Discover the depth of God's boundless love as Dr. J. Vernon McGee takes us through the story of the prophet Hosea. Known for his unyielding devotion, Hosea’s life with Gomer becomes a living example of God's unwavering commitment to His people despite their shortcomings. From poignant heartbreak to the hopeful expectation of reconciliation, explore themes of redemption and divine mercy in a world that faltered as often as it was blessed.
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The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
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Have you heard about the husband whose wife ran away twice into a life of prostitution and then sold herself into slavery? But her husband, ever faithful, paid the price to buy her back? Welcome to Through the Bible. You'll hear more about this story as Dr. J. Vernon McGee finishes his introduction to the Old Testament book of Hosea. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your grace that saves us. Open our hearts to hear your timeless message of mercy no matter how far we've run. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, we're off to Hosea on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McKee.
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I probably should have said this last time, but I want to say it today. The message that you will listen to today, the conclusion of it, was a sermon, a sermon I gave some time ago. But you must remember it's a sermon and not just a Bible study. There are those that think that my method of preaching and my method of teaching is entirely different. I never felt so myself personally, but if you distinguish that difference, it's simply because of the fact that this was a sermon that was given before a congregation of, I'm confident, 3,000 or more people besides a radio audience at that time. Now, I want to come back and talk a little about this man, Hosea, because we are going to talk about him again in the message today. But I want to think of him in connection with the prophet Jeremiah. As we indicated last time, Jeremiah stood actually at the very end of the time of the nation Judah. He predicted their captivity and they went in the captivity. Hosea is the prophet to the northern kingdom, and actually, he prophesied long before Jeremiah. And he said practically the same thing to them. You find that the experience of these men are very similar in many ways. Both of these men spoke with a broken heart. Jeremiah was told never to marry. He was commanded not to. He loved his nation and he loved his people. And he spoke of a broken heart. The message he gave broke his heart. And God wanted that kind of a man because it revealed how God felt toward them. Now, Hosea apparently was a different type of a man. And his is not a public experience. His is a very personal and very private experience. He comes out of a broken home, as we shall see today, and with tear-stained eyes went before the nation to tell the nation that what had happened to him in his home was exactly what was happening out there in the nation. And he had a broken heart, and he knew exactly how God felt toward these people. And you're going to find out in this prophecy here, the great theme that he uses is return unto the Lord. And you find that, for instance, in Hosea, the sixth chapter, verse one. Come and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn and he will heal us. He hath smitten. He'll bind us up. And the word return occurs 15 times in this prophecy. Ephraim occurs 36 times. And that is the name. And I would say it's sort of a personal name. tender name in a way that God had for the northern kingdom, though they had gone into idolatry. Now, he mentions backsliding. It occurs three times in this prophecy. And we're going to find out what backsliding really is. And there's another word that's greatly misunderstood in the church today. And so, Jeremiah we saw before, he mentioned it. Hosea and Jeremiah are the two prophets who talk about backsliding and the cure for it. And therefore, what Jeremiah was to Judah at the time of the captivity of the southern kingdom, Hosea was to Israel over a century before at the time of the captivity of the northern kingdom. Both spoke out of a heartbreaking personal experience. And now we are ready to hear the last part of the message that we gave last time. In the hill country of Ephraim, in one of the many little towns there, a little town that's not on the maps of this world, there lived two young people. One was a boy by the name of Hosea, The other was a girl by the name of Goma. They fell in love. Same old story. It's been repeated thousands and thousands and millions of times. I don't think it's stretching the imagination to say that they fell madly in love with each other. And then for some unaccountable reason, Goma went bad. She resorted even to the oldest profession that's known to mankind. Goma had done the things she should not have done, and Hosea was brokenhearted. Shame filled his soul, and he had recourse to the Mosaic law, and he could have taken her before the elders of the city and had her stoned to death. Does that remind you of another story that took place 700 years later in that same hill country when a man by the name of Joseph was engaged to a girl by the name of Mary? The only thing is Joseph was wrong and the angel had to appear to him. This man Hosea was right for Gomer was guilty. And it's at this particular juncture that the book of Hosea opens. Will you listen now to the second verse of the first chapter, the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms, for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. Now, there have been those today that have made the statement that what you have here is nothing in the world but an allegory, that this really never happened. May I say that such trifling as that with the word of God waters it down till it becomes a harmless sort of thing and