Hosea 9:3-10:1 – Transformative Stories from Our Listeners

SPEAKER 02 : 0:03

The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.

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Welcome to Through the Bible. I’m Steve Schwartz, your host, and I’m so glad that you’re here for another great study in the Old Testament book of Hosea. Now, as we start out in chapter 9, verse 3, our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, is going to show us that even though Israel was thriving in the new land, people were sinning more, but in fact enjoying it less. Does that sound familiar? Well, stay with us, because in just a moment, we’re going to get a front row seat to what happened in Hosea’s day, as Dr. McGee explains how he thought it parallels with what’s going on today. So while you open your Bible to Hosea 9, Through the Bible’s president, Greg Harris, is here, and we’ve got some exciting things to share with you.

SPEAKER 04 : 0:57

And Steve, it’s great to be here with you and our whole listening family. And you know what? Today we want to talk about something that we love to touch upon, which is our core values. Now, you just said we have exciting things to share. And some people might say, well, that’s not exciting. I’ll tell you what’s exciting. Would you like to know? Tell me. Oh, please. What’s exciting is the values that Dr. McGee articulated to us and in the teaching, they actually play out in reality every day. And we’re going to share letters showing this. And what we want to talk about today is the value of personal Bible study. That’s something we care deeply about.

SPEAKER 03 : 1:32

Absolutely. And that’s what I love about Through the Bible is it is personal Bible study, and it can also be translated or transferred into a small group environment. And then that feeds into building up the local church.

SPEAKER 04 : 1:42

Exactly, exactly. We’re not competing with the local church. We are feeding and building the sheep, and then they go back into the church. And even the pastors. Earlier this month, you read a great letter from a person that basically said, I was empty inside, and through the Bible filled me, and now I’m back at it. Yes. A minister.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:00

Yeah, absolutely. Let’s continue. We’ve got some letters here. Here’s from Soka from Cambodia, and she’s new in her faith. She says, I heard the story of the prodigal son, and I felt as though God was speaking directly to my heart. That story of finding love and acceptance in God gave me hope and inspired me to seek him and study his word. As I continue my journey, I’ve joined a local Bible study where I’m discovering a new purpose and peace in knowing God. My life is forever changed, and I’m excited to keep growing in faith.

SPEAKER 04 : 2:42

That never gets old to hear that. And I love the turning point that we hear in letters. And one day, or my neighbor told me, or a friend of mine shared this. This is why, friends, we fling the seed. This is exactly why we’re so passionate about it. Because once we fling it, God does these amazing things.

SPEAKER 03 : 3:02

Yeah, absolutely. Why don’t you read this next one?

SPEAKER 04 : 3:04

Okay, the next one is a great letter from someone who has been following the Lord for a while. So this is the other end of the spectrum. I am Delis from Venezuela, but I live in Florida. I was 14 years old when I gave my heart to Christ. I have been listening to you, get this, for 50 years now. Wow. That’s amazing. Now, I assume she’s from Venezuela. She speaks Spanish, which means she began listening from almost the very beginning of our relationship.

SPEAKER 03 : 3:31

Yeah, and she’s still listening today, and she’s listening in the state of Florida. In Florida, yes.

SPEAKER 04 : 3:36

So, because we fling the seed in Venezuela and Florida, Steve.

SPEAKER 03 : 3:39

We do.

SPEAKER 04 : 3:39

That’s why we fling it wherever we can. All right, let’s get back to this great letter. You have been a great blessing to me in my life, and I have imparted your teachings in church to my daughters and my grandchildren. Wow. Listening to the Word of God and its study took me out of a moment of depression. When we arrived in the USA, my husband took it upon himself to look for your app. God bless you always. One day we will see each other in glory.

SPEAKER 03 : 4:06

Yes, we will. And what a day that will be. Here’s another one. This is a listener in Turkey, which people don’t necessarily think about Turkey as being a difficult place to live with a ton of persecution.

SPEAKER 01 : 4:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER 03 : 4:16

I know I don’t. Right. But it is. It is. Yep. Yeah. So here’s a letter. It says, this is a woman that calls herself, interesting, Mrs. 28 for anonymity purposes. Not sure why she chose the number 28, but there you have it. I’m guessing it’s her age, Steve. That’s my guess. Oh, okay. Well, that’s interesting. Okay. After five years in a bad marriage, so that means she was married at 23. That’s right.

SPEAKER 04 : 4:36

That’s why I picked up on that.

SPEAKER 03 : 4:38

Yeah, okay. That’s awesome. That’s interesting because oftentimes for someone in the Islamic faith, that is not the case. Yes. I continue.

