(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

We are in Hosea, chapter number eight. Look down at your Bibles at verse number one. It says there, Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant and trespass against my law. Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good. The enemy shall pursue him. And so now we see, of course, judgment is already pronounced on Israel for the evil deeds that they've done, that they've departed from the Lord. They've gone into idolatry. They're committing whoredom, spiritual whoredom. That's basically the theme of the book of Hosea. And now in Hosea, chapter eight, he's basically saying, all right, judgment has been pronounced. Now it's time to go to war. You say, how do you know that? Well, look at verse number one. It says, Set the trumpet to thy mouth. And he's talking to Hosea here, and he's saying, hey, now it's time to put the trumpet to thy mouth. Now, anytime you hear about a trumpet being sounded, obviously when we think about a trumpet, we think about the Feast of Trumpets where it declares liberty to the captives. But also, when you hear about trumpets in the Bible, it's also a reference to war beginning. In other words, hey, the war started. We're going to sound the trumpet, and that is the beginning of a war. And that's exactly what we see here. This is not talking about freedom. Why? Because now we see that they're going to go into captivity. God's going to bring a foreign nation to come and judge his people, and God's basically ordaining for that to happen because he is chastising Israel. So he's not proclaiming liberty to the captives here. He's proclaiming war. And he's telling Hosea, hey, set the trumpet to your mouth. Make sure you blow that thing because that's exactly what I'm declaring upon Israel. Now this isn't a foreign concept in the Bible because although we see that he's proclaiming judgment, what he's basically telling Hosea is this. Preach against Israel. That's what it means when he says, put the trumpet to thy mouth. In fact, go to Isaiah chapter 58. Isaiah chapter 58, hold your place in Isaiah chapter 8. We're going to go back to that. Isaiah 58, and we'll see this concept. This is a verse that we often quote, but it's good to look at it. Look at Isaiah 58, verse number 1, telling Isaiah, he says, cry out loud, spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. Now when we think of someone saying, cry out loud, spare not, what do you think of? You think of war. Because when a foreign nation or any kind of war is taking place, you go in and you don't spare. You take the life of every single person that's in that village, in that city, in that town. And in fact, when God would deputize his people to go into a foreign nation and say, hey, wipe everything out, wipe out all the Amalekites, take out Agath, he would say, spare not. Make sure you utterly destroy all the inhabitants from off the face of the earth. And then what does that mean? It means to spare not. Don't show any pity. And in like manner, that's how preaching should be. You see, biblical preaching is a type of preaching that you cry out loud and you don't spare. What does that mean? You don't leave out any details, right? You give every single detail that needs to be given, we give every single Bible verse, whether controversial or not, whether offensive or not, we don't spare. Why is that? Because we don't want to hold back something that is profitable for someone to hear. And in fact, when you cry out loud and you spare not in regards to the transgressions of the land, you actually begin to turn people away, not from God, but from their sin. You see, a lot of people say, well, if you preach too hard, you're going to turn people away from God. No, in fact, God says when you spare not, you turn people away from their sin. You make them afraid of God. You make them recognize the wages of sin is death. You make them afraid of the consequences of their actions. And because of that, they repent and they turn from their sin, okay? It says there, cry out loud and spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet. You know, people criticize that type of, that kind of preaching today. Why are you yelling? You know, you sound angry, you know, you sound like you got a different spirit. Yeah, he's called the Holy Spirit, okay? When you lift up your voice like a trumpet, you show the severity of the message that's being proclaimed. You know, if I was up here and just talking in a regular voice about difficult things and offensive subjects and against sin, but there's no passion, no severity in my voice, how are you going to take me serious? But when a man is up and he's preaching the word of God and he's just slobbering with his mouth and spit his flying all over the place, you see the veins popping out of his head. You look at the person and say, okay, maybe what he's saying is actually true. You know, people always say, why is your eyes bulging out of your face? Because I'm telling you, what I'm believing, what I'm saying is I believe. What I'm saying is true, and I believe it with all my heart, and if I do, then I ought to proclaim it in such a way that you recognize I'm being serious with what I'm talking about. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, yell. Now look, not all preachers should be yelling, and there's times when I've taught the word of God where I just, I'm teaching the word of God and there's no need necessarily to yell, but when, in regards to certain specific subjects, when we talk about sin, fornication, when we're going to war, right, we got to lift up our voice like a trumpet. Cry aloud, spare not, and show my people their transgression in the house of Jacob, their sins. This type of preaching is not popular today. Even amongst those who are preaching the word of God, they hear something like this and say, well, you got an angry spirit. Yeah, I'm angry. Of course. You know what? The Holy Spirit gets angry. The Holy Spirit gets upset. The Holy Spirit is grieved. The Holy Spirit can become quenched. The Holy Spirit can become wrathful. Why is that? Because of the transgression of the people, and if the Holy Spirit resides within me, that is the exact spirit that I need to be portraying, is what the Spirit is portraying, okay? And so it says there, lift up thy voice like a trumpet. So when we're preaching, we are going to war. Not all the sermons, but some of the sermons, we're going to war. We're calling out the sin. We're naming false prophets and false teachers. That's important. In order to spare the flock from false teachings and doctrines of devils that can cause them to stray from the paths of the Bible, the word of God. Now go with me, if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter 1. So in that first verse, it says, set the trumpet to thy mouth. What is he saying? You're about to blow this thing. We're about to go to war. Okay? And you listen to the majority of the preaching, old enotism, but specifically of the prophets of the Old Testament, that's exactly what they were doing. Jeremiah's ministry, he's just proclaiming judgment and preaching against them. Ezekiel and Isaiah, all these men are just proclaiming judgment from God unto the people of God. Look at 1 Timothy 1 verse 18, it says, discharge thy commitment unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them, that preaching, mightest war a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrecked. You see, it's important that we have this mentality that there is a time of war, spiritual warfare. Of course, we know, we understand that, you know, we don't war against flesh and blood. You know, our warfare is against principalities, powers, and the rules of the darkness of this world. But those principalities, powers, and the rules of darkness indwell physical flesh. So therefore, we need to call out those people who are being influenced by these demonic spiritual influences, by these demonic spirits. These are wicked people that need to be called out by name. Well, you should just, you know, call out the devil. Well, of course, but the devil uses people. And there's people in this world who are in agreement with the devil. There's people who are propagating the devil's agenda in regards to salvation, who are propagating the devil's agenda in regards to doctrine and false doctrine and false religion, and we need to make sure that we call that out by name. It's important, and it's actually biblical. That's how we're going to war a good warfare according to the Bible, okay? You see, you know, it's important to teach doctrine and teach basic things, the practicality of Christian living. We did that on Sunday. We talked about the practicality of Christian living, making sure that you don't have sin in your life in practical ways, how to just live the Christian life. That's important. We've got to have a balanced meal of preaching. And there comes a point where we have to understand, hey, remember, everyone, wake up, everyone. We're in a war here. You know, now's not the time to take your plowshares and your pruning hooks. Right now is the time to take those plowshares and pruning hooks and beat them into swords and spears. Now, in the millennial reign, the Bible tells us that we're going to take the plowshares and the pruning hooks and we're going to, excuse me, we're going to take the swords and the spears and beat them into plowshares and pruning hooks. Why? It's time to work. It's time to relax. You know, you're going to rule over your cities and, you know, put sodomites to death and execute the laws of God and just have a good, eat meat, you know, eat, drink, and be married for tomorrow. You live forever. It's the millennial reign. We're just, but that's, we're not in that time right now. We're in a time of warfare. And there are seasons in spiritual battle that is a lot hotter than others, you know, but we need to learn to assimilate to each season. Okay? He's like, well, I don't feel like fighting. Well, you better start feeling like it because the fight doesn't go away if you don't feel like fighting. Whether in your family, you're going through a tough season, whether maybe there's a tough season in the church, you got to be ready at all times to go to war, to put the trumpet to your mouth and be ready to blow that thing to go to war. Go back to Hosea chapter eight. And this is what he's telling Hosea, set the trumpet to thy mouth. And then he goes on to say, he shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord because they have transgressed my covenant and trespass against my law. Israel shall cry unto me, my God, we know thee. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good. The enemy shall pursue him. So there's a couple of things that we can notice from this passage right here. First of all, I want you to notice that often, sometimes the Bible seems redundant, but there's a reason why God just keeps repeating himself over and over again. You know, it's like, we know Israel has transgressed. Yeah, but he kind of wants to just drill it in to show us that this is something that's making him not happy at all, okay? And he's saying there, he shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord. So he compares his judgment to an eagle. Now go to, hold your place there, go to Deuteronomy 28. What does it mean when he says that he shall come as an eagle against the house of Israel? It's basically an illustration to show that the destruction that's coming to Israel is going to be swift. Think of an eagle, how many of you have seen those videos where the eagle takes the goat from off the mountain and just drops him? I mean, talk about working smarter, not harder, amen? He's like, I'm not going to fight this thing, I'm just going to pick it up and let the mountain do the work for me. He picks up the goat. Have any of you guys ever seen that? The eagle will come and go and take the goat, the mountain goat or whatever, he'll pick it up just ever so slightly and just drop it. And then the person who's filming it has this really good camera and you just see that thing fall forever. Every once in a while it'll hit a corner of the mountain and it'll just keep, and then it just dies and then they come and they feast on that thing. You know, I don't even know where I was going with, oh, the eagle, it's swift. Or they'll take like a baby goat and you just see it, just grab it and it'll just take it to the nest to feed the children or whatever. But one thing that's for sure about an eagle is it's very fast, it's swift, it's very quick, okay? And so this is the illustration that he's using here, he's saying, look, I'm gonna come to you as an eagle. What does that mean? He's gonna come and just destroy everything very fast. Now there's times when he compares himself to an eagle as far as delivering Israel out of Egypt. We see that in Deuteronomy as well. I'd rather see, I'd rather have God be that type of eagle than the other eagle, okay? The eagle that's delivering me, the eagle that is rescuing me, rather than what's taking place here. Look at Deuteronomy 28 verse 47. It says, because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things, therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in want of all things, and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck until he have destroyed thee. 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, a nation of fierce countenance which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young, and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle and the fruit of thy land until thou be destroyed, which also shalt not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kin, or flocks of thy sheep until he have destroyed thee, and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates until thy high and fenced walls come down wherein thou trustest throughout all thy land, and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land which the Lord thy God hath given thee. So we see even in Deuteronomy chapter 28, he's already foretelling of the judgment that's going to happen. And one thing you'll notice about the book of Deuteronomy is that a lot of its warnings and it's really a foretelling as well because a lot of the things that he said in Deuteronomy ended up happening. We'll see that later on when he talks about, hey, when you take a king. Obviously, his will was not for them to have an earthly king. He wanted to rule over Israel, but he understood later on in the future they were going to reject him as a king and actually set up their own king. So he said, look, when that happens, this is the kind of king I want, and we're going to get into