I mean by that is Even though that they're wicked they are are trying to act spiritual They're trying to look the part and still be spiritual while they are wicked Right and we kind of cover that earlier with the idols and it kind of goes back into it here Hosea 8 verse 11 Because Ephraim hath made many elders to sin elders shall be on to him to sin and so Ephraim had created a lot of elders to do Sacrifices and to do spiritual things and yet it wasn't used in a godly way Right Ephraim hath made many elders to sin Alders shall be on to him to sin what we're seeing is even when a nation gets wicked. They still like to act spiritual Right, that's just the way people are they like to act like they're spiritual and look the part Even if they're ungodly Hosea 8 verse 12. I've written to him the great things in my law, but they were counted as a strange thing Israel rejected what was written in God's Word Verse 13 they sacrificed flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings and eat it. So they're doing offerings But the Lord accepted them not God did not accept their sacrifices Why would God not accept their sacrifices go to the last book of the Old Testament the book of Malachi Malachi chapter 1 Malachi 1 Malachi chapter 1 Malachi chapter 1 we're almost done. We'll go to Malachi 1 then we're gonna go back to Hosea 8. We'll finish up Malachi chapter 1 Verse 11 for from the rising of the Sun even on the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles And in every place incense shall be offered on my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the heat And saith the Lord of hosts But you have profaned it in that you say the table the Lord is polluted and the fruit thereof even as meat is contemptible He said also behold. What a weariness is it and you have snuffed out as saith the Lord of hosts when they're saying What what a weariness is it? They're basically complaining. It's just so hard to serve God. Oh, what a weariness it is It's so difficult. It's so hard Then it says here and he brought that which was torn and the lame and the sick Thus he brought an offering shall I accept this of your hand saith the Lord so it says here in Malachi 1 verse 13 They're bringing an offering to God but It's lame. It's sick. It's torn, right? It'd be like for example if you had 20 cows and then one of the cows had three broken legs and couldn't walk and you're like Hey, that's the one I'm gonna offer a guy. That's what they were doing It's like let us find the absolute worst one and that's gonna be our offering Is that gonna be accepted by God? Because I mean and and and and here's the thing It's not that God was demanding too much because even we looked at at tithing in a sense of having animals It's just what the tenth was you didn't have to pick the best but when you intentionally pick the worst That's what angers God and that's what they were doing. They found the one that was sick. It's like oh man this cows got COVID It's like that's the one that's the one that we're gonna sacrifice to God, right? I think this one's gonna die It's like your animals about to die. It's like, okay Well, let's just do it as an offering to God. So at least we get some use out of it I mean, that's the sort of attitude that they had right? They brought that was what was lame and sick then it says in verse 14 but cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male and Voweth and sacrificed on the Lord a corrupt thing From a great King saith the Lord of hosts and my name is dreadful among the heathen and he says you've got a good male to sacrifice animal and you vowed You've agreed to do he made a vow to God and then you sacrifice a bad one, but you're pretending it's your best, right? What are they trying to do? Well, they're trying to look spiritual adorning spirituality look like you're spiritual when you're not spiritual They're fake. That's the same thing. We see with Israel and Hosea go back to Hosea 8 Hosea 8 Hosea chapter 8 Verse 13 they sacrifice flesh for the sacrifice of mine offerings and eat it but the Lord accepted them not now Will he remember their iniquity and visit their sins they shall return to Egypt which I believe is saying they're gonna return back into bondage Okay, they're gonna return into Egypt then verse 14 for Israel hath forgotten his maker and buildeth temples and Judah hath multiplied fence cities, but I will send a fire upon his cities and it shall devour the palaces thereof And see the Bible gives us indication in verse 14 that you can forget God and still be building temples Right, you can forget God and still feel like you're spiritual. They had altars. They're doing sacrifices But they weren't godly at all. It was just fake right and and and the closing thought I want to give you here in regards to this You have to understand this that Israel when they became very wicked. They still wanted to look like they were spiritual And I thought about this a couple years ago I was thinking about four really key areas the Christian life from my perspective one area I would say is you know going to church I think that's probably the most fundamental basic aspect of being a Christian is just going to church, right? One thing is you know reading the Bible right? Another thing is you know soul winning Okay, and just you know reading the Bible and prayer are the two but you can almost link those together as you're there your personal But I was thinking about reading the Bible prayer soul winning and going to church What's interesting is two of those things are visible they can be seen Two of them cannot be seen the two that can be seen are soul winning and coming to church, right? I mean if somebody's not at church will notice Right if somebody doesn't come soul winning. I mean it's gonna be noticed But you know the things that are not noticed are the Bible reading and the prayer Right like I don't know whether you prayed this morning. You don't know whether I pray this morning I don't know whether you read the Bible. You don't know whether I read the Bible your name might be on the chart I mean, I'm assuming you're not lying when you say I did the nine chapters a day, right? I'm assuming you're telling the