The Book of Hosea
The Book of Hosea
By Richard St.James
Bible 1611.Com / Old Paths Baptist Mission © 2023
Hosea, chapter four:
Verse one: “Hear the
word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the
LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the
land, because there is no truth, nor mercy,
nor knowledge of God in the land.”
It is all about
hearing. I do not mean just hearing
with the ears. It is about hearing with
the heart!
When a people will not
hear in their hearts the words of God and
refuse to do them, then it is all downhill from
there!
In the New Testament in
the book of the Acts of the Apostles, in chapter
twenty-eight, verse twenty-six, the Holy Ghost
through the Apostle Paul spake this:
“Saying, Go unto this
people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall
not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not
perceive:
For the heart of this
people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of
hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they
should see with their eyes, and hear with
their ears, and understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal
them.” [Acts 28:26-27]
What always results [when
a people get to a point that they will not listen to
the LORD] is a controversy, or an argument,
with the God of heaven and of earth. Let me say
this. It does not go well!
Warning: When a man
argues continuously with God, he will always suffer.
He will become a big-time loser! More than
that, everyone else around him also begins
to suffer, and even further than that, even all
the land will suffer. When a nation
is at odds with God, it always results in
truth dying in the streets of that nation,
mercy disappearing from among the people
of that nation, and the knowledge of
God being erased from all the land of that
nation.
Conclusion: Without
repentance on the part of inhabitants of the
earth, it will always come to destruction, just as
the prophet had pronounced in the book of
Isaiah the prophet:
Isaiah 59:14: “And
judgment is turned away backward, and justice
standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the
street, and equity cannot enter.”
Tis a certain death
for the inhabitants of any nation,
when the God of the Bible has a controversy
with the inhabitants of that nation, or
nations. Lesson: We need to trust and obey.
There is no other way.
Verse two:
“By swearing, and lying, and killing, and
stealing, and committing adultery, they break out,
and blood toucheth blood.”
All mayhem results
when a man [or a person] leaves God.
Leave or depart from God and then, watch
out. Note: Mayhem produces violence.
Here is a commentary: Mankind [in the
antediluvian world] degenerated to his lowest point
seeing total violence. See the first
book of Moses called Genesis, in chapter six, verse
eleven:
“The earth also was
corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence.”
Now look back to verse
five:
“And GOD saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually.”
[Genesis 6:11, 5]
Maxim: Unchecked sin
produces great wickedness to which there is no
remedy but a certain judgment.
Now turn with me to the
book of Romans, chapter one, and we’ll start at
verse twenty, and read on down to the end of the
chapter:
“For the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead;
so that they are without excuse: Because that, when
they knew God, they glorified him not as God,
neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into
an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds,
and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness
through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour
their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the
truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served
the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed
for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto
vile affections: for even their women did change the
natural use into that which is against nature: And
likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of
the woman, burned in their lust one toward another;
men with men working that which is unseemly, and
receiving in themselves that recompence of their
error which was meet. 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; Being filled with all
unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder,
debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters,
haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without
natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who
knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit
such things are worthy of death, not only do the
same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”
[Romans 1:20-32]
The Spirit of God has
laid out a solid iron-clad case against man!
Will we listen?
Verse three:
“Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one
that dwelleth 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.”
Like a creeping ague as a
fungus permeates throughout a person’s body, mind,
and soul, till he or she is totally shot through
with the incurable disease. This disease then
moves from person to person till, yea, even a whole
nation is contaminated through and through.
But it does not stop here! It progresses till
it consumes all the nations of the earth. It
is called getting it together to rebel against the
LORD GOD. See this very thing shown in Psalm
two. We read:
“The kings of the
earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel
together, against the LORD, and against his
anointed, saying, Let us break their bands
asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
So it is, as it is
with sin against God.” [Psalm
2:2-3]
SIN will take you where
you never intended to go!
To sin against God,
results in languishing till you come to a
very bad end [HELL]:
1.
To languish is to lose
strength,
2.
To languish
is to become feeble,
3.
To languish
is to pine away.
4.
To languish
is to wither away.
5.
To languish
is to sink under sorrow.
Is this the way we
want to go? Think it through carefully, my
friend.
A people, and a land,
will languish when they are guilty of
harlotry against the God of creation.
·
Isaiah 24:4: “The earth
mourneth and fadeth away, the world
languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty
people of the earth do languish.
·
Jeremiah 14:2: “Judah
mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are
black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is
gone up.”
·
Romans 8:22: “For we know
that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in
pain together until now.”
When will we ever
learn? You would think that
we would rather prosper than to languish.
Verse four:
“Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for
thy people are as they that strive with the
priest.”
Back off now,
and hold your tongue, and be gentle to
another.
2 Timothy 2:24-26:
“And the servant of
the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all
men, apt to teach, patient,
In meekness
instructing those that oppose themselves; if God
peradventure will give them repentance to the
acknowledging of the truth;
And that they
may recover themselves out of the snare of the
devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Here is a good
doctrine to put to practice in your life: Be
patient, and judge nothing before the time.
Now, read the word of
God located in the First Epistle to the
Corinthians, chapter four, verse five:
“Therefore judge
nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who
both will bring to light the hidden things of
darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the
hearts: and then shall every man have praise of
God.” [1 Corinthians 4:5]
Do not strive with
men. Reprove with humility in
your heart. Be clothed with humility [1 Peter
5:5]!
Verse five:
“Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the
prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and
I will destroy thy mother.”
Mother? This is a
most dire situation. This
situation has more to do with impending
darkness that will hover over the whole earth during
the seven-year tribulation rather than just
what had happened to the city of Jerusalem and to
the temple in A.D. 70. No, this speaks
primarily of the end that is
coming upon Israel”
“And he said, Amos,
what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer
fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come
upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by
them any more.
And the songs of the
temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord
GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every
place; they shall cast them forth with
silence.” [Amos 8:2b-3]
Verse six:
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:
because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also
reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me:
seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I
will also forget thy children.”
My people are
destroyed.
The people rejected
the knowledge contained in the word of God.
A lack of knowledge of the word of God will kill
a person, a people and a nation. We need to
remember, that man is a tri-part being.
When one part goes down it affects every
part of a person’s being – everything!
Israel was to go down like a house of cards
[B.C. 610] [A.D. 70] [A.D. 20??] to their
destruction. They would be:
-
Spiritually destroyed.
- Morally
destroyed.
- Culturally
destroyed.
-
Infrastructure destroyed.
We see this wholesale
destruction of Israel by similitude through
the prophet Amos. Go to Amos, chapter nine,
and we will read from verse one through verse nine:
Amos 9:1: “I saw the
Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the
lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and
cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay
the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of
them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of
them shall not be delivered.
Verse two: “Though
they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take
them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I
bring them down:
Verse three: “And
though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I
will search and take them out thence; and though
they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea,
thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite
them:
Verse four: “And
though they go into captivity before their enemies,
thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay
them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil,
and not for good.
Verse five: “And
the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the
land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein
shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a
flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood
of Egypt.”
Verse six: “It
is he that buildeth his stories in
the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth;
he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and
poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The
LORD is his name.”
Verse seven: “Are
ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O
children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I
brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the
Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?”
Verse eight: “Behold,
the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful
kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of
the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy
the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.”
Verse nine: “For,
lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of
Israel among all nations, like as corn is
sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain
fall upon the earth.”
Verse ten: “All
the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent
us.”
There you have it!
It has been determined by the God of the BIBLE for
the destruction of all those who reject the word
of God, and the knowledge of God therein.
Verse seven:
“As they were increased, so they sinned against
me: therefore will I change their glory into
shame.”
Glory turned into
shame!
Men have a very short
memory concerning the goodness of God.
This is the bane of man.
Look with me in the Psalms:
Psalm 52:1: “Why
boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the
goodness of God endureth continually.”
If a man’s prosperity
is increased by the blessing of God in his life, the
danger is he will soon forget what God has
done for him.
Thus, it was with
Nebuchadnezzar as recorded in the book of Daniel,
chapter four, verses thirty through thirty-three:
“The king spake, and
said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built
for the house of the kingdom by the might of my
power, and for the honour of my majesty?
While the word was
in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven,
saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is
spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.
And they shall drive
thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with
the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat
grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee,
until thou know that the most High ruleth in the
kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
The same hour was the
thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was
driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his
body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs
were grown like eagles' feathers, and his
nails like birds' claws.”
[Daniel 4:30]
Nebuchadnezzar was
shamed. All his glory was turned to
shame. Nebuchadnezzar had to learn a
lesson. It was God that had lifted him.
It is God who had to put him down low on his all
fours. Pride was the root of the problem!
The goodness and the
severity of God.
Here is the lesson to be
learned. The goodness of God is what
blesses a man. Let us pause here for a
moment! For we must not never forget this
truth! The goodness of God … is what
blesses a man.
Let this sink in.
Man is totally dependent on the goodness
of God, for his very life and for his
salvation in Jesus Christ.
Now, consider the
Scripture:
Romans 2:4: “Or
despisest thou the riches of his goodness and
forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”
Romans 11:22: “Behold
therefore the goodness and severity of God:
on them which fell, severity; but toward thee,
goodness, if thou continue in his
goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”
What should we do,
knowing we are dependent on HIS goodness
to us?
Well, we ought to pray to
the God of Heaven above to keep us humble.
KEEP PRIDE OUT! We need to be clothed
with humility!
We, the New Testament
Bible-believing, born again, saved by the blood
adopted sons of God need always to keep in
memory what the Apostle Peter has commanded to us in
his epistle:
1 Peter 5:5-6:
“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the
elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to
another, and be clothed with humility: for God
resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of
God, that he may exalt you in due time:”
There is more, for the
Spirit of God makes it so unmistakably clear what he
is telling us.
Humble yourself!
Matthew 18:4: “Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child, the same is greatest
in the kingdom of heaven.”
Humble yourself!
Matthew 23:12: “And whosoever shall exalt himself
shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself
shall be exalted.”
Humble yourself!
James 4:6: “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore
he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace
unto the humble.”
Humble yourself!
James 4:10: “Humble yourselves in the sight of
the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
Here is the lesson for
us all to learn!
If any good has come into
your life, or if any enjoyment has come to you
because of prosperity, or if you have been
lifted up before men to any office, or to any
other place of exaltation, then recognize it is
the goodness of God in your life.
With that said we are
ready to move forward.
Verse eight:
“They eat up the sin of my people, and they set
their heart on their iniquity.”
Wow! That is a pretty
graphic statement that the Spirit of has made.
Both the prophet [verse five] and the
priest [verse six] are complicit together
with the people against God in the lapping
up of sin. They eat up
the sin of my people! The hireling
priests and the false prophets with
all the people were determined to believe a lie
to their own destruction.
Question: Where
do these lies come from?
Answer: The lies come from lying
spirits. The manner of this
phenomenon of lying spirits is as
revealed by the BOOK in the first book of Kings,
chapter twenty-two: [See for this also: 2 Chronicles
18:21].
“And the LORD said
unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth,
and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his
prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him,
and prevail also: go forth, and do so.”
[1 Kings 22:22]
Verse nine:
“And there shall be, like people, like priest:
and I will punish them for their ways, and reward
them their doings.”
Sowing and reaping:
Throughout the Old
Testament, and even in the New Testament, we find
this set law. This, then is a
universal law that applies to all of us, whether
we be Jew or Gentile, male or female. We are
all on the same level, and will be held
accountable for all our doings. Proof
text? Here are the words of God:
Romans 2:11: “For
there is no respect of persons with God.”
Colossians 3:25: “But
he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong
which he hath done: and there is no respect of
persons.”
Galatians 6:7: “Be not
deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Verse ten:
“For they shall eat, and not have enough: they
shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase:
because they have left off to take heed to the
LORD.”
Isn’t this phenomenon
what we see today in the 21st century?
Look around. We all have eyes that are
bigger than our stomachs. We want more
than we can handle! We are like the
greedy dogs that are described in the book of
Isaiah. Do you doubt me? Well, check it
out for yourself in the BOOK! You will see the
veracity of it in Isaiah chapter fifty-six,
verse eleven. We will read from there:
“Yea, they are
greedy dogs which can never have enough, and
they are shepherds that cannot
understand: they all look to their own way, every
one for his gain, from his quarter.”
[Isaiah 56:11]
Greedy Dog Syndrome!