that in just a little bit. But we see there that God's destruction is often swift. You think of Babylon, right, in the end times, in Revelation chapter 18, it's destroyed very quickly. And often, the length of time, you often see how wicked a place is based upon how quickly it's destroyed because God just wants to wipe it out quickly. Think of Sodom and Gomorrah, how quickly it was destroyed, okay? And so wicked nations, wicked cities, you can often measure how wicked they really are by how quickly they're destroyed. And when God says, hey, I'm coming to you as an eagle, it means it's going to be swift. It's going to be a very swift and quick destruction upon that place. But with me, if you would, to, you're in Deuteronomy, go to Deuteronomy 17. I'm going to read to you a couple scriptures here. Isaiah 43 verse 13 says, yea, before the day was I, excuse me, yea, before the day was I am he, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who shall let it? You see, when you have enemies, physical enemies, people who just hate you, you can be delivered out of that person's hand. You know what I mean? They're not omnipresent, they're not omniscient, they're not almighty, but when you have God as your enemy, though, no man is able to deliver you out of his hand, you know? No man can deliver, you think of Revelation chapter six, when the day of the Lord comes, and people are just trying to, they're saying, until the rocks fall upon us, that's not even going to help you. You know, no man can deliver you out of the hand of God when he comes swiftly as an eagle to destroy you. Now, another, you know, we think of, like, for example, in second Peter two two, it talks about, second Peter two one, it talks about false prophets, right? It says there were false teachers, false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privileged shall bring damnable heresies, even, excuse me, damnable heresies, and that they bring swift destruction upon themselves. Now you think about that, you're just like, wait a minute, you know, I know of a lot of false prophets and false teachers who they're not destroyed yet, but it says that they're going to bring upon themselves swift destruction, and make no mistake about it, false teachers and false prophets are some of the most wicked people on the face of the planet. This is like the highest degree of wickedness any human being can attain to in this life, is a false teacher or a false prophet, but it tells us that they bring upon themselves swift destruction, yet we see Joel Osteen still preaching every single Sunday, you know, we see people just still living even on their false prophets, he said, what's the deal with that? Well think about this, the Bible tells us that they're twice dead, so God, I consider that as swift destruction, because as soon as they reject that God, God gave them over to a reprobating mind, they can no longer be saved, it's like he's already reserved the blackness of darknesses in them forever, it was swift, it's so swift it hasn't even happened yet. You know, you think of like a bomb that goes off, and like you see the flash, and then you hear the actual bomb go off like a couple seconds later or something like that, you hear like a lightning bolt, you see the lightning and then a couple seconds later it's just like you hear the thunder, well that's kind of how this is, you know what I mean, it's like you see, you see the fact that there are false prophets and false teachers, but their destruction, it's so fast, their destruction is so fast that they're still living right now, but man, I mean, in comparison to eternity, this is nothing, why aren't they destroyed? In comparison to eternity, it's a swift destruction, okay, because he damned them before they even died, physically, there's people that are not damned until they die, right, you know, for whatever reason, they're not reprobates, but they're just regular people who maybe they didn't get the gospel, or they did get the gospel, but they rejected it, and they just die suddenly, you know, they're damned forever, well, the false prophet and the false teacher is like dead before that, you know, they may be living and breathing and stuff like that, but it's a very swift destruction for them. Now, I had you go to Deuteronomy 17, but go back to Hosea 8, we're just gonna read some scriptures here that deal with what we're gonna see in Deuteronomy 17. So we see here, man, this is not good for Israel, he's like, sound the trumpet, we're going to war, and I'm gonna destroy it as an eagle, I'm gonna come swiftly upon you and destroy you, in other words, no man's gonna be able to deliver them out of God's hand. Look what it goes on to say, let's see here, verse number four, let's start in verse three, excuse me, Israel hath cast off the thing that is good, the enemy shall pursue him. By the way, I want you to notice in verse two, it says that Israel shall cry unto my God, we know thee, right? And then he says in verse three, Israel hath cast off the thing that is good. So it's like, what is that talking about? They're talking out of both sides of their mouth, they're being hypocrites. We know thee, yet they're forsaking the covenant. We know thee, yet they're casting off that which is good, you know, and with their lips they do honor him, but their heart is far from him, in other words, okay? Look at verse four, it says they have set up kings, but not by me, they have made princes, and I knew it not, of their silver and of their gold have they made them idols that they may be cut off. Now go to Deuteronomy 17, hold your place here in Hosea 8. So this is a famous passage of scripture that most people know or they can quote, where it says they have set up kings, but not by me. Now right off the bat, this basically flies in the face of Calvinism, and the reason for that is because Calvinists believe that God basically ordains everything, even when it comes to the will of man, that God is just like a puppet in heaven that's just ordaining everything, making everyone do evil, making everyone do good, and all this foolish nonsense that the Bible does not teach. And over and over again, we see the Bible just completely discrediting Calvinism based upon the fact that he has given every single human being a free will, and in fact, we see that free will being exercised right here in verse four. They have set up kings, but not by me. Oh, hold on a second, sovereign God. That doesn't jive with Calvinism, yeah, because Calvinism doesn't jive with the Bible. They willingly set up a leader, an authority, a king, and it wasn't according to God, okay? Now God has specific standards for the ruler of his people, okay? And we see that in Deuteronomy 17, look at Deuteronomy 17, verse 14. It says here, when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shall say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me, thou shalt in any way send him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose, one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee. Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. So automatically, I mean, remember, Deuteronomy is being written when Israel was under a theocracy. God was king over Israel. God was the one who was reigning over them. God is the one who's taking care of them. But then later on, you know, towards the latter end of the book of Judges, entering into the book of 1 Samuel, we see that the children of Israel said, we want a king just like all the other nations, which is exactly what he prophesied right here. They end up taking Saul, and he tells Samuel, they have not rejected thee, they're rejecting me. Therefore, here are the qualifications of that king, the ruler of my people. It says there, but he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses, for as much as the Lord had said unto you, ye shall henceforth return no more that way. So one of the qualifications there is he says, hey, whoever's going to rule over you can't be covetous, trying to multiply horses, and causing the people of God to go back into Egypt, for what purpose, to multiply horses, okay? Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away. Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver or gold. So a big part of being qualified as a king is that he couldn't be covetous, because the love of money is the root of all evil. And look, though this is primarily for a king, this is applicable to all Christians, especially those who are in positions of leadership, can't be covetous, can't love money, can't desire to multiply gold and silver. A spiritual leader needs to have a temporal mindset, or excuse me, not temporal mindset, an eternal mindset. They need to reject the temporal mindset, because the temporal mindset is this, I want everything that's in this world. I want what this world has to offer, whereas an eternal mindset is, you know what, we need the temporal things to sustain us so that we can gain those eternal things that are in heaven. But what do we see today? We see spiritual leaders who are covetous, spiritual leaders who are more concerned with how much they're making, or the next raise they're gonna get, rather than being content with things that they have. You know, that's not godly, that's not righteous. Look, I'm not against money, amen? Money pays the bills. Money puts food on the table. Money keeps the lights on. Now that's funny, because right now we have a power outage at our house. Not because we didn't pay our bills, okay? Someone blew out a transformer, and we've been living like the Amish today. But money's important because it pays for the necessities, but we should never desire and love money. Have money, but don't let money have you, in other words. And he's telling this to the children of Israel because when a king is placed into position, they have a lot of power. And obviously, if you look at the history of the kings, many, the vast majority of them violated this right here, all of it. They just completely disregarded all of it, you know? David multiplied to himself wives, and he's a man after God's own heart, but he multiplied to himself wives, I mean, horses, they all violated all of this. And that's why, you know, they were fallible, they made mistakes, and a lot of the times the kingdom would end in ruin after a couple generations because they were not going according to the qualifications of what a ruler should be. Look down and it says, neither shall he greatly multiply to himself server and gold, and it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priest the Levites, and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord, the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel. So another qualification was this, he was supposed to by hand write out the book of the law. That's a tedious task, but that's a good thing to do. He says he's supposed to write it, read therein all the days of his life so we can fear the Lord his God. So he's not lifted up above his brethren. So this is another thing that we see with kings, the biblical kings, is that they weren't any better than anybody else. They were just like their brethren, but they were just chosen to rule their brethren in the ways of the Lord, to execute the righteousness of God and to obey the commandments of the Lord. That's what he was there for. Now, we understand that this role here of being a king was a lot different from the nations that were around about them. Because even Jesus said, you know, the Gentiles, they lord over their people, right? But it shall not be so among you, right? And it goes the same for a pastor. A pastor is no better than a person who's sitting in the pew, they've just been chosen to carry out the laws of God within the local New Testament church. They're there to basically lead spiritually, to be the example, et cetera, but they're no better than anybody else. Now that's not the same attitude that a lot of people have. A lot of pastors out there, they have the attitude that they're better than those sitting in the pews, right? That they are better essentially because of their position, but most of these people, that's exactly what they emphasize is a position. They want a title, they want a position, why? Because they feel like they can be better than someone else, okay? So we see that that's a specific standard that he had for the rules of his people. Now go with me, if you would, to Psalm 78. I'm sorry, Proverbs 29, Proverbs 29, I'll read to you from Psalm 78. Psalm 78 has to do with what I mentioned earlier as far as this concept lying in the face of Calvinism because the Bible tells us in Psalm 78, verse 41, yea, they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. I want to hear a Calvinist give me an interpretation of that. Well hold on a second, so the puppet is now limited, the one who's pulling the strings? How is that? The Bible says here that they limited the Holy One of Israel. How do you limit it? By disobedience. You know what disobedience requires? Your own will. You idiot, Calvinist. It requires your own will to go against the commandments of the Lord to be able to limit. Now obviously, God is almighty, he's omniscient, he's omnipotent. The Bible tells us that his hand's not short, that he cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear. We know that he's capable, but our disobedience can limit his ability to do works in our lives. Even Jesus Christ told the cities, the Bible says in the gospels that he did not many miracles there were because of their unbelief. It's not that he wasn't capable, it's because of their unbelief, their lack of faith caused that to limit Jesus Christ and the works that he can do in that city. And we never want to do that. We never want to place a limit on what God can do here in our church. You know what limits? Disobedience and a lack of faith. What limits God from doing a great work at Faith Forward Baptist Church of Omani is a lack of obedience to his word and a lack of faith of what God can do. You see, we want to make sure that when we dream of what God can do in our church, we dream big. We envision great works. They'll never have this attitude of, yeah, you know, that's possible, but I just don't think that we could ever do something like that. That's not the right attitude. You're limiting God. God can do great and mighty things through our church. God can do great and mighty things through you and through me if we obey him and we exercise that faith. And look, everyone has a different measure of faith. Some people have small faith, some people have great faith, but here's the great thing about faith. You could always increase your faith. How? By obedience. You see how they go hand in hand? As you obey God's commandments, even though you feel like, man, I don't know if this is gonna work out, I'm just gonna obey, that increases your faith in God, okay? Now another thing that we see here in regards to Hosea chapter eight where it says they set up kings but not by me, they're basically not going according to the qualifications of a king. They're setting up wicked kings who are basically leading the people into idolatry. And the Bible tells us in Proverbs 29 verse 12, if a ruler hearkened to lies, all his servants are wicked. So what does this tell us? It tells us that a ruler is often the reflection of the people and vice versa. A ruler is often the reflection of the people he's ruling over and vice versa. You see, you think of some of the rulers that we've had in the United States. Think about Obama. I can't believe that guy is the president, that guy is the president of the United States. Yeah, he's the reflection of the people in this country. Now not all the people, obviously, but the nation as a whole because the nation has become so wicked, so foolish, so anti-God, that's exactly the type of king that's gonna be set up. That's the kind of ruler that's gonna be set up, excuse me. And it says there that if a ruler hearkened to lies, all the servants are wicked, you know? Whoever that person is ruling over, they're just a reflection of who that person is. That's exactly what it is. For example, Donald Trump. What does that say about the United States of America? Pride, arrogance, haughtiness. That reflects the United States of America to the T. And that's why we have that ruler. The Bible tells us, go to Isaiah chapter three. I'm gonna read to you from Isaiah chapter 19. Now look, God does set up kings. He does set up rulers according to the obedience or the disobedience of the person. You see, the way God carries out certain actions is based upon your action, is based upon your will. If you want a good person to be set up and you obey God's commandments, then that's the kind of person you're gonna get. But if you're wicked, if it's a wicked nation, they're gonna vote in a wicked person. That's just the end of the story. Isaiah 19, you're in Isaiah chapter three. I'm gonna read to you from Isaiah chapter 19 verse three. It says, And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof, and I will destroy the council thereof. And they shall seek to the idols and to the charmers and to them that have familiar spirits and to the wizards. And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord, and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts. So we see that because of their actions of idolatry, God says, all right, I'm gonna set a fierce king over you then because of your actions, because of your will. Look at Isaiah three, verse one, For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the host stay of bread and the host stay of water, the mighty man, the man of war, the judge and the prophet and the prudent and the ancient, the captain of fifty and the honorable man, and the counselor and the cunning artificer and the eloquent orator, and I will give children to be their princes and babes shall rule over them, and the people shall be oppressed, excuse me, did someone ask a question or so? I thought someone asked a question. And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another and every one by his neighbor. The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honorable. Man, this is bad. So what does it mean when it says children shall rule over them? I don't think it literally means like, you know, little toddlers were like just like ruling people, do this, you know, by the way, that's true for parents where the children are ruling over the parents, you know what I mean? But here it's talking about the fact that they're just children spiritually in maturity. Now that is America, right? Children are ruling over us, okay? People who are babes are ruling over and the people shall be oppressed, it says, every one by another and every one by his neighbor. God is doing this, but it's based upon the volition of the people, okay? So he doesn't just set up a wicked king just to set up a wicked king because that's what his will is. No, his will, we saw in Deuteronomy, that when they set up a king, he's a righteous king who hates covetousness, will not multiply horses or gold or silver, who will read the Bible, who will obey it all the days of his life. It's his will, but if they choose not to do that, then guess what? Then he'll raise up a wicked king after them. And look, it's with the purpose of getting them to repent and turn back unto the Lord. You read the book of Judges, that's exactly what would happen. Every man did that which was written in his own eyes, they would serve Baal and God would allow a wicked ruler to rule over them. And what would happen? They would get chastised, they would get beaten, they would be oppressed and they would cry unto the Lord. The Lord would raise up a judge, he would raise up a general who would come and deliver them and rescue them, and the cycle would repeat over and over and over again. But every time they disobeyed, he would send a wicked king to rule over them. Why? Because that's exactly what they deserve. Now here's the thing though, is the United States, you know, you talk to Fox News Baptists who go to Fox News Baptist Church, they will say, you know, don't speak against Donald Trump and Obama and stuff like that, even though like the Republican Baptist would always speak against Obama, but all of a sudden they got a Republican guy in office, now it's just oh, you know, they're just bowing down to him, quoting every single Bible verse. But here's the thing, Donald Trump and whatever president, they're not kings. You see, when a nation is ruled by kings, that's a monarchy. That's one person who makes the rules, who does, well, he's like, well, doesn't the president, no, the president doesn't do that. That's not the way it works. You see, our government is run by a legislative branch, judicial, and executive branch. The legislative branch are the ones who basically write the laws that the people choose, supposedly, right? The judicial branch are the ones who interpret the laws, the executive branch are the ones who carry it out, and the president falls under the executive branch. But yet he has the power to make an executive decision, right, where basically he overrules and overrides all laws if he wants to do something that's unconstitutional. He can do that, unfortunately. But he's not the highest power. Fox News Baptists think that he is, though. They consider him like the king. They consider Mike Pence to be like Daniel. I'm serious. It's like he's part of the executive branch. He's not a king. But here's the thing. Because our nation is filled with stupid people, they just, he's the king. You know? It's like, no, just do a little bit of study. He's not the king. Know your government at least semi-good so you understand he's not the king. We're not under our monarchy. He said, well, what's the highest law of the land? Well, for us, as Christians, it's the Bible, regardless of what nation we're in. But in the United States of America, after the Bible, it's the Constitution. And most people don't even know what that is. He's not a king. You see, but a lot of people don't know, he said, why don't people know that? Because remember, the people get the kind of ruler that they deserve. You know, that guy's so stupid, and yeah, it's probably because you're probably stupid. That's probably why, okay? And here's the thing, is like, Christians all across America are depending on the executive branch for everything. No, they're not. Yes, they are, because he's part of the executive branch. So they're depending on the President of the United States for everything, even to exercise their free rights, that God has already given to them. You know, it's foolishness and folly. Now, go to First Timothy chapter two. First Timothy chapter two. The highest power is the Constitution of the United States, and here's the thing, no law should ever bypass that, but unfortunately, they do all the time. Why? Because the people in the United States are just like, are so vaccinated and docile, that they just give their rights over on a platter. You know, you go down the street and a police officer asks for your ID, oh, here you go. It's like, you don't need an ID just to walk in the street. What in the world? That's weird. That's like, that's Germany, Nazi Germany right there. But people are so docile and uneducated that they just give up their rights like it's free, okay? Now, look at First Timothy two, verse one, it says, I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of things be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. And this is the text verse that people use, oh, we gotta pray for Trump, we gotta pray for him, you know, so we can lead a quiet and peaceable life, that's why we gotta vote him in. No, you lead a quiet and peaceable life, first of all, when you obey the word of God. But you pray for all that are in authority, by the way, it doesn't just say the president, it says for kings and for all that are in authority, spiritual or even secular. So what is this teaching us? It's teaching us that an all-encompassing principle that we should pray for all people so we can live peaceably with all people. And in fact, the Bible even tells us, as much as lies within you, live peaceably with all men. You know what that tells us? That we can't live peaceably with everyone. And in context, this is talking about the fact that God wants all men to be saved, okay? Because it says there, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. But here's the thing, if that's how you believe that this verse is saying that we just gotta pray for his success, pray for all these things, pray that he goes into righteousness, most of the presidents are reprobates, if not all of them, freemates and reprobates, right? But if this is what that was teaching, then you would have to call out John the Baptist. You would have to call out Jeremiah, because who were they going to? They were going to the ruler, the ones who were in authority and saying, you're wrong about this. You would have to get on Peter and the disciples when they disobeyed the rulers of that time. You see, we need to take a balanced view of the Bible and say, well, obviously it doesn't mean that because we have plenty examples of disciples, of prophets, of preachers in the Bible who preached against the ruler of the people, who preached against the king and called out the sins of that person, okay? So obviously that's not what it's talking about, because that's exactly what we're supposed to do. And in fact, back in Isaiah when we read, cry aloud and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, show my people their transgression, a lot of the times he was talking to and preaching to the rulers of the people, okay? So President Trump and Fox News Baptist Church have no idea what they're talking about when they say, we just got to bow down to them, and no, you need to bow down to the Lord Jesus Christ and obey him, that you can lead a quiet and peaceable life, okay? But they love it like this, though. You talk to Republican Baptists, most Baptist churches, all of them, if not all of them, not all of them except for us, they love the fact that President Trump is the president. I mean, it's just like, they're in the honeymoon right now. They're loving it. And it's just like, how can you love the fact that this wicked, adulterate, prideful, arrogant man is in office? How do you even rejoice at that? I mean, before he became president, you have like these idiot Baptists out there, and they're making like videos like, your vote counts, and all this like, what? You know, they're over here like, well, we can't tell you who to vote for, but I'll tell you this, I'm not voting for Hillary, basically telling us who they're voting for, right? But why is that? Why is it that they're just so ravished and enveloped in this president, well, because the Bible tells us in Jeremiah that the priests shall bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so. They love it. You know why they behave like this? Because that's exactly how they want it. They want God out of the equation, and they want their ruler, what they want, the shepherd that's according to their heart and their imagination to rule over them. The people love it so. Why? Because the people are just as wicked. And that's a reflection even of Christians in churches. When you talk to a Christian, all they talk about is politics. That goes to show you the night in the Bible much. They're just Fox News is what they're watching all the time. You know, all Sean Hannity and all the other bozos out there, that's exactly who they're listening to. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. When they're posting only like, you know, political things, and you know, Republican things and all that, it shows you where their heart is. Heart is not in the Bible. It's not in the ordinances of God. When they're pushing for Trump to get elected because they're afraid for their rights to be taken, it's just like, dude, you're not even exercising your right of soul winning, so don't even worry about it. You know? But they're so scared that they feel like they need to just vote in a secular, they're going to Egypt for help. They're going to the Assyrians for help, okay? No offense, John. If you don't like it, no, I'm just kidding. Go back to Hosea, Hosea, verse five. So we see there that he's saying, look, you've set up kings, but not by me. You know, you're setting up these wicked people, and they are your demise. They're going to be the reason why I'm judging you. They're going to be the reason why I'm coming as an eagle, and I'm going to destroy you because they're not leading you in the right way. Verse five says, thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off. Mine anger is kindled against them. How long will it be ere they attain to innocency? For from Israel was it also, the workmen made it, therefore it is not of God. But the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces, 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. I mean, he's like, so he's basically saying, look, you've sown the wind, you're going to reap the whirlwind. In other words, you've sown some sin, and you're going to reap destruction is what he's telling them. And he, I mean, he's showing there that this destruction is going to be so vast. He said this, your stocks, they're not going to yield any meal, right? You're not going to have any food. But just in case it yields any food, someone else is going to come take it. So don't give your hopes up when you see, oh, there's a stock, you got some meal. It's like, say goodbye. Someone else is actually going to come take it. That's even worse. It's like, oh, we waited so long, and then someone else just comes and takes it. I mean, talk about no hope, right? Proverbs 1 26, you don't have to turn there, it says, I also will laugh at your calamity. God has a sense of humor here, man. I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as a desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you. I've never been in a tornado. Do you guys have tornadoes where you guys are from? Yeah? Have you been in a tornado? No? Okay, never mind. You just ruined my illustration. I'm just kidding. I've seen them on TV and stuff like that, and a whirlwind is just destruction. You look at the path of some large tornado, and the path that it leaves is just cars on the top of trees, roofs are blown up. It's just mass chaos that it leaves. And that's what he's saying. Your destruction is going to come like that. Everything is just going to be chaotic. Go back and look at Hosea, verse number 8, it says, Israel is swallowed up. Now 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. Now notice it says Israel is swallowed up. Now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. Now go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, hold your place there in Hosea chapter 8. Why is he saying that they shall be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Because everyone's going to hear about this destruction. One thing you know about God's judgment is that when God does it, he doesn't hide it. Everyone knows about it. I mean you think about when God destroyed Egypt by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Even those in Canaan land were like, no, we heard about what happened over there. I mean without Instagram, without Facebook, without email, without any of that, it's like no, we already heard about it and we were already scared by the time you guys left there. Why? Because when God doesn't, he's like we're making sure that everyone knows about what's taking place here. Because he wants the fear of God to come upon all the nations round about to know, hey, I will destroy you in like manner if you disobey me. But he's saying, look, Israel shall be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. Think about the verses in Jeremiah where it says that they will come to Israel and they shall wag their heads and hiss at them. Now every time I read that, I like chuckle within myself, because this is something that Hispanics do all the time. You hear about something, it's like ss. Just have a conversation with Ulysses, right? And he'll be like ss. That's exactly what he's talking about. It's like ss. You guys disobey like ss. You know? Now look at 1 Thessalonians 2, 14, it says, For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which in today are in Christ Jesus. For you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they pleased not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sin always, for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. So we see that that's a fulfillment of what we see in Hosea chapter 8, because he says that they shall be among the Gentiles as a vessel, wherein it is no pleasure. Why? Because not even the Gentiles want them. That's why they've been booted out of every country. That's why everyone just despises them. Why? Because of their disobedience to God, their disobedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, and it goes on to say there, For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself. What is an ass? An ass is referring to a beast, a burden, right? But it says he's a wild one. Now, any time the Bible talks about a beast, for example, which is a donkey, for example, it's referring to the fact that they're stupid, they're foolish, right? Titus 1 10 says, For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. Someone who is stupid is someone who's disregarding facts, in spite of the facts. They reject facts in spite of the facts. We would say that person's foolish, that person is stupid. So what he's saying here is rightfully said, because he's saying they're a wild ass, because even though they were given knowledge, what do we see in the beginning of Hosea? That they rejected knowledge, right? My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Why? Because they rejected knowledge. We would say, that's a stupid person right there. When you see the facts, when you see the Bible, when you see it and it's just you completely reject it, it's just like, you're an idiot. You are an idiot. How many people we run into soul-winning, now don't do this out soul-winning, it's just like, you're an idiot. You're stupid. You know what the Bible calls you? A wild ass. Don't do that. But in our minds, we're thinking that, when it's just like, well, I know it says it right there, but, you know, my vegan, Guadalupe, it's just like, but you said you believe the Bible. Like, what in the world? Or even just Christians in general. When you show them something and you just completely reject it, it's just like, you're a wild ass. Unruly and foolish, is what that's talking about there. Now go back to Hosea, chapter eight, we're almost done. Verse number 10, it says, Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the kings of princes, because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin. Altars shall be unto him to sin. I have written to him the great things of my law. Look at this, listen to this. This is crazy, this is so relevant to today. I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. So he says, I gave them the word, and to them they're just like, that's weird, that's strange. I mean, you think of today, when you quote Psalm 139, when you talk about Romans 1, when you talk about 2 Peter chapter 2, you go through Jude, you talk about the law of God, and Christians are like, that's weird. He said there, I've written to him great things out of my law. Look, the law of the Lord is perfect. It's great. But yet when you give it to Christians and you say, hey look, it says it right there, it's just like, yeah, post trip, replacement theology, it's just like, that's strange. What they're saying is it's foreign to them. Now one of two things, one, they're just ignorant of the Bible, because they don't read the Bible, or two, they don't know the shepherd's voice. Because the Bible says that my sheep hear my voice, and a stranger will they not follow. Look, any born again Christian who has the Holy Spirit of God living within them, it may hit them hard that it says what it says. But they're not going to question it and say that's not what it says. You know, it's just like, I know it says that, but it doesn't really say that. They won't say that because they have the Holy Spirit of God living within them that resonates with the scriptures that will confirm that that's what the Bible's saying. Why? Because they hear the voice of the shepherd. I mean, you think of Mary when she went to the grave and she saw what she thought was the gardener. It was actually Jesus Christ. But as soon as he said, she says, where hast thou laid him? But as soon as he said what? Mary. She said, Rabbi. She knew automatically. He called her by name and she responded immediately because she knew the voice of the shepherd. Same thing with, I think, was it Nathaniel, who Jesus saw under the tree. He knew him by name and he responded correctly. He was already a saved man. Why? Because the sheep know the voice of the shepherd, regardless of how controversial what he's saying might be. It's not like, well, this is not the voice of the shepherd because he's saying X, Y, and Z. No, it's all the voice of the shepherd. It's in the word of God. But there's a lot of people who have this attitude, that's strange, you know, the sodomites should be put to death. That's strange. Why is it strange? It's in the Bible. You know, rapid reduction when it's clear as day. I remember I talked to someone about Romans chapter 2 verse 28, referring to the fact of who's the true Jew, you know, they who are circumcised in the heart. And it's just like, they couldn't understand. They're just like, that's not how I read it. It's just like, what in the world? You're counting it as a strange thing? That's weird to me. That's strange. So one of two things, either they're completely, they're willingly being ignorant of the scriptures, okay, which Christians can do that. They can be willingly ignorant of the scriptures because of pride, arrogance, because they want to hold to their Bible college degree or whatever their position, you know, phooey with all that. Or they're just not saved. I can't believe you said that. What do you tell me then? Because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned. And the Bible tells us that the things of the word of God are foolishness unto the world. That goes hand in hand with someone who says that's a strange thing. So what does that say? It's foolish. Well, if you think it's foolish, then you're probably not saved. Or you're just ignorant of the scriptures, you're willingly ignorant of the scriptures. You see, no thing should ever surprise you from the Bible. It should amaze you. It should have a heavy impact on you. It should, you know, David said that he is in awe of his word. It should leave us in awe. But it should never be like, man, I can't really, what in the world? I don't know about that. That's kind of weird, right? That's strange. No, you're strange. You know, just like that song. If you find when you read it that there's something wrong, there's something wrong with you. You know? What's wrong with you? Either you're being willingly ignorant or you're not even saved. Okay? The law of the Lord is perfect. And he says, look, I've written great things in my law. And yet they counted it as a stranger. That's weird. That's strange. No, that's not the kind of attitude we ever want to have in regards to the word of God. Because the Bible tells us, Psalm 119, 53 says, horror had taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law. Go to Proverbs 29. I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 28, verse 4. They that forsake the law praise the wicked, but said, just keep the law, contend with them. You see, one thing I've noticed in my fellowship with the brethren or fellowship with people who are like-minded is that they thrive off of biblical content. They thrive off of biblical conversations. You can never say something too radical for them when it's biblically based. I'm not talking about foolish things that are said. I'm talking about things that are biblically based. It may catch people off guard, even people who are saved, because they've never heard it before preached from the pulpit. But if it's biblical, they're going to receive it. I remember a couple of weeks ago, there's a lady who came to our church, and it was a lady who came with one of our people who's a member of our church, and he told me that she was saved. And you know what? That sermon, I was like ripping on sodomites, but I was showing like scripture after scripture after scripture. And I was thinking to myself, man, I wonder like what she's going to think about this sermon right here. But then she came up to me, and she goes, I learned a lot today. Thank you for that. I was just like, amen. And you know what? I thought to myself, I shouldn't think that way towards people. Well, then again, I didn't know if she was saved or not, but that should be a normal response. Because he says, she said, you showed me from the Bible. You know what that means? You show me with the voice, you show me the voice of the shepherd. Look at Proverbs 29 and 27, an unjust man is an abomination to the just, and he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked. You see, if someone looks at you and say, man, that's abominable, then you don't know the Bible. That's an abomination to say that, you know, that sodomites can't be saved. You're not saved. Because the Bible clearly says it. And if you reject what the Bible says, then you're either willingly ignorant or you're not saved. Okay. Let's finish off here in Hosea. Verse 13 says, they sacrifice flesh for sacrifices of mine offerings and eat it, but the Lord accepteth them not. Now will he remember their iniquity and visit their sins. They shall return to Egypt, for Israel hath forgotten his maker and buildeth temples, and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities. But I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces. By the way, that's a future, that is a reference of what took place there in Jerusalem. And so what's the gist of the message today? It's simply this, is that when God brings destruction, it's swift. It's very swift. And we also learn from here that, you know, we get a ruler according to who we are, as a nation especially. Okay. And you know what? Like, for example, people feel bad and they're like, oh man, what about all those people that went with Adam Fannin? No, that's what they deserve. Oh, they're getting the pastor that they need. That's exactly who they need, because they're as stupid as he is. You know, it's like, oh, pray for them. Just let them stay there, because it's a biblical concept. The people get the kind of ruler that they deserve. That's a biblical teaching. That's exactly what they deserve. You know, I think of people who are in, like, Pentecostal churches who don't want to leave and even though they're shown the truth, it's like, then that's probably where they deserve to stay. That's exactly what they deserve to stay. If they've been shown the truth and they reject it, they need to stay there. Amen? Spire, hasn't I, a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for Hosea chapter 8, so much truth found within this chapter. I pray, God, that you'd help us to always esteem your word, help us to always be in awe of thy word, and that our hearts may stand in awe of thy word. And may we be horrified when those who we know and love and those who are saved forsake the law of God. It can happen to a Christian. And may we forsake the law of God. And I pray, God, that you'd help us to always be sensitive to the words found in the Bible, that we would always give earnest heed to the things we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip. And help us to always esteem it and to never disregard it. We love you so much and we thank you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.