truth, but it's not really something that's visible, right? We don't really know how much somebody's reading the Bible. We don't know how much someone's praying We do know if they're coming to church and going so and and I realized this and I was I was thinking about this because I've Seen a lot of people drop out of church through the years and drop out of serving God and sometimes people will seem like they're Really serving God they're coming to church and then just out of nowhere. They're gone And it was just like how is this possible because they were just serving God and I realized this People are gonna make sure they're doing the things on the outside to be seen of man until the very end That would be the last thing to go Right if somebody's serving God and then all of a sudden they just stop coming to church What that tells you is they stopped reading the Bible a long time ago It tells you they stopped having a personal walk with God a long time ago Because the things that are seen this is just the way we are as people we're gonna want to do those to the very end But the things that are not seen and that's why you've just got to make a decision in your life to have a personal walk with God Because it's not something that we can check in on you nor would I want to right? But it's not gonna be like oh I can really check into someone's life and make sure they're in the Bible and every Facebook And the group chat I'm gonna say all right. Here's your Bible reading schedule for today I mean we try to encourage you for January, but it's really just up to you, right? I mean, I don't have the time or energy nor do I want to Try to force you to read the Bible and stuff like that But the reality is that people will do things on the outside until the very end But the reality is it means they probably stopped doing the stuff on the inside a long time ago Because the personal walk with God probably was gone, and they were just doing the things the outside why adorning spirituality That is what Israel did I mean if you looked at Israel if you're just kind of going through the area If you can avoid the idols, you'll still see the altars. They're doing sacrifices Seems like nothing's different but they had they had stopped serving God from the inside a long time ago and That's the reason why they're still doing the things on the outside, but they're not actually godly, right? So our four points here are this point number one. We see the advance of the enemy the advance of the enemy point number one That's what he talks about the first several verses point number two the adoration for idols The idolatry is the reason for the advance of the enemy right and so we see the advance of the enemy adoration for idols Adultery on God they're worshipping idols They're committing adultery on God right and God divorces Israel because it was not an everlasting covenant But point number four we see adorning spirituality even through all of this through all of their wickedness They still want to pretend that they're spiritual they still want to pretend That they're righteous and look you see this in countries around the world I mean if you were to look at the people that seem to be the most Zealous Catholics and what I mean are the people that crucify themselves. I Mean they get drunk before they're crucifying themselves Right. I mean are they are they godly? That I mean they're doing the things on the outside, but you know, it's like, you know, how do they get through that pain? Well, they get they get drunk right before they get crucified. That's how they get through the pain, but they look spiritual Right. I mean, but they're not at all. You look at all these nations that look really spiritual You look at the most spiritual nations India probably the number one most spiritual nation. Is that a godly nation? No, but people like to look like they're spiritual without actually being spiritual That's why all of us on an individual level on a church level an individual level make sure your heart's right with God Make sure you have that personal walk with God. That's why we have those Bible reading charts not just for January But we gave you Five different options because option for three times through we gave you two options five different options for reading the Bible From February to December from reading it once a year twice three times four times Why I want you to have that personal walk with God I don't want you to just grow in January and then all of a sudden in February to December Oh, and then all of a sudden you're climbing that mountain in January It's February and you just keep and you're just yo-yo in your whole life and it's like one month a year You're really spiritual and then the last the next couple months You still got a little bit of and then you're just kind of just hanging on for dear life You got you're not reading any Bible and then all of a sudden I got to Resuscitate you with the Word of God on Sundays and just like give you a million verses and preach like five million miles per Second to get through it all and everything like that just to keep you alive It's just like no just have that personal walk with God in the morning wake up take 30 minutes Don't care about Facebook. Don't care about text messaging. Just open up the Word of God for 30 minutes And it might not feel like you're making major changes But you're gonna be able to look back six months and say man And you're gonna see some major changes in your life. Why because of that personal daily walk with God. Let's close in a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for allowing us to be here today and and getting to see your word and apply it to our lives God and and help us learn the lesson from Israel that did get destroyed and in the sin and the wickedness and obviously I would Hope none of us go down the road of worshiping idols and things such as that God But at the same time, you know we can can stop serving you from the inside and only have this adorning spirituality and Look like we're spiritual because we want to be seen of man or for whatever reason God help us Just have that personal daily walk with you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen