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Good evening New Life Baptist Church. I'm looking forward to being with you guys next week if you guys can keep that in prayer. I'll be up there with Isabel. So I'm looking forward to preaching in person to you and also just for the fellowship and catching up also to give you an update as to what has been going on here at Blessed Hope Baptist Church. But you're there in Hosea. Now Hosea chapter 4, look at verse number 6. Hosea chapter 4 and verse number 6, the Bible begins there by saying, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. So the title for the sermon this evening is destroyed for lack of knowledge. Now I don't want to be destroyed. I don't want New Life Baptist Church to be destroyed. And so in order for us to not be destroyed as a church or as people, as families, as individuals, we must have the knowledge of God. We don't want to be people that have a lack of knowledge, right? Because that will lead us to destruction. And we're just continuing on. Remember Hosea chapters 1, 2 and 3 serve as an introduction to the rest of the book. And as you saw, just a quick reminder, we saw that Hosea's first wife Gomer represented the physical nation of Israel and her children, the names that were given to her children were not my people and no mercy. And so of course that speaks about the time when God will have a new Israel, not a physical nation of Israel, but a spiritual nation of Israel, which was the wife that Hosea took in chapter number 3. Now we're going back to the physical nation here. We're going back and looking at the physical nation and the judgment that God put upon her. And of course that would be by the Assyrians, the Assyrians that came and they you know, took that northern kingdom into captivity as it were, or dispersed the people out of the land. And then other people were brought into the land and there was a great mix of people. And of course in the time of Jesus Christ, these people living on this land was known as the Samaritans because Samaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel. Now let's start there in verse number 1. It says, Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel. So you can see where it says they hear the word of the Lord, ye children. It's talking about a new prophecy. Hosea is now prophesying to the nation. We've gone away from the introduction. Now Hosea is stepping that up. He's preaching to the people of Israel. It says, For the Lord have a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. Now just a reminder, what was the title for the sermon? It was destroyed for lack of knowledge. And so you can see here that the people of Israel did not have a knowledge of God. Not only did they have no knowledge of God, there was no truth, there was no mercy. Now Brethren, we need mercy. We need God's mercy, but we also need mercy one toward another because we're all sinners. We're all going to make mistakes. And we need to understand, especially as a church, that sometimes your fellow brother or sister in the Lord is going to rub you the wrong way. You know, they're going to let you down. And you know, you need to just find mercy in your eyes for that person, the same way that God was able to find mercy for you and is able to forgive you for your sins, even though we don't deserve it. Okay. We can see here that God's people got to a point where there was no mercy. They had no love for the truth and they had no desire to have the knowledge of God. And if you can please keep your finger there and turn to Nehemiah chapter 8, please go to Nehemiah chapter 8, but keep your finger there in Hosea chapter 4, because I want to explain to you, obviously the knowledge of God comes from his word, right? And if you go to Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse number 8, Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse number 8, you know, in order for us to attain knowledge as it started there in verse number 1, it says, hear the word of the Lord, right? Hear the word of the Lord. This is why it's so important for you to be in church, for you to get behind, you know, a preacher, listen to the preacher. And this is why it's important for the preacher that gets behind the pulpit to feed people the word of God, because we want to get knowledge. We want to get truth. We want to find mercy, right? And in Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse number 8, I just want you to focus on these words. It says here, so they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. Why is it that we need to be in church? What is it that the preacher needs to be mindful as they preach to God's people? We want to read the book of God. We want to read his scriptures. We want to read his law. But look at it says here, they read the book, so read in the book of the law of God distinctly. So something is distinct, it's very clear. You know, it is the job of the preacher to make sure that God's word is clear to the hearer. This is how we gain knowledge of God. But then it says this, and gave the sense. What does that mean? That means not only is the preacher to read God's word clearly, make it clear, but give it meaning. You know, give it its sense. Help people understand what is being preached, what is being understood from the word of God. And then it says, and caused them to understand, right? So I don't get behind the pulpit, brethren, to, you know, just to speak. You know, I'm quite an introverted person naturally, you know. I'm not really someone that loves to speak a lot. But you know, when I get behind the pulpit, I understand that it's my job to cause you to understand, look, understand the reading, okay. You know, I don't get behind the pulpit just so you can understand my thoughts, my opinions, my logic, my wisdom. No. It's to cause you to understand the reading, the reading of God's word. And if your preacher is helping you understand God's word, brethren, your job is to hear, your job is to listen. Hosea was being sent to this northern kingdom of Israel for them to listen. He says, look, hear me. But of course, these people were so stubborn. These people had rejected God. And, you know, they couldn't hear clearly God's message. But it is our job as preachers to make sure you understand the reading, the Bible. So when you leave church, you know, you leave having, you know, being able to say, well, I gained some knowledge, I understand God's word deeper. Oh, that that Bible verse makes more sense to me now. I see how you need to, I understand the meaning of that passage, whereas before maybe I didn't have that understanding, right. So this is important, brethren. Hosea is coming to preach a message and he's telling them, here, pay attention. And brethren, when you're in church, listen, pay attention to God's word. I want you to understand the reading. Tonight, I want you to understand Hosea chapter four. Let's go back to Hosea chapter four and verse number two. So instead of hearing God's word, how is this northern kingdom behaving? It says by swearing and lying and killing. So they're murderers and stealing, thefts and committing adultery. They're cheating on their spouses. They break out and blood touch of blood. So we have a list of sins that the people in this land were committing at this point in time. You know, I'm not 100% sure what and blood touch of blood means, but let me just give you my opinion on that one, where, you know, you can see here that killing or murder is one thing that's going on in the land. I mean, this place had gone become so wicked. And so obviously, when you when you commit murder, you kill someone, you're shedding blood, right. But what we have here is blood touch in blood, blood touch of blood. So what I gather from this is instead of it just being people committing murder on the land, that there are serial killers on the loose. All right. I mean, it's just it's one death after another death. It's one murder after another murder, right? I mean, there are these serial killers, you know, there are serial there is serial adultery taking place. There is serial stealing thefts going on. I mean, this place, the society in Israel had waxed worse and worse. I mean, sometimes I don't think we fully appreciate necessarily how wicked these nations became because they're meant to be the people of God. They're meant to be a nation that reads God's Word and has a fear of God. But they get to themselves in a place where they're just so bad, you know, and, you know, I think about Australia, and obviously, we live in a wicked nation, this world, you know, this, this nation is getting worse and worse. But sometimes I just read these passages. And I think, wow, how bad can a nation get? It seems like Australia isn't even near as bad as sometimes what we read about in the Bible. But then again, you know, we are definitely on a downward trajectory, right as a nation, we are getting worse and worse, and nation is turned our backs against the Lord. And so we see the same thing playing out in the northern kingdom of Israel. Let's go back there in verse number three. It says, therefore, so therefore, because of all these sins, because of all these wicked behaviors, it says, therefore, shall the land mourn. And everyone that dwells therein shall languish with the beasts of the field. And with the fowls of heaven, yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. What do we learn there? We learn that a nation that is in sin, a nation that is so wicked, actually has ramifications on God's creation. It has ramifications on the land, the land will mourn, right? The fowls are going to be affected, the birds are going to be affected, the animals are going to be affected, the fish on the sea are going to be affected. And, you know, one strange truth of the Bible is this direct correlation between man's sin and the effects that it has upon this world. Of course, when God created Adam and Eve, he gave Adam and Eve dominion over the earth, okay? And so we are to rule, hey, we are the apex predator, you know? We are the chief on this earth, right? That's an authority that God gave us, but also when we commit wickedness and sin, it has a direct influence, effect on God's creation. Now, if you can please turn, keep your finger there, and let's turn to Romans chapter eight. I just want to show you this. Romans, you go to Romans chapter eight, and I mentioned Adam and Eve to you, and of course when Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord, you know, God judged Adam and Eve and the serpent, but the judgment that he put upon Adam, you go to Romans chapter eight, I'm going to read to you from Genesis chapter three. In Genesis chapter three verse 17, it says, and unto Adam he said, so this is the words of God to Adam, because thou has hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and has eaten of the tree, of which I commend thee, saying thou shall not eat of it. God says these words, cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shall thou eat of it all the days of thy life. So God is telling Adam, because you've sinned, the ground is going to be cursed, and of course as we get the thorns and the thistles that come up, and so we learn that there is a curse on this earth because of man's sin. There is a direct consequence or direct correlation, maybe that's better the word, when man is in wickedness and in sin, this earth, this creation perishes, you know, this creation suffers when mankind sinned against the Lord. Now you're there in Romans chapter eight verse number 22, go to Romans chapter eight and verse number 22 for me, and I'll just show you this in another passage here, it says, for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Did you know God's creation is in pain, it's travailing, because there's a curse, there's a curse on this creation, there's a curse on this earth because of man's sin, okay, and you know all of creation wants to be delivered from this curse. Let's keep going there verse number 23, and not only they, so not only the creation, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit, or that's to witness, the redemption of our body. So even this creation, even this flesh is groaning, even this flesh is travailing, even this flesh wants to be redeemed, and of course that comes with the resurrection, that comes at the rapture when we put off this wicked flesh that we have, and God gives us a new resurrected body. Not only are we saved in the spirit, not only is our spirit and soul saved, but there's coming a day when our body will be saved at the resurrection, hey we no longer will have to deal with sin, and this will be a blessing to God's creation, okay. This will be ultimately, I should say, a blessing to God's creation. If you can, please turn to Revelation 22. Let's go to Revelation 22 if you can, and at what point does the earth have this curse released from itself? Well it comes when God creates the new heaven and the new earth. So just like we have these fleshly bodies, and it'll be changed into new perfect immortal sinless bodies, well our earth will also experience a change, a new heaven, a new earth, okay, and that curse will be gone. In Revelation 22 verse 3, speaking about God having created a new heaven and a new earth, it says in verse number 3, and there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. What a beautiful thing. So we're going to be delivered from it, well we're actually already delivered from the curse. Christ became the curse for us, that's why we're saved, but once again we're stuck in these bodies, in this sinful nature that we have, hey but one day that will be released from that curse as it were, and receive those redemptive bodies, but one day all of God's creation will also be redeemed from the curse when God creates the new heaven and the new earth. So we learn that our sin, our wickedness has ramifications on God's creation, and sometimes I don't think we even think about that all that much, but that is certainly the case. Now let's go back to Hosea chapter 4 and verse number 3. Hosea chapter 4 verse number 3, it says, yet let no man strive nor reprove another. So of course this has to deal with chapter, sorry verse number 2, with how they're you know committing thefts and lying and murders, all those kinds of things. So it says look stop doing that, but then it says this, for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. Now you know there's a definite breakdown in society here with the northern kingdom, and when it talks about the priest here, you know even though in the New Testament we've all been made kings and priests, right? But when we're talking about the priest here, of course it's in the Old Testament and in the Old Covenant, and the priest held an office, right? He held an office to minister in the house of God, and of course the New Testament house of God is your local church. And so what we're dealing with here when it talks about the priest is not just dealing with everybody in general, but it's dealing with those that are you know ordained positions in the house of God. So if you wanted to take this and apply it to a New Testament principle, this would be as though there were people you know striving or fighting with the church pastor or the church deacons, right? You know if you're fighting with someone that holds an office in the church, this would be equivalent to that as it were, right? Now the idea here is not only are they doing wickedly toward their fellow man, but the priest is supposed to be a person that loves the Lord. He's supposed to be a person that is serving the Lord and serving the people of God. You know he's just you know trying to teach them God's ways. The priest is supposed to be doing that, right? They're there to offer the sacrifices so the Lord will be pleased when he smells that sweet smelling savor of the sacrifice. And you know the people of the land were also fighting or striving with the priests, right? And again you can take the principle here in the New Testament that you know if you're someone that hates your pastor, you know I'm your pastor, right? If you come and you hate me, you make my life difficult, you know everything that I try to do you try to fight against, you know I'm trying to lead people a certain way and you know you're going around backstabbing me, you're going around going you know saying bad things about you know whether it's me as the pastor, one day we have deacons, you know other people that are in ordained positions, you're going around causing strife, you're like the people that are mentioning verse number two that are going about killing, lying, committing adulteries, you know it's and those are extremely wicked things. Well striving against God's man in the house of God is equally as wicked and so you need to be mindful of this. Please take your Bibles and go to Proverbs chapter 6. Go to Proverbs chapter 6 for me and verse number 16. Proverbs chapter 6 and verse number 16. The Bible reads, these six things doth the Lord hate, yea seven are an abomination unto him. Look it says, a proud look, a lying tongue. So the lion, lion was mentioned there in Hosea right, lion tongue and hands that shed innocent blood. We saw the killings that were taking place in Hosea and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies and he that soweth discord among the brethren. You know what God hates? God hates somebody that sows discord amongst the brethren. You know you come into church and you create divisions. You come to church and you create problems in church right and listen when you're making problems even within the church you're also creating problems for the pastor. You're creating problems for God's minister. So please be careful with how you treat God's house. Please be careful about the problems you create in church. If you're going about and speaking bad of people, you're going about sharing gossip and news, you're causing strife for God's minister because eventually it's God's minister, it's the man of God, the priest here in the Old Testament that has to clean up the mess. This is something God hates and you know God wants our church to be of one accord, you know of one mind, have the mind of Jesus Christ for there to be love in the house of God for us to esteem each other better than ourselves. You know so please you know don't make church a place where you feel you can come and gossip and tell everybody you know problems about this brother in the Lord or this sister in the Lord. That is a wrong place. In fact that is there is no place to do such thing. If you have a problem with a brother in the Lord or a sister in the Lord, you need to go and sort that out with them one-on-one. You know not bring it to the house of God and cause mischief, cause strife okay. And look you know I'm the pastor, I'm the one that makes decisions for our church right. And look I know that I'm gonna make decisions that you're not always going to agree with. You know you can't please everybody, that's the role of a leader. You just have to learn that you're not going to please everybody. So you you know just make the best decision that you believe you can make. And look if I make decisions that you disagree with, hey you know don't cause me strife. Just get behind me, support what I'm trying to do. You know pray for me if you think I'm in that much of a wrong. But the worst thing you can do is cause problems and strife. You know if you can't get under my leadership, then I highly recommend find a church, find a pastor that you can get under. Okay because I don't want you to be somebody that God hates because of your actions all right. But what we see here when it comes to the northern kingdom in Israel, they had become such you know where God hates the fact that they're causing strife to the house of God and God's priest. Now let's go there back to Hosea chapter 4 verse number 5. It reads, Therefore shalt thou fall in the day and the Prophet also shall fall with thee in the night and I will destroy thy mother. So when talking about here I destroy thy mother, again picture the northern kingdom of Israel you know as this you know adulterous woman. And of course Gomer was kind of that picture in that sense right. Again her children Lo Ruhamah and Lo Ami. You know Lo Ruhamah was no mercy and then we had the you know not my people. And so you know that physical nation had rejected God. You know that physical nation was acting like a adulterous woman and therefore God says look I'm going to destroy your mother. Okay we're gonna again destroy that northern kingdom all right. But when it mentions there in verse number five and thou shall fall in the day, the idea that I get here is that their demise as a nation will be very public. You know it'll be there will be all to see. You know when the Assyrians come and and take them away you know the other nations are gonna be here about it. It's not gonna be this thing that gets swept under the rug. In fact it is it is so public it's recorded for us in God's Word and we've had you know basically it's recorded for all eternity how Israel had become this wicked nation that had fallen. But then it says and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night. So the night he represents darkness you know. These prophets the preachers these these false prophets I should say are blind you know are the blind leading the blind. You know they don't know God's judgment they don't know what God is saying and so they're in in the night as it were but they will also fall you know not only will the nation fall but these false prophets will fall all together in God's judgment that will be destroyed by the Assyrians. And verse number six my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Now I don't want us to be as I mentioned I don't want us to be a people that lack knowledge right. What does it mean to lack knowledge here? It says because thou has rejected knowledge. That's pretty bad right. When God has his wisdom he's got his knowledge he wants to give it to us and we say God I don't want your knowledge I think I know better than you. You know I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna walk in my ways I'm gonna live how I want to live I don't want your knowledge God. Right I mean that's pretty wicked to take that approach. But look at this because thou has rejected knowledge he says I will also reject thee. Man I don't want to be rejected by God. Right I mean but here's the thing that the way you get rejected by God is to first reject his knowledge. Okay now what does that mean? It says here that thou shalt be no priest to me seen thou has forgotten the law of thy God I will also forget thy children. So what does it mean to reject God's knowledge? Well it told us to in verse number six seen thou has forgotten the law of thy God. You see brethren if you forget God's laws if you forget picking up the Bible and reading it and learning it you are acting at like one who is rejecting God's knowledge. Okay so again I don't want to be that church I don't want to be that person I don't want you to be those people and brethren let me encourage you once again over and over again pick up your Bibles every day read it. First thing you do when you wake up in the morning open God's Word and read it. Okay read it. I don't want you to be someone that goes day after day week after that after week not picking up their Bibles maybe only taking your Bibles to church and that's the only place you get it. Well brethren if you forget God's laws okay you are rejecting God's knowledge. What is that saying? The only way you can truly get knowledge is by reading God's law. You know these things are together you are