meaningless, and it's sickening. May I say to you that this is something that actually happened. Let's face it. God commanded this man, Hosea, to break the Mosaic law and go marry this woman. He said, you go get her and marry her. The law said stone her, God said marry her. The thing God commanded this man, Hosea, to do must have caused him to revolt in every fiber of his being. But this man Hosea did not demur. He obeyed God wholly and completely and explicitly, and he went and took Gomer in holy wedlock. He gave her his name, and she came into his home and listened to the apostle Paul as he speaks of this. What? Know ye not that he which is joined to a harlot is one body? For two saith he shall be one flesh. And my friend, in that little town, The tempo of gossip was really picked up. Oh, I tell you, that home of Hosea became a desert island in a sea of criticism. It was an isolation ward of local society. A case of leprosy in the home would not have broken off contact any more effectively than this thing that had happened. Imagine this man marrying this woman. Children were born into the home. Three of them were born. Let me tell you this meaning here. Jezreel was the name of the first one. It means God will scatter and God will avenge. The reference, as God told Hosea, was directly to the house of Jehu. who had carried out God's instructions in destroying the house of Ahab, but he'd done it in hatred, and he'd done it with great personal vengeance. And God says, I'll judge. But then he says, I will scatter Israel, but there's going to be mercy even in my judgment. That's the first child. The second child was named, she was a girl, Lo-Ruhamah. And it means, She never knew a father's pity. Now, that doesn't mean she was an orphan. It means she didn't know who her father was. This woman has started to go bad again. God is saying to these people in Hosea's day, the northern kingdom that now has gone into idolatry, you will not know my pity for I'm not your father. And that brings us to the last child. What a story is here. Lo, Ami was the name of the last boy. It means not my people. If you want to put it in the singular, it's not my child. Hosea said, I didn't know about the second one, but I do know about the third one. I'm not the father. Not my child. What a message. What a message to that day and what a message to this day. The liberal today says everybody's the son of God. God says you're wrong. I have no illegitimate children. I know who my children are. You think my children are the offspring? Of this kind of a union? Absolutely not. You are only my child through faith in Jesus Christ. And it was the Lord Jesus that said to these in his day, who said, we are sons of Abraham. He said, you are of your father, the devil. You could make no claim of being God's child. My friend this morning, are you low on me? Are you God's child today? Are you just an illegitimate child? You're just saying something that's not true. You become a child of God. To as many as received him, that is the Lord Jesus, to them gave he the right, the authority to become the sons of God, even to those that don't do any more nor less than believe on his name. This is a sad story, is it not? And to cap it all, Gomer left home. She ran away. Now I'm confident that you're willing to say, well, certainly God's going to say to this man now, you've done all you can, Hosea. You tried to reform the woman, and it didn't do any good. She's returned back to her old life of becoming a common prostitute. Take the children and leave her. God says, go get her. Hosea went after her, and she wouldn't come back. God says, send the children. And these three children went after her, and she still wouldn't come back. And as women did in that day, they sold themselves into slavery. And this man, Hosea, went and bought her and brought her back. Oh, my beloved, what a picture of a Savior today. He created us, and we belong to him. And then we're guilty of going off and giving our love and our affection, our time to the sin of the world. And in the midst of that, when we were yet sinners, he came down and bought us with a price in our ugly condition that he might make us his legitimate children. What love. And so it was at this particular juncture when she came back, that the message goes out from Hosea. I wish this morning I could say that when she came back that she became a faithful wife. I can't. I do not know. The book leaves us in doubt. But I do know this. This man stepped out of a home scarred by shame. This man went before a nation with a heart that was breaking. This man had a message that had fire in it. He stood before this nation with a broken heart, and he had a sorrow that was intolerable. Scalding tears were coursing down his cheek, and he denounced the nation Israel, and he says, You have been faithless to God. I know how God feels. I feel the same way. You've broken the heart of God. What a picture. He denounced the nation. He declared a verdict of guilty for the crime of all crimes. He said simply, but he said it specifically, that this sin was as black as it could be and that God would punish him. He said this nation that had known God, this nation that God had redeemed out of Egypt. This nation that he could say, you have seen what I did to the Egyptians. How I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. And they turned right around and make a golden calf. And they hadn't learned their lesson after that experience. For at this very moment in the northern kingdom, two golden calves had been made and the people had turned from the living and true God. God says, you've been unfaithful. You are playing the harlot. You turn from me. You belong to me. I have redeemed you. And you've sinned. This sin is the worst sin in the world. Oh, I know that there are folk that will say this morning, I think unbelief is the greatest sin ever. May I say to you that in one sense, unbelief is the greatest sin. If there's any sin unpardonable, