Join us on this episode as we delve into the profound teachings from Hosea 10 with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. We explore the theme of judgment and redemption as Hosea reveals the divided heart of Israel and the consequences of such a spiritual condition. Listen in as we engage with testimonies from around the globe, including life-changing impacts in Bengal and Burundi, highlighting the universal need for hearing God’s word in one’s own language.
the foundation ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
SPEAKER 01 :
How many people have promised God? How many of you have been down to all of them? And you got down and you dedicated your life and rededicated your life. And did it help you any? Why don’t you mean business with God today, my friend?
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Well, one thing you’ve got to love about our Bible teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, is that he cared enough to tell it straight. And that’s just the kind of Bible teaching that we’re going to get in this Through the Bible study as we continue our never-ending five-year journey through the whole Word of God. I’m Steve Schwetz, inviting you to turn to Hosea 10. And as you do that, let’s take a minute to catch up with Greg Harris and hear how our mission advances as we take the whole Word to the whole world.
SPEAKER 03 :
And Steve, of course, we prepare for these conversations and we have notes and we look at the letters. And I just want to say it just never, ever gets old to hear how God is at work around the world. And that’s all we’re going to do today is just. Show the fruit. We’re going to inspect fruit that came from flinging the seed. And if you’re part of supporting this ministry, we just want to say thank you and enjoy the fruit of what happens when you just give the word of God out as widely as you possibly can.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, let’s start this out with Namita from West Bengal. Previously, I used to watch Christian programs in Urdu and Tamil. which made it difficult for me to understand. However, Bengali, through the Bible, has been a true blessing because I can easily grasp the teachings in my own language. That is so key, and that’s why we’re in so many different languages. Let me continue. This program has deeply touched my heart, and I’m genuinely happy. After the loss of my only child, this program has helped me overcome the heartbreak and has given me the strength to move forward. Please remember me in your prayers.
SPEAKER 03 :
You and I, we’ve been friends for so long, I knew you were going to say that. I was looking at you thinking, Steve’s going to say, this is why we have to be in so many languages. And it’s absolutely correct. In case you wonder, we’re not trying to brag when we say we’re in 250 languages. It’s letters like this that tell us people want to hear the Bible in their heart language.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, let’s go all the way from West Bengal, which actually is in the eastern part of India, to a listener in Burundi who says, may God’s peace be with you. This program, in my language, there it is again. I knew you were going to say that. My language of Burundi has led me to welcome Jesus into my life. I used to harbor bitterness within me. I prayed countless times for it to be lifted, but to no avail. However, there’s that turning point. Yes, always a pivot. However, after tuning into the program and witnessing the power of Jesus to heal and make the impossible possible, I have embraced faith and he has eradicated the bitterness within me. Thank you for sharing divine messages with us. God bless you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Wow. It is just so powerful the way God has chosen to bless really mass media and one-on-one media with the apps and all of that stuff. And no, we’re not the only answer to reaching the whole world with the Word of God. But the significant way in which God is choosing to use the ministry is exciting. And I hope you’re excited about it as well and you want to go with us. Pray for this ministry. Go to ttb.org forward slash pray. Get signed up for that daily email that we’ve talked about in the past. Greg, here’s another one from Russia.
SPEAKER 03 :
Why don’t you go ahead and read it? My husband’s younger sister works with me, and she has the same story. When she begins her work, she also puts on her earphones and plunges into her work. Our hands do the work, and we listen to useful programs for our souls.
SPEAKER 04 :
Beautiful. So remember, that’s Russian. And Greg, unfortunately, I think we’re out of time.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, we have to leave more on the table.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. Would you pray for us and pray for the study and the listeners both in the U.S. and around the world that are hearing the program?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, Father, we just stand in awe. And actually, we are on our knees and in our hearts. We are bowing before you, just worshiping you and the power that you have to reach into people’s lives all over the world and do amazing things. We thank you for the glimpses you’ve given us today. And we pray now as we go to study Hosea chapter 10, that you would open our hearts and bring change into our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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Now here’s our study in Hosea 10 with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, when we get to the 10th chapter here, actually, we are getting very close to the end of this little book of Hosea. But we’re still dealing with judgment. In other words, Hosea stood at the very time of the captivity of the northern kingdom when they were carried away by Assyria into captivity. And in this 10th chapter here again, he makes it very clear that Israel is to be driven from the land. And Israel will become an empty vine as we understand it. We saw that last time in John 15, 1. And here it says Israel is an empty vine. Well, the Lord Jesus said… I am the genuine vine, which meant no longer would you worship through the temple, but you come through me to the living God. Israel is an empty vine. It means that the vine was just pouring out its fruit, and it’s still that prosperity was blinding them to their condition. And I believe, as I suggested last time, that God blinded us as a nation with prosperity and with power at the end of World War II. While other nations suffered, why, we were the big nation. We became the big brother to the world. We were to be the example. And what an example we have been. We have been good at sending bombs, but we have not sent what we should have sent, Bibles. I get so tired of these protesters today decrying the fact that we bombed these people. May I say to you, I’ve never heard one of them say anything about what we should have said to them. It’s the Bible that made us a great nation, and we are getting away from it, ignorant of it today, and God’s going to judge us. I mean, that’s not a pessimistic conclusion. That’s a logical, rational conclusion, judging from the past. And there’s many a great nation in rubble and ruin and in the dust of the earth. And that is the judgment of God upon them. Now, here he says in verse 2 of chapter 10, their heart is divided. Now shall they be found faulty. He shall break down their altars. He shall spoil their images. Now their heart was divided. Actually, they worshiped God. Don’t say that they didn’t. And down at Jerusalem, many of these people were going down there on the feast days as they’d done in former years. And they were worshiping God. They were great at it. Then they’d come right up and they’d worship the golden calves. And they worshiped Baal. And their hearts divided. They go one way today and the next way the next day. And that is the condition, friends, that James mentioned. A double-minded man is unstable in all of his way. And I believe that that is the reason that we’re finding so much inconsistency in the public lives of public men today. They talk on one side of their mouth and say one thing, and on the other side of their mouths, they say something else. I’m told that the conversation in Washington among those that are in government today is the foulest speech that you’ve ever listened to. And some of the leaders today, when they get on TV, why, they quote Bible verses. They look like their halo was just polished. And you think if you look around under their coat, they may have wings sprouting. May I say to you, their heart is divided. And it’s true of the church. You can’t go into the church on Sunday and say, praise God from whom all blessing flow, and then walk out during the week and take his name in vain and cause him to damn everything that’s inside. My friend, that kind of living is the kind of living that brought judgment upon these people. Now, verse 3, for now they shall say we have no king because we feared not the Lord. What then should a king do to us? In other words, go down and look at the southern kingdom. Their king’s not helping them very much, and he happens to be in the Davidic line. You feel like because of the fact that you’ve had godless kings, and they never had a good one in the northern kingdom, that that’s your problem. And again, it’s very easy for me to sit here and blame Washington. But where is the problem today? It’s in the hearts of men and women, and in your heart and my heart today. Now, will you notice this? Verse 4, he has something else to say here. And this is a good one. They have spoken words. They were very loquacious, great talkers. And today, radio and television and the printed page has made man the most talkative animal that there’s ever been. There’s no monkey in a tree. that shatters more than man does today. Talk, talk, talk, talk. And reams and reams of things that are written today. And friends, 99 and 44, 100 percent of it is absolutely junk. It’s not even worth listening to. It’d be better if it hadn’t been said. And yet there are people being paid today a fortune for saying words, words, words. They’ve spoken words. And in all of the things that are being said today, nothing is being said about bringing people back to God, returning to God, turning to the Word of God, looking to Christ as our Savior. They have spoken words, swearing falsely and making a covenant. They just talk, talk, talk. And you can’t believe a thing that they say. I get rather amused today that a great many Christians say, oh, it’s terrible that they don’t have people put their hands on the Bible and take an oath. They just say that they will swear that they’ll tell the truth. Well, I’m glad they’ve left the Bible out because they’ve certainly blasphemed that book. And it doesn’t mean anything to them. Why in the world should they use the Bible? I resented myself when they used to put a hand on the Bible, swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, and then get up and lie like, well, lie like liars lie, by the way. They’ve spoken words, swearing falsely, and making a covenant. And how many people have promised God? How many of you have been down to altars? And you’ve got down and you’ve dedicated your life and rededicated your life. And did it help you any? Why don’t you mean business with God today, my friend? Thus judgment springeth up like hemlock in the furrows of the field. Just like a ragweed. Judgment is coming upon you. Just like that. Now in verse 5, he says, the inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-Avon. And Beth-Avon is a term of ridicule for Bethel. And what he’s saying here, why you’re jealous one or the other. Who’s got the biggest calf? Which one has more gold in it than the other? For its people shall mourn over it. We boast of things today. We keep up with the Joneses. They got a Cadillac, so we’re going to get a Continental. They bought a house that has three bedrooms and a half a dozen baths. We’re going to get one that’s got a dozen baths. We’ve got to outdo them, you see. This was the thing they were doing. And he says here, “…and its priests that rejoiced on it for the glory of it, because it is departed from it.” God says all of this that you boasted in, your religion. God says the day will come when the glory of it will depart and Ichabod will be written over the portal of the door. Now, will you notice verse 6? It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to King Jared. He says, if you really want to know, that golden calf that you have in Samaria and the one down under in Bethel, they’re going to be carried, given as a gift. And it’d be a pretty nice gift for the king. A lot of gold was in it, you see. And Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. In other words, their counsel is coming to naught. Verse 7. As for Samaria, her king is cut off like the foam upon the water. In other words, God says he’s going to cut off the king in the northern kingdom. In other words, that line and the line down in the southern kingdom of Judah, they’ll be singing on forever blowing bubbles. And that’s what he says here, that there’ll be nothing in the world. He’ll be foam upon the water. That’s all. Verse 8, the high places also of Avon, the sin of Israel shall be destroyed. In other words, they were worshiping every kind of an idol. And as we’ve said before, they were put on a grove upon a high place. The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, cover us, for the hills fall on us. The judgment is coming. That’s a judgment, by the way, that’ll come during the great tribulation period also. O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah. There they stood. The battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them. Now, verse 10. It is in my desire that I should chastise them, and the people shall be gathered against them when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows. And Ephraim is like a heifer that is taught and loveth to tread out the grain. You remember how Paul used this? He used it to apply to a preacher that the workman is worthy of his hire. He said, don’t mind paying your preacher. If he’s a Bible teacher that’s studying the word of God and trying to help you, well, don’t mind paying him because you even let the ox that treads out the grain, you let him eat the grain. That was part of the Mosaic law. Now, God says, I’m going to pass over her fair neck. Why? Well, because this heifer has been well fed, well taken care of. But it’s a backsliding heifer, and we’ll see that again in just a moment. I will make Ephraim to ride, Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods. Now, you see, they love to tread out the grain. My, they enjoyed the wonderful, bountiful harvest that they got. But they sure didn’t like the idea of going out and plowing the ground and breaking up the clods. Work that I hated more than anything as a boy. was to chop cotton. I can’t think of anything that I hated more than chopping cotton as a boy. And my dad used to make me go out. I had to work to buy my clothes for the fall school. And I went out and chopped cotton. Then I went out and picked the stuff. And I can’t think of anything worse than having to chop cotton and pick cotton, friends. And God says, I’m going to put you back doing the thing that you don’t like to do. Now, verse 12. Sow to yourselves in righteousness and reap in mercy. In other words, this is just saying what Paul said. And Paul didn’t say it to the unbelieving world. He said it to believers. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he reap. If you sow to the flesh, you shall of the flesh reap corruption. You sow to the spirit, you’ll reap life everlasting. Now, he says here, sow righteousness. and break up your fallow ground, for it’s time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you. You sow in righteousness, and whatever you sow, you’re going to reap. You’ll get righteousness. We can’t live today, my friend, by the devil’s standard and expect to reap a reward from God. And no Christian can expect that either. He says here, verse 13, you plowed in wickedness, you’ve reaped iniquity. Again, what you sow, you reap. You have eaten a fruit of lies because thou didst trust in thy way and the multitude of thy mighty men. In other words, you lied and the mighty men that you trusted, your leaders, they lied to you. You got exactly what is coming to you. You remember them, Daniel? God says, I set over them the basis, the rulers. And today, I don’t care what party you’re talking about or what group you’re talking about. May I say that a sinful, godless people cannot elect a man that is an outstanding leader. If you’re going to be a liar, that’s who you’re going to get to rule over you. If you are an adulterer, that’s who you’re going to get. A thief, that’s who you’re going to get. My friend, you can’t beat God at this. Greeks had a proverb, the dice of the gods are loaded. And you know, God practically says that. God says, don’t gamble with me, you’re going to lose. If you think that you can be a liar, an adulterer, and a thief, and get by with it, he says, I have news for you. When you roll the dice of lies, And you think they’re going to come up for you a winner. He says, I have news for you. I already know how they’re going to come up. I’ve loaded those dice. And when you sow sin, you’re going to reap sin. You can’t escape it. And if you can escape it, friend, any of you listening to me today, you made God a liar. The Bible’s not true. If you can beat it, I don’t think you can beat it. Up to today, while no one has, I wish we had Ahab and Jezebel here today and Judas, and a few others that have lived in the past. And I’m not sure that right here in America, if we could bring back from the dead some that have died, I’m of the opinion they’d tell you the same thing. Now, verse 14. Therefore shall a tumult rise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled. as Shalman is the word here, but Shalmaneser, spoiled Beth Arbel in the day of battle. Now, that is the place that the Greeks call Arbella. It’s in the northern part of the kingdom. And I’m sure that this past year when we were over there, I heard the guide use the name Arbella in calling attention to some place. But since my mind wasn’t on it at the time, frankly, it made no impression upon me at all. But that is the place, and it’s in the northern part of the king. In the day about, the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. Now, that is a method, by the way, that was used. By not only the Assyrians, the Babylonians used it later on. You’ll recall that that was the prayer that those people prayed. The thing that happened to us when our infants were taken and their heads dashed against the stone, may that be the thing that will come to pass for Babylon. That was an awful, brutal, uncivilized method that was used, by the way. But what do we mean by uncivilized? The awful crimes. that have taken place in this country in just the past few years in this drug culture, this new morality, this homosexual approval today. May I say to you, it’s not any different than what these pagan heathen did by taking a little baby, dashing its head against a stone. I had a man tell me in Atlanta, Georgia. He said, Dr. McGee, the day I sent my boy to college, I wish I had taken him to the cemetery and buried him. In other words, it would have been better if he, as an infant, his little brains had been knocked out by some pagan heathen of the past. But the pagan heathens of the present today are even approved. May I say to you, friends, we are a long ways down the road that other nations have gone. Now he says here, so shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness. In a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off. That was the Assyrian came, and overnight they were being transported into slavery in Assyria. Now, we come to chapter 11 here, and as we come to chapter 11, again, Israel turns from God, must be judged, but God will not give her up. And you know why? Because God loves them. And the emphasis up to this point has been on the disobedience of God’s people. But now there is a new note that is sounded here. And you know what that new note is? It’s the love of God and how wonderful it is. Now we begin with a very strange verse. And we’ll get through this verse today. Verse 1 of chapter 11. When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. Now, this speaks primarily of the nation Israel. There’s no question about that. And it speaks of the fact of a close relationship. It goes back to the time that God says here, Israel as a nation was my son. And I took them out of Egypt. I didn’t take them out of Egypt because they were wonderful people and that they were serving me. They were not. They were an idolatry then. I took them out of Egypt because I loved them. And friends, that’s the reason he saved you and me. It’s not the basis of salvation, but it’s the motive of salvation, back of the redemption we have in Christ, the fact that he dies because God so loved the world. When Israel was a child, then I loved them. God says, I took them out of Egypt because I loved them, not because they were worthy, not because they performed good works. I loved them. That was the basis. Now, he says something here, and Matthew said this applies to the Lord Jesus. And somebody says, who’s right? Hosea or Matthew, both of them are right. This is an application of it. It means that this boy, that was born young in Bethlehem. He’s identified with these people. He’s an Israelite. Ask that woman of Samaria when he came up out of the well. She says, how is it that thou being a Jew, ask us to drink me a woman of Samaria? Well, may I say to you, friends, it means that God sent him down to this world to die and down there in the safety of Egypt, for that’s where he’d been taken as a baby. Now God says, take him back to that land. A land where he’s to die for that’s what he came from. Move him back into danger. Take him back up yonder to Nazareth. And he’ll be brought up in Nazareth. And he’s going to die on a cross. And he’s identified with his people. And he’s identified with humanity, with you and me today. God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. What a wonderful verse this is. We have to leave off there. Pick up there next time. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 04 :
To find out about this fruitful ministry and how you can partner with us in taking God’s whole word to his whole world, just visit ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE. Let me ask you, what’s the most important season in a person’s life? Well, find out next time as we finish up Dr. McGee’s series on Hosea. I’m Steve Schwartz, and as always, I’ll save a seat on the Bible bus just for you.
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Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.
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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?