you are not knowledgeable if you reject God's law you become foolish all right. Now when we talk about being rejected you know that there are three ways to look at this and obviously probably the most common way that we talk about it is talking about a reprobate you know a reprobate that would be an unbeliever who has rejected God time and time and time again and God has rejected them. But first of all I just want you to notice that this nation were God's people he refers to them as his people right and so you know rejecting God's knowledge what we learned there it leads to personal destruction number one right. Number two you receive heavy chastisement right because God again was going to allow the Assyrians to come and take them into captivity. Now I'm going to read to you from 1st Samuel chapter 15 and can you please go to Romans chapter 1 for me you go to Romans chapter 1 I'll turn to 1st Samuel 15 verse 26 because I want to show you how even a believer can become rejected by God okay a believer can become rejected by God in 1st Samuel 15 verse 26 it reads and Samuel said unto Saul that's King Saul I will not return with thee for thou has rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. All right so what do we learn there that God rejects those that have rejected him. King Saul had rejected God's word so God says I'm going to reject Saul. Now this is obviously not the same as an unbelieving reprobate okay but when Saul is rejected it means that he's going to lose his authority as king over Israel. Now brethren you as a believer God has made us kings and priests God wants to give us rewards in heaven he wants us to lay up our treasures in heaven right he wants to use us he wants us to serve him you know all the days of our life whatever is left in our life God wants to use us and when we get to heaven he's going to reward us for the great works we've done for him but you know what brethren if you reject God's law you can be saved on your way to heaven nothing changes that once saved always saved but if you reject God's Word you reject his knowledge you reject Church you reject reading the Bible and you say you know what I don't want God God's knowledge I'm smart enough I can do things my own way well don't be surprised when God rejects you okay and what I mean by that is there are certain things certain things that God wanted to bless you with certain rewards that he wanted to give you in heaven that you're not gonna have okay just like King Saul he wasn't damned to hell okay but he lost his authority he lost his office as the king of Israel and eventually he lost his life that's how eventually he lost his authority and so God may very well remove you from this world earlier than planned you know earlier than he desired because you've turned against him you know God may very well remove all the blessings he's given you you know the rewards that he had planned to give you to heaven you're gonna go to heaven and lose your reward because he did not attain that which God wanted to give you and so yes even God's people can get to a point where they are rejected by God but when I when I mentioned that of course I'm not talking about salvation but the rewards that you would have the blessings that you would have you know otherwise if you had walked in the ways of God the second way that you can think of a reprobate because of course the nation of Israel here you know when you when you think about these nations you always have to remember that they they are they have a mix of people that are saved and unsaved right I mean this could be the case of a church you know I'm sure there are many good churches where there are a lot of saved people but there are a lot of unsaved as well sometimes that happens you know and so when we talk about an unbeliever and unbeliever can also become rejected by God but this is a really dangerous place to be okay because they're in Romans chapter 1 verse number 28 so look at this Romans chapter 1 verse number 28 it says and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge hey they don't want the knowledge of God they don't even want to retain God they don't want to think about this storm had an unbeliever here it says God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient and so God can give an unbeliever over to a reprobate mind okay now look at this look at verse number 28 begins again it says and even as they did not like to retain God so even as they don't want God they don't want to think about God they don't want the knowledge of God they reject God well God has rejected them by giving them a rejected mind and then they go about doing extremely wicked filthy acts okay that person you know I haven't got time to go through this in depth but that person has been rejected by God as an unbeliever hey that person will never be able to believe the gospel they will never be able to turn to God for salvation and they are damned they are damned even before they go to hell they've lost their opportunity to be saved because they would not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so we see now a believer can be rejected we've seen how an unbeliever can become reprobate rejected but you know what what we're learning here we're looking at an entire nation the entire nation of Israel was rejected so not only can a believer an unbeliever but also an entire nation can become rejected in the eyes of God and this is what's happening now to the northern kingdom of Israel they had become rejected by God and you know this generation will suffer and as I've covered before as I taught before this northern kingdom never recovered they never came back into the land they became dispersed they became mixed with the Samaritan you know they became the Samaritans because they were mixed with all kinds of people and so they never recovered their former glories and their former kingdoms they've been completely rejected all right now let's keep going Hosea chapter 4 verse number 7 Hosea chapter 4 in verse number 7 it says as they were increased so they sinned against me therefore will I change their glory into shame so when it says that as they were increased and speaking about the fact that they had children right so it's saying basically as as the nation's grew and had generation after generation children and grandchildren that that they also they their sin also increased against the Lord so the what we learn here is that the parents were not teaching their children God's ways all right the parents were a negative influence on the children's life the parents were teaching them ungodly practices and not teaching them the ways of God you know whenever I think about these I get very sad because you know I'm a father I love my kids I've got many kids and you know I know parents love their children I know parents generally want the best for their children and you know parents you know if you love the Lord and you want the best for your kids and if you love your kids you have to teach them the ways of the Lord you have to teach them okay don't think that just taking your children to church is enough you need to talk to them about God you need to tell them what is right and wrong okay you need to understand that our children are growing up in a wicked society where they're getting confusing messages hey we need to step in and teach our children to know what is right and wrong to know what pleases the Lord because it's very easy for our children's hearts to be turned again they've got this sinful flesh right there's that part of them that if you know that they're going to be struggling with you know the flesh versus the spirit the new man versus the old man they're gonna have that constant battle that you and I have and the only way they can have victory in that battle is if you teach them if you guide them in the ways of the Lord right and of course step number one is to get them saved right step number two is to teach them what is important what holds eternal value right and and for them to just love the Lord you know I don't want to see my children being destroyed with the coming generation you know I don't know how long God's gonna hold back his ultimate wrath you know we know that at the end of the world God will pour out his wrath not just on Australia not just on one nation not just on Israel but on the entire world you know so we need to get prepared and understand that our nation our world is getting worse and worse and so much then is required for us to teach our children what is right verse number eight they and I'll tell you who they are at the moment in a moment they eat up the sin of my people and they set their hearts on their iniquity so you can see here that God's people are committing sin and iniquity okay but who are the day well verse number nine explains it for us and there shall be like people like priest so the day that eat up the sin of my people are the priests let me explain that to you soon and then it says and I will punish them for their ways and reward them their doings so it's saying here that the priest even though the priest is meant to be you know someone serving God that the priests are going to become like the people in the land the people in the land are committing sin they're committing iniquities well the priests will be just like them and in verse number eight says that the priest will eat up the sin of my people right and they set their heart on their iniquity so the priest God's God's ministers in the temple in the house of God are looking at the sins of the nation and they're going man I wish I want to I want to be sinful like that you know I want to do the same things that they're doing they're going to back come in adultery the priests are like man you know if my nation's doing it why can't I do it you know are they getting drunk well I want to get drunk right and so what you're seeing here is that the priests are just looking on the sins of the nation and they themselves are starting to compromise on God's laws now you know this is important to think about because it is not right for sins to sorry for priests to meditate and to think about the sins of their people now the Roman Catholic Church messes up don't they they have their so-called priests and they have their confessional booths where people come and they confess their sins I mean think about being a man finger just being a man in this position where you're having you know a church with a lot of Catholics come in day after day they have a day confessing their sins to you I mean think about all the potential sins that they might be saying that the so-called priest is hearing in his ears don't you think that's going to have a negative effect on him you know it is not it is not you know a man is not made to carry and to think and meditate and eat up the sins of other people you know as your pastor I have my own sins I have my own iniquities and I have my own challenges and I've got you know that sins of my family and and their problems and their hardships they go through that's enough like you know having to deal with with my own issues and my own family's issues that's enough you know I'm not I'm not I'm not a man you know God has not set me up to be a man that you come and and tell me about all your sins and tell me all about your your wicked iniquities and and all the things that you you go for and you have to confess those things to me brethren man was not created to be like this the only person that you should be confessing your sins to is the Lord God you know the only man that could carry our sins was Jesus Christ okay a man cannot carry another man sins all right so what is the point of this you know what even though I'm your pastor I am NOT the person you come to tell me about all your wicked filth you know all your iniquities all your sinful habits I don't want to hear it number one I want to think the best of you all right you know I don't want to be thinking about you in an awful way you know you commit sins I commit sins I don't need to hear it all I don't I don't want to hear it at all to be honest with you but the problem is when a person of an authority like in God's house does set himself up to be a man that just listens to sins listens to all the problems you know the flesh this this flesh enjoys sin this flesh enjoys the pleasures of sin even though it's only for a season so when you're when you're just hearing sin after sin and all the filthy things that that people do well then it will be natural for a man that has a sinful nature to think well you know what if the people if people are our nation if the people in my church get themselves in these wicked things then why should you know maybe I should be the why should I be the one living a clean life you know you know and it just feeds the flesh it is there is no use you know to hear those problems that you have brethren you have sins you go and you confess them to God I cannot forgive your sins the Roman Catholic priests cannot confess it can cannot forgive your sins the only one that can forgive your sins is the Lord God he's the only one that can bear it okay so don't get into this thought that well my past or someone else in the church is the person that I need to go to to tell about all my problems and all my sins that's not the right place okay you're just going to feed the flesh of other people and you can cause them to stumble cause them to get themselves into the same kinds of sins so you can see here that the priests became like the people that the priests started doing the same wicked sins that the people in his nation were doing verse number 10 it says for they shall eat again so when the priest here and not have enough they shall commit whoredom that's the priests and shall not increase because they have left off to take heed to the Lord so when you're when you're when you're indulging yourself in the sins of others it's going to cause you to walk away from the Lord and commit your own sins you know again look at verse number 10 again beginning says for they shall eat that's eat of the sins and not have enough brethren this is a warning from God's Word that sometimes you think if you just commit some sin it's going to satisfy you you know you could be tempted man if I do this sin I'm gonna get my way I'm gonna get something I really want okay but the Bible's telling us here it will not be enough you're not gonna be satisfied sin will never give you satisfaction okay no long-term satisfaction anyway okay and you're gonna desire it again and again it is better to stay away especially from sins that are addictive you know you know alcoholism you know stay away from that when you get addicted to some type of sin you know you know you you can you will go you know for beer after beer you know alcohol after alcohol and it's not gonna satisfy your flesh you're gonna want more and more and then you find yourself in a really bad place I mean especially addictive things brethren stay away from those things you know there's a saying that's quite popular it says sin will take you farther than you want to go keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay I mean that is a true saying I've heard so many preachers quote that one is so true you know you think if I just do this one little sin but before you know it it's taking you further than you wanted to you know it's cost you more than you were willing to pay sin never satisfies okay it just takes you down this downward spiral verse number 11 it says whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart I mentioned the alcohol because the wine is mentioned here but whoredoms you know thinking that you know if I if I just look at the opposite sex you know man you know if I you know there's nothing wrong with me just looking at that woman that's not my wife and lusting after her you know before you know it's gonna take you further than you intended you know you're gonna be potentially committing you know whoredoms can you know committing adultery or you know any kind of crazy sins if you start allowing yourself to give in to these sinful desires right and so verse number 11 is quite interesting it mentions whoredom and then it says and wine and new wine take away the heart now what I thought was interesting about this passage is that the it differentiates between wine and new wine and so you know those that make the argument that every time God mentions wine in the Bible it's alcoholic well in this verse it cannot be because you've got wine and a little guess wine can sometimes refer to alcohol in this case it is alcohol but you can also see that there is something called new wine and sometimes the Bible just refers to it as wine and that is freshly squeezed grape juice before it's become alcoholic it's new it's new wine it hasn't had time to sit there and ferment and become alcoholic all right so it's telling us that whoredoms will take us away from the Lord okay we can see that wine alcoholism drunkenness will take you away from the Lord but also new wine and say well what does that mean does that mean grape juice is sinful grape juice can take us away from the Lord or let's understand this a little bit if you can please keep your finger there let's go to Isaiah 28 Isaiah 28 and verse number seven Isaiah now Isaiah was preaching to the southern kingdom and if I remember correctly I think Isaiah lived about the same time as Hosea anyway but Isaiah was preaching to the southern kingdom right as Hosea was Hosea was preaching to the northern kingdom of Israel but Isaiah 28 verse number seven it says but they also have erred through wine and through strong drink are out of the way look the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink they are swallowed up of wine they are out of the way through strong drink they err in vision they stumble in judgments so you can see here that the the priests had become alcoholics they started drinking the wine started drinking the strong drinks and it says here that because they've done that they err they make errors in vision they can't preach properly they make mistakes all the time okay they're preaching false things they stumble in judgment they can't differentiate between what is right and wrong when they're under the influence of alcohol so you can see that you know you know I'm pretty sure Isaiah and Hosea lived around the same time they both mentioned the same thing that the priests of God had become alcoholics right they'd seen the people of the land become alcoholics and they're like well you know why not me why can't I just enjoy you know a wine from time to time you know God's ministers in the house of God are commanded to stay away from those substances those substances are wicked they're sinful they can cause it to get into severe wicked behavior I'm going to read to you from Leviticus chapter 10 verse number 8 Leviticus chapter 10 verse number 8 it says and the Lord spake unto Aaron saying do not drink wine nor strong drink of course Aaron was the first high priest and his family would be the priestly line that would serve in the temple of God God is telling Aaron hey don't drink alcohol okay it says do not drink wine nor strong drink thou nor thy sons with thee when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation lest ye die God is saying look I'm gonna kill you you know if you get drunk you know if you start drinking alcohol God says I'm gonna kill you why it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations that ye may put difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean and that ye may teach the tomb of Israel all the statutes which the Lord have spoken unto them by the hand of Moses he says look Aaron you need to teach God's Word you need to differentiate between what is clean and unclean what is holy and unholy you need to pass judgment you need to teach people Word and therefore stay away from such substances like wine and alcohol okay but you can see here in the time of Hosea and Isaiah the priests had become drunk okay they had no reverence for God's Word or God's ways you know it was the place it was a shambles you know it was a disaster now anyway I wanted to show you because you're there in Isaiah aren't you please go to Isaiah 65 go to Isaiah 65 I just want to show you how new wine refers to non alcoholic juice okay non alcoholic juice Isaiah 65 and verse number 8 Isaiah 65 and verse number 8 it says thus saith the Lord as the new wine is found in the cluster I won't keep reading but it says as the new wine is found in the cluster what's the cluster what's the cluster of grapes that's on the grapevine right before those grapes while sorry while those grapes are on the cluster before they're taken and and and juiced all right the Bible says there's new wine in the grape in the cluster so of course that is wine or juice grape juice a great product that has not become alcoholic so new wine refers to non alcoholic wine now you're still wondering you're probably still scratching your heads well why is new wine mentioned with autumns and wine which is alcohol well if you can please go to Joel chapter 1 I just want to show you that Joel chapter 1 verse number 4 I want to show you why an alcoholic who drinks alcoholic wine would desire new wine okay and what the problem is with an alcoholic desire new wine so my point is there's nothing wrong with new wine in of itself because it's just non-alcoholic freshly squeezed grape juice but it is a problem for the alcoholic okay so go to Joel chapter 1 and verse number 4 Joel chapter 1 and verse number 4 it says that which the paler sorry I'll read that again that which the palmer worm hath left have the locust eaten so we're looking at all these little critters that eats fruits and leaves and trees right and so we start with this worm and then it goes look whatever he leaves the locust are gonna eat okay and then it says and that which the locust have left have the canker worm eaten so whatever the locust leaves there's gonna be this canker worm that eats up the rest of it and that which the canker worm have left have the caterpillar eaten so once the canker worm is filled the caterpillar caterpillar is gonna come and eat up the rest of it what this is speaking about is that God's gonna send these creatures to basically be like a plague in the land as it were right they're gonna eat up the crops they're gonna eat up you know the grapevine because there it says in verse number 5 it says awake ye drunkards so who is God speaking to here the drunks those that are alcoholics right they're addicted to alcohol awake ye drunkards and weep and how all ye drinkers of wine so that's the alcohol look at this because of the new wine for it is cut off from your mouth God is saying look start crying you drunkards because you're not going to get any more new wine okay so new wine once again is freshly squeezed grape juice why is that going to be cut off from the drunkard because all these critters had come and destroyed the crops okay all the grapes had been eaten up by these animals and so the what the new one represents when we go back to Hosea is not that not freshly squeezed squeezed non-alcoholic grape juice is sinful but the reason the drunkard wants the new wine is because they want to turn the new wine into alcohol okay and because they don't have any new wine they're gonna howl and weep and mourn because they're so addicted to the substance so when we look at you know new wine in the eyes of an alcoholic it's the addiction the addiction hey this alcohol is not enough to satisfy me I'm getting drunk but then hey once I've finished up all this alcohol I'm gonna go after the new wine which I'm gonna turn into alcoholic beverage and drink that up right and so the new wine represents the addiction the fact they have to go and seek after wine time and time and time and time again because of their addiction all right let's go back to Hosea chapter 4 and verse number 12 actually let me just summarize verse number 11 so God's warning them of whoredoms he says look your whoredoms have taken you away from me your alcoholism has taken you away from me and even your addiction for more and more alcohol you know these are dangerous things these are things that the people on the land have done now let's go to verse number 12 actually verse number 11 doesn't sound a lot sounds a lot like Australia doesn't it you know drunkards and and whoredoms I mean you know we live in a wicked world that's all I can say verse number 12 my people ask counsel at their stocks and their staff declarative unto them for the spirit of whoredoms have caused them to err and they have gone a whoring from under their God just very quickly God's people instead of asking counsel from God they've gone to their stocks they've gone to their idols that they're the idols of wood is what God is saying right that they're not getting clear answers from God they feel they've rejected God's knowledge so they've gone after idol worship verse number 13 they sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains so these are the sack these are the the worship the sacrifice they're doing not to God but to the false idols okay tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the hills and the Oaks and poplars and Elms because the shadow thereof is good so they go in under these trees and it's in up images because the shade therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom and your spouses shall commit adultery now the Bible differentiates here between whoredoms and adultery says look your daughters those are unmarried when they commit you know sexual perversions that's called whoredoms but when your wife commits sexual perversion she's committed adultery when she cheats on the spouse and so look these marriages were falling apart on the land verse number 14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom nor your spouses when they commit adultery for themselves are separated with whores and they sacrifice with harlots therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall now what I believe this is teaching us because one thing that I was strong with here is why would God not punish this wickedness well if you remember when we read Romans chapter 1 verse number 28 I'll just read it again it says and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient you know sometimes you get to a point with God where God says you know what if you just want to be wicked like that I'm just gonna give you over I'm gonna give up on you you can go and do those things if you will okay now brethren when we understand God's punishment especially as his people as his believers God's punishment is good it's for a for our prophet please go to Hebrews chapter 12 go to Hebrews chapter 12 the fact that God says I'm not going to punish you anymore that's a pretty bad state that mean God that means God has rejected them okay God has rejected them you know it is good to be punished by God you know when we do wicked things when we do sinful things we need God's hand of chastisement to fall upon us so we can learn our lesson so we don't continue doing those wicked things right but when God says all right you can go about I'm gonna stop punishing you you can just go about do whatever iniquity you want that's a bad place to be with God it means God has rejected you all right Hebrews chapter 12 in verse number 9 Hebrews chapter 12 verse number 9 reads furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live for they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness so it's saying here the natural parent you know of course we do discipline our children so they can behave but we do it for our own pleasure like you know we don't want our kids to mess up we do it so we can have a peaceful household so we'll discipline our kids right we want it you know we want we don't you know want a household of rebellion things like that God in the same way but he makes sure when he disciplines us it's for our profits it's for us you know he does it for us and then it says that we might be partakers of his holiness okay so this is important God wants us to be more holy he wants to be more righteous he wants us to do the right things so God will punish us when we sin against him look at verse number 11 now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless after it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby so God punishes us for our good he does it so we profits it's a good thing to be punished by God it's a good thing to be chastised by God it means he loves us it means where he is children okay but when God says you know what I'm no longer gonna punish you don't forget the people on this land many of them were unsaved okay so they were reprobate God said you know what you can go about and continue your wicked ways which allow you to get into the as you know into filthy things perverted things you want to treat God like that well you want to reject God well God's gonna reject you right back to Hosea chapter 4 verse number 15 though thou Israel play the harlot yet let not Judah offend so God starts to turn his attention a little bit to Judah here he's a look Israel you're a harlot but he's kind of warning Judah Judah don't offend the same way that the northern kingdom is offending right and you know Judah at this point in time was more righteous so they had weakness as well they were more righteous and God is basically telling look look what Israel is doing Judah don't be like that learn the lessons all right learn how my judgments fallen upon them how the Assyrians are going to come and wipe them out learn from that so you don't make the same mistakes and turn against me unfortunately for Judah eventually they did make the same mistakes and they turned against the Lord and they went into captivity by the Babylonians all right but here God is warning Judah let yet let not Judah offend and calm not ye unto Gilgal neither go ye up to Befaven nor swear the Lord liveth so it says look don't go to these places I assume it means that these places are where the people of Israel are committing wicked things especially worshiping false gods all right so God saying look just don't go anywhere near there don't be influenced by you know the people of the northern kingdom and you know what this ought to be a warning for us when we read God's Word we see how God's people have become so distant from God you know this is an example for us God does not want us to make the same mistakes this is why he gives us so many warnings in the Bible this is why God tells us these stories so we can learn from them first Corinthians chapter 10 verse 11 says now all these things happen unto them foreign samples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come wherefore let him that thinketh his standeth take heed lest he fall Israel had fallen God did not want Judah to fall but they did fall as well you know what God does not want us to fall he wants us to learn the lessons from these people in the past from these nations brethren we don't need to learn it ourselves you know you and I were gonna make mistakes we're gonna sin but listen we don't need to get in such a wicked place with God just learn from the mistakes and see how God allowed his judgment to fall you know let's make sure that we learn from that that we don't become those at fall as well look at verse number 16 Hosea 4 16 for Israel slide off back as a backsliding heifer that's a cow now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place so the backsliding heifer there is basically God saying that Israel is telling Judah Israel is a rebellious cow it's a rebellious animal okay and now so because they're rebellious the Lord will feed them as a lamb that sounds good the Lord will feed them as a lamb but actually this is not good okay so feed them as a lamb in a large place so normally yeah a large place is wonderful if you have hundreds of thousands of sheep where you've got a shepherd that watches over them right and and of course you know when you have that sort of group together the wolves the predators there aren't more they're less likely to attack the sheep and then when they're together and the shepherd is there well God's gonna treat Israel as a single lamb right it says a lamb I will feed them as a lamb a lamb one lamb in a large place so think about that that the ship if a shepherd were to lead one single lamb to a very large place and leave it there what's gonna happen to that lamb it's gonna be destroyed it's gonna be eaten up the predators are gonna come and see that defenseless lamb on its own and it's gone so God is telling Israel look you're rebellious you're backsliding against me I'm just gonna allow the wolves to come I'm gonna remove my hands of protection from you and you're gonna be destroyed and again the destruction came by the Assyrians verse number 17 Ephraim is joined to idols let him alone so God I believe either it's either to Hosea or again to Judah the southern kingdom here hey Ephraim Ephraim was one of the tribes but sometimes the northern kingdom was referred to as Ephraim as a whole that happens many times in the Bible and so look because they joined to idols because they worshiping false gods let them alone leave them have nothing to do with them is what God is saying Judah they are wicked that nation has become wicked don't be like them don't even go and talk to them leave them alone have nothing to do with them because they're only going to influence you in a bad way verse number 18 their drink is sour they have committed whoredom continually her rulers with shame do love give ye God's saying look there's nothing good even their drinks are sour like you think you're gonna get some good drinks go into Israel listen there's nothing there that can profit you know the seven kingdom of Judah they're committing whoredoms continually they don't stop this is her rulers with shame do love give you now I'll just explain that last bit to you because I had to read that over and over again a few times so the rulers that's of course those in authority you know the governing powers maybe even the religious leaders of this day it says they have shame okay now if you want them to love you they will love they will look kindly upon you they will be merciful to you but then they'll say to you give ye now when it comes to the King James Bible we don't have quotation marks you know when someone speaks we don't have those quotation marks that you'll find in your modern books okay so what you'll find when you read your King James Bible when someone speaks in the middle of the sentence the first letter will have a it'll be a capital letter okay it'll be a capital letter so if you have a look at there her rulers we've shamed to love give see the G it's in capitals so the rules are saying give ye what's happening here the rulers are basically saying hey if you want us to look kindly upon you if you want us to judge you know in favor of you you have to give us a bribe give ye right give to us if you give to us if you give us money or gifts or whatever hey we'll let you do whatever you need to do right you want to start up a small business well give ye give us and we'll make sure we allow you to do that and so what God is saying hey what's there's no point in going to Israel there's no point in looking at the northern kingdom and making friends with them you know they demand a bribe that you know that they're trying to rip you off is what God is saying there right verse number 19 the wind have bound her up in her wings and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices and so it's saying here that Israel is gonna blow away as a wind okay there's no substance on that land anymore they're just gonna blow away in the wind of course that wind again is the Assyrians are gonna come and take them away and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifice the reason why God is allowing the northern kingdom to be destroyed is because of their sacrifices to a false God okay they've turned their backs against God God's as well they're just gonna blow away with the wind all right so what's the lesson that we can conclude with in this passage well please turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 5 let's go to 1st Corinthians chapter 5 and God is telling Judah don't forget he's telling Judah have nothing to do with the northern kingdom hey they're drunkards they can be in whoredoms they're liars they they've got all these kinds of wickedness and God's telling look southern kingdom stay away from them have nothing to do with them you know don't mix with them because there's nothing good that's gonna come from them well the lesson that we can get out of this brethren in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 verse 11 is of course for us church discipline you know when someone commits a wicked act you know God commands that we discipline them that we kick them out of the church you know to preserve the nudge to preserve the church right because a little leaven leaven of the whole lump and here in 1st Corinthians 5 11 it reads but now have I written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such and one know not to eat brethren if we have people in our church that are committing these kinds of wicked sins it is right for us to put them away and say you know what you are no good to us let them alone have nothing to do with them kick them out right and that's the lesson right church discipline just like Judah were to not have nothing to have nothing to do with northern kingdom we should have nothing to do with those that have gotten kicked out of church unless they repent apologize get things right with the church then that will be the only time that we would of course forgive them receive them and we can continue on serving the Lord together so Brevin I hope this is an interesting lesson for us Hosea chapter 4 God's warning us against sin you know God's warning us against drunkenness and and warning us to you know not give ear to sinful things because it has an effect in our flesh you know when we focus on other people's sins it's gonna cause us our flesh to desire to do those same things especially sins that are highly addictive okay let's protect ourselves and make sure we don't fall let's pray heavenly Father Lord when I thank you for your word Lord thank you for new life up the church Lord I can't wait to see the church next week I pray that you'd open up and Lord make our way easy for myself and Isabel to get up there and to fellowship with the brethren there Lord I just pray that time if there's any any issues that need to be brought to my attention Lord that they will do so and and hope that I can help them make progress Lord and continue to serve you there on the Sunshine Coast Lord but most of all I pray that you'd help us to take heed to your warnings in this passage Lord help us to never become a people that desire to have no knowledge Lord because we know that if we walk away from your knowledge from your wisdom that we're going to just simply destroy ourselves Lord our nation Australia is destroying ourselves I pray that we would stand out Lord I pray that we would not be a people that just follow along in the ways of this world but that we would stand out and be your people and Lord help help us Lord to be like Hosea I hope us to be like the great people of God that stood up for you even when their entire nation had deserted you had rebelled against you so Lord we pray all these things in Jesus name Amen