This is where the people
were in Hosea’s day. This is also where we are
today. Now, look at what the word of
God says about all of this in the book of
Haggai, chapter one, verse six:
“Ye have sown much,
and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough;
ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye
clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that
earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a
bag with holes.” [Haggai 1:6]
Observation: We are
never satisfied! Is it not so with us?
Let us move on.
Verse eleven:
“Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the
heart.”
Do you see what I see?
Harlotry and wine are natural companions.
They go together in the matter of the heart.
Whoredom and wine divide the heart of a man.
Both corrupt our hearts with distractions.
Single-heartedness is gone. Confusion
comes because of sin [sin because you left
God]! Read in the book of Daniel of
this sad state:
Daniel 9:8: “O Lord,
to us belongeth confusion of face, to our
kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because
we have sinned against thee.” Consider the
following:
- Gomer’s
harlotry, her unfaithfulness to Hosea
took away her heart from Hosea.
- Israel’s
harlotry, her unfaithfulness to
the LORD GOD took away her heart from the LORD
GOD.
- The body
of Christ’s [which is the church],
harlotry, her unfaithfulness to Jesus
Christ takes away her heart from Jesus Christ
[See 1 Corinthians 6:15-17].
Result: It all goes so
bad!
Now the Remedy!
Brethren: We need a
whole heart toward the LORD. We should cry
out as the psalmist cried out in Psalm one-hundred
and nineteen, verse one hundred and forty-five:
“I cried with my
whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy
statutes.” [Psalm 119:145]
Verse twelve:
“My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their
staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of
whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they
have gone a whoring from under their God.”
Understand: The spirit
of whoredoms and the lying spirits have
the same source
[the Devil].
Verse thirteen:
“They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains,
and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and
poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is
good: therefore your daughters shall commit
whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.”
When we make a decision,
we need to consider the consequences that will fall
out to us as a result of making that decision.
A confused or
divided heart will take you in your imagination
to a mountain top or some high hill to sacrifice or
burn incense when the LORD clearly showed you a
different way it is to be done. Faithfulness
to God is shown by us keeping HIS commands.
Israel had God’s will revealed to them in the manner
of sacrifices and incense.
Faithfulness to one
you love is shown by the keeping of the precepts of
the one you love.
Let us turn now to the
third book of Moses called Leviticus to chapter
seventeen and read starting with verse three to see
these precepts:
Verse three: “What man
soever there be of the house of Israel, that
killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or
that killeth it out of the camp,
Verse four: “And
bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of
the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD
before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be
imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that
man shall be cut off from among his people:”
Verse five: “To the
end that the children of Israel may bring their
sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even
that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the
priest, and offer them for peace offerings
unto the LORD.”
Verse six: “And the
priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of
the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour
unto the LORD.”
Verse seven: “And they
shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils,
after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a
statute for ever unto them throughout their
generations.”
Verse eight: “And thou
shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be
of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which
sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or
sacrifice,”
Verse nine: “And
bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of
the congregation, to offer it unto the LORD; even
that man shall be cut off from among his people.”
Now, the LORD has been so
clear, as to what HE expected of HIS people.
HE had laid it out … so plain.
But Israel had a heart
problem. What we can learn from history is
that Israel, time after time,
committed whoredom with other gods.
As a result, confusion of face came to them.
And today, we in the body of Christ [which is the
church] are no different than Israel. We also, have
developed a heart problem. Look around
you, my friend, it is all so obvious as to our
condition. If you cannot see it, the
LORD sees it! Read with me in the book
of the Revelation of Jesus Christ HIS indictment of
the church of the Laodiceans in chapter three, verse
fifteen through verse nineteen:
“I know thy works,
that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou
wert cold or hot.
So then because thou
art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue
thee out of my mouth.
Because thou sayest, I
am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of
nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
I counsel thee to buy
of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be
rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve,
that thou mayest see.
As many as I love, I
rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and
repent.”
There is the answer:
REPENT!
Verse fourteen:
“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.”
So, they fell!
[B.C. 610] [A.D. 70] It is recorded in
history. People that refuse to learn from
history are doomed to a bad end. If they, or
we refuse to repent then the boom will
lower down upon us, on our families, and upon
the whole nation. We will be undone.
When will we ever learn?
If a people or a nation
refuses to repent then God will just step
back and let the roof of their house collapse upon
them. They shall fall.
Verse fifteen:
“Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet
let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal,
neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD
liveth.”
Watch it Judah,
do not go the way of your sister! Do not
falsely say, I serve the LORD, when you know
it to be otherwise. You are just faking it.
Judah: “Let love be without dissimulation.
Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is
good.” [Romans 12:9] Do you see that
word: Dissimulation?
What does that word mean? Well, it
means a fake love. It means do not go
up to Gilgal or to Bethaven [or to church] and say I
love Jesus Christ [The LORD liveth] when it could
not be further from the truth. Here is
the commentary given by the Son of God concerning
such a person. We have here in the Gospel of
Matthew, chapter twenty-three, in verse
twenty-eight, this said by the LORD:
“Even so ye also
outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye
are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”
[Matthew 23:28]
Verse sixteen:
“For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer:
now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large
place.”
What is backsliding?
Well, backsliding involves actions heading
into apostasy in a departure from God,
which results in a falling away into sin or
idolatry. Backsliding is close kin to
harlotry.
We will turn to the book of Jeremiah the
prophet and see an account of
backsliding Israel. We will
read of this account in chapter three, starting with
verse six:
“The LORD said also
unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou
seen that which backsliding Israel hath done?
she is gone up upon every high mountain and under
every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
And I said after she
had done all these things, Turn thou unto me.
But she returned not. And her treacherous sister
Judah saw it.
And I saw, when for
all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed
adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of
divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared
not, but went and played the harlot also.
And it came to pass
through the lightness of her whoredom, that she
defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones
and with stocks.
And yet for all this
her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me
with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
And the LORD said unto
me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself
more than treacherous Judah.” Jeremiah
[3:6-11]
It all comes together
here as Backsliding = Playing the Harlot =
Committing Adultery = Is Divorce.
Now look at verse
seventeen.
Verse seventeen:
“Ephraim is joined to idols: let him
alone.”
Ephraim [which is Israel]
is married to idols. Let him
alone is the worst that can happen. This
backsliding Israel, which is playing the
harlot, which is committing adultery is
immersed into idolatry. Can it get any
worse?
Now, if we fast forward
this whole thing by going into the New Testament,
the believer in Jesus Christ is there told to
mortify [to restrain] their members [or the
flesh] from fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness
[or idolatry].
Mortify
·
Israel needed to mortify,
any and all things that would threaten her fidelity
to God.
·
Members in Jesus Christ
[Christians] need to mortify, any and all
things that would threaten their fidelity to Jesus
Christ.
Here is the command:
Colossians 3:5:
“Mortify therefore your members which are upon
the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry.”
This list of sins
consists of an army in the commission of warfare
against our relationship to Jesus Christ.
Mortify your members!
Verse eighteen:
“Their drink is sour: they have committed
whoredom continually: her rulers with shame
do love, Give ye.”
Going the way of
whoredom or harlotry [sin] takes
the joy of out a person or a people and leaves them
empty. In the end you become a very:
- Morose
person,
- Gloomy
person,
- Sullen
person,
-
Ill-humored person,
What a bear trap
this is to be caught in … to become sour and
dour. Give ye.
Verse nineteen:
“The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and
they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.”
In the end it is to
your shame.
Watch out when the wind
begins to blow for such a person or people caught in
the bear trap of whoredom against the God of heaven
and earth. Listen to the words of God:
Jeremiah 18:17: “I
will scatter them as with an east wind before the
enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face,
in the day of their calamity.”
Jeremiah 22:22: “The
wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers
shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be
ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.”
When the wind is done
with you, you will want to hide.
Next - Hosea Chapter Five
Friend
If you
know the Bible Is True,
And you
never received
Jesus
Christ as your personal Lord and Savior...
And you
want to come to Him for Salvation now ... Then:
1. Admit
... To God that you are a Sinner...
Deserving Hell Fire...
2. Believe ... that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God...
Who died on the Cross for
You! ...
3. Repent! ... Ask
Him to Forgive You of Your Sin...
4. Receive Him... By
Asking Him to come into Your Heart...
And You
Will Receive the Gift of Eternal Life!
Born of God! You
Are in The Narrow Way ... To HEAVEN!