SPEAKER 04 : 5:28

Incredible. Just incredible, folks. This is all the power of God’s Word, and when people study the Bible, it changes their lives. Now, we have just enough time to hear from Stacy right here in Indiana. Dear Greg and Steve, I found TTB right around the time that God called and justified me in 2008. Like a lot of people, I was turning channels on my radio in my car when I heard Dr. McGee’s country drawl, and it reminded me of my grandfather. So it caught my attention, and I boarded the Bible bus. Over the years, I have struggled and been pulled away by the things of this world, but the truth always brought me back. I have always appreciated how humble Dr. McGee was about his walk with God. Thank you for continuing to be there for me and countless others, teaching us in an easy-to-understand, loving way.

SPEAKER 03 : 6:16

Wow, Stacey, thanks so much for that encouraging letter. We really do appreciate it. I’m glad we were part of your spiritual growth from back in 2008.

SPEAKER 04 : 6:24

Yes, and we encourage you to be part of this ministry. Join the World Prayer Team. Go to ttb.org forward slash pray. And you will be part of the conversion and the stories and the growth of so many people around the world.

SPEAKER 03 : 6:36

It’s a real encouragement. Greg, let me pray for us as we’re out of time. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would continue to bless the ministry through the Bible as it goes out. I pray for the people in difficult situations in the U.S. and around the world that you would minister to them through your word. And you would bring them to yourself if they don’t know you. Bless the word now as it goes out. In Jesus’ name I pray.

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Amen.

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Now here’s Through the Bible with Dr. McGee’s continuing study in the book of Hosea.

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Now friends, as we come back here to the ninth chapter of the prophecy of Hosea, we see that this is the section of judgment because Israel has turned from God to everything else, to idolatry. And actually at this time, they are beginning to look to prosperity to be the thing that is an indication that everything is all right. And they’re right on the verge of the judgment of God. And so we begin, and I’m going to move back and just lift out one or two things here in chapter 9. He says to them at first, rejoice not. They were sinning more, but enjoying it less. God says you played the harlot. And they’ve loved a reward upon every threshing floor. The stock market was up and there was abundance. The shelves of the supermarkets were groaning with food. And there was plenty of liquor to be bought, plenty of wine. And that deceived them. That, of course, has deceived our nation. And then we have something else here. God makes it clear they are going to get out of the land. He says in verse 3, they shall not dwell in the Lord’s land. God says, I’m putting you out of my land. Although God said he’d not forget his covenant with Abraham and with Moses and with David. But their tenure in the land always depended on their obedience to God. And now he’s going to put them out of the land. Now we come down to where we actually left off last time. Let me read verse 7 here in your hearing. The days of judgment are come. The days of recompense are come. Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool. The spiritual man is mad for the multitude of thine iniquity and the great hatred. Now, what has happened here, the nation had actually lost its way spiritually. Why? Because of the leadership. Now, may I make a statement? I started out studying for the ministry. The big fight in this country, in the church, was between what was known as fundamentalism and modernism. And modernism espoused the social gospel. They were the do-gooders, and they claimed they had a high ethical standard. And I was inclined, frankly, to agree with them on their high ethical standard. Because I found out a great many of the fundamentalists just don’t operate on high ethics. And that is still true today. And I felt like maybe the liberal had one strike on us in that connection. And it disturbed me a great deal. But I began again to watch liberalism. And I didn’t say this. Hosea said it. You can blame it on him. He says the prophet is a fool. Did they have really a high ethical standard? Well, follow them through. And I’m going to refer back now to the Watergate case. A young man who had gone to Yale, I guess it was, and he had an outstanding liberal preacher there. His father was an outstanding liberal, and he taught them ethics. Now, listen to this. This man also taught young men to burn their draft cards. That’s against the law. He also taught certain protest meetings and even to the burning, and that there was a higher law than the law of the land, and he espoused that. Well, it led a young man into very serious trouble. That was in his class. He said, well, if that’s ethics, then I can follow them. And I just merely use that as an illustration. I’m saying that’s true all the way across this land. Liberalism has even lost its moral standard today. And I was in Portland when they discovered that a policewoman testified that the place where they were getting dope was that run by the liberal churches. And across this land today, liberalism, I didn’t say it. Hosea said the prophet’s a fool. He’s led the nation astray. And liberalism is responsible for the policy that we followed after World War II. And the trouble that we are in today is a trouble that’s been produced by liberalism. I’ll guarantee you this. Fundamentalism may act fanatic at times. But the fact of the matter is, fundamentalism did not lead to the trouble that we are in today. And then, even before I began studying for the ministry, I was in college and had not yet gone to seminary. I listened to certain men like Dr. Ironside, Dr. Harry Rimmer, Dr. Arthur Brown, and I heard my professors and liberal preachers call them fanatics. Do you know the things that they preached about and said then are as true today as it possibly can be? And the things I was taught in school, that doesn’t happen to be true today. It just didn’t work out that way. They had turned their back on God, and the judgment was coming because of that. And they had no spiritual discernment today. And the thing that disturbs me about our nation, we’re receiving letters now from many people, and we rejoice in it. They’re coming out of cults and isms. Well, how did they get trapped in all of these things today? Only one explanation, that’s ignorance of the word of God, lack of spiritual discernment. Now, God says he intends to judge them for that. And this is the pattern. This is an illustration for any nation that’s made a pretense of being a Christian nation. Now, he says the watchman of Ephraim was with my God. But the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all the ways and hatred in the house of his God. The watchman, evidently, there were a few fanatical fundamentalists around in that day warning the people. And yet he says that the prophet is the snare of a fowler. And that’s harsh language. I would never use that kind of language to speak of the liberal today, and yet I believe that liberalism is in control of the news media. Friends, we’ve been in trouble ever since World War II. In fact, before World War II, this nation began to move into trouble. And we’ve had nothing but trouble ever since. And it’s time somebody is making a diagnosis. and give a prognosis of the case. The problem is we’ve turned from God as a nation as a whole. That is the condition today. And God has become a big swear word in Washington, probably used more than any other, but only used in the form of blasphemy, never in the form of prayer or of worship of him. Now, let’s move along here in this. He says, verse 9, “…they have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. Therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will judge their sins.” Now, there’s no ifs, ands, buts about it. God intends to judge sin. Now, maybe you don’t like it, but that’s exactly what he says, that he intends to judge sin. Now, he says here in verse 10, and let me begin reading at verse 10. He says something else is going to happen to you. He says, “…I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness.” I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree. Now, the vine and the fig tree are symbols of the nation Israel. And that’s well established all the way through the Word of God. And Hosea just comes right out and says it. I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree, her first time. But they went to Baal Peor and separated themselves under that shame, and their abominations were according as they loved. Now, they not only established calf worship in both Samaria and Bethel, but they also brought in the prophets of Baal under Ahab and Jezebel. Now, will you notice, God makes it very clear, verse 11, as for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird. It’s like a bird that takes off. You’ve ever been duck hunting and you spend the cold hours of the morning in a duck trap or in a boat out on a lake. And then right before the sun comes up and you could start shooting, some monkey that’s out there hunting, he fires a gun and every duck on a lake or nearby takes off and you watch them fly away. Well, that was the glory of Ephraim. It was departing. This nation had made a tremendous impact upon the ancient world. But that glory was flying away like a bird from the birth and from the womb and from the conception. Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them that there shall not be a man left. Yea, woe also to them when I depart from them. God says, I intend to judge them. And one of the judgments was this. You see, the thing promised Abraham was not only to give him a land, but I’m going to multiply your seed. They’ll be like the sand on the seashore. And then God says they’ll be like the stars in heaven later on. And God made that good. But now they’ve sinned. God says you’re going to have really a decline in your birth rate. And that’ll be part of my judgment upon you. And you won’t have to resort to that which is actually murder. You will not have to resort to abortion. That is when it’s done just to escape or make sin possible. And as it’s used today. Now, God says in verse 13 here, Ephraim, as I saw Tyre, is planted as a pleasant place, but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer. Now, God at this time had not judged Tyre. Tyre was a great commercial center. And the northern kingdom, it had caught on. It was like a fever. And they became a commercial center also. And they were going in for that. There was a false prosperity, by the way. And that was deceiving them. Now God says, verse 14, give them, O Lord, what wilt thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. The women will be barren. And they went through that period at the time. The judgment of God upon them. Verse 15, all their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them for the wickedness of their doings. I will drive them out of mine house. I will love them no more. All their princes are revolters. Now, God says their sin in Gilgal brought my judgment down upon them. It should be a warning to you, though I love them. Now, he says, I’ll judge you again, and you’ll come to the conclusion I don’t love you anymore. Verse 16, Ephraim is smitten. Their root is dried up. They shall bear no fruit. Yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb. Not only the fruit from the ground, but the birth of children. Verse 17, my God will cast them away because they did not hearken unto him and they shall be wondrous among the nations. Now, someone has said the thing that has characterized the Jew has been the wandering Jew and Shiloh and Shakespeare. Now, I disagree totally with both of them. But the thing is, God says they’re going to be wanderers among the nation. He’d cast them out. Now, the ten tribes as such did not return. They came back with Judah. It’s true. And there was that mixture, and they spread throughout the land. You find them around Galilee. In fact, that’s where Mary and Joseph lived. And they were actually members of the tribe of Judah. But they’re way up there. So there was a tremendous scattering in the land, even when they returned at the Babylonian captivity. And the ten tribes came with them. After all, when Babylon destroyed Assyria, they took the ten tribes with them. And they were amalgamated, intermixed with the others. And they came back to the land so that today the average Jew could not tell you what tribe he belongs to. Yet God says he’ll know it. someday. Now, chapter 10, verse 1, we come to a very interesting chapter again. And this is still in the section, actually, where God says that judgment is coming upon them. But I think you find out something a little different in this particular section here. God makes it clear, as he said back in the eighth chapter, I love them no more. But that was during this particular period. That was not permanent at all. And now as we come to chapter 10, we find another thing they were doing that brought down judgment upon them. Now, this first verse here has been greatly misunderstood. “‘Israel is an empty vine. He bringeth forth fruit unto himself. According to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars. According to the goodness of his land they have made handsome images.'” Now, what he’s saying here is not that Israel was a vine not producing fruit. They were very prosperous at this time, you see. God was still being good to them, warning them, though, of a coming judgment upon them. And he says here, Israel is an empty vine. He bringeth forth fruit. Now, what does it mean? Well, he’s a vine that empties itself. of its fruit. It is just pouring out fruit upon the people. And it’s been suggested that Israel is a very fruitful vine. Now, this reminds you of something. Later on, the Lord Jesus said to his own, and they were Jewish disciples and apostles in the upper room. He said to them, I am the genuine vine. In other words, up to this point, you have felt like your identification with the nations gave you access to God and a relationship to him. That’s no longer true. From here on, I’m going to do something different. I’m calling out a people to my name. I’ll be the head. And this church that I’m forming will be the body. And I am the vine. And you’re going to be the branches. And the branches will bring forth fruit. And that’s the purpose of using this figure that he used here. Therefore, what God is saying to them here, I’m going to judge you for the fact that I have made you prosperous. You’ve not given me any credit for it at all. It just means that you have grown and Your urban areas, you’re putting up apartments there and condominiums and people are moving in. And as a result, why, you think everything is all right. Well, I’m going to judge you with a tremendous lowering of the population. There’ll be no population explosion among you. And not only that. As you increase in number, why, you’ve made more images. In other words, you’ve increased in your sin. That is the thing that he’s saying here. Now, that gets us through the first verse of chapter 10, and we’ll begin right there next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

SPEAKER 03 : 23:35

Until the return of Christ, the question will always be, have we and are we sinning against his unfailing love? If you want to understand biblical prophecy a little better, why don’t you visit ttb.org yourself? There you’re going to find resources that will help you see God’s plan for the world as he describes it in his word. You’ll also discover more about his faithful, unfailing love for you. Again, our address is ttb.org. Or you can call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE if we can help you find something. And when you’re in touch, why don’t you sign up to get our monthly newsletter as well? I think you’re really going to enjoy it. Each issue includes more teaching by Dr. McGee, as well as application tips that will help you make those truths your own. And inside information as well on our family members all around the world. Sign up. It’s super easy. Go to ttb.org or call us 1-800-65-BIBLE. Well, that’s all for this week. Be sure to join me this weekend for the Sunday sermon, James Will Lead Us in Prayer. You’ll find it in our app or at ttb.org. And that’s also where you can find a list of stations that carry the Sunday sermon. Now, be sure to join us next time for your daily dose of Through the Bible. And first, we’re going to finish up this terrific study of Hosea. And then we’re heading back to the New Testament to the great study in the book of James. You won’t want to miss it. To get the most out of our time together, and I’ve said this before, I highly recommend you check out our digital book, Briefing the Bible. It contains all of Dr. McGee’s notes and outlines for our five-year journey through God’s entire word. And then another excellent resource is our James Bible Companion. I love that too. Both are available to you anytime for free download or purchase at ttb.org. Or just call us, 1-800-65-BIBLE is the number, if we can help you find them. I’m Steve Schwetz, praying that God blesses and keeps you as you set your heart on things above.

SPEAKER 02 : 25:32

All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.

SPEAKER 03 : 25:50

Through the Bible exists to take God’s whole word to the whole world. And we invite you to stand with us with your faithful prayer and financial support. Where will God’s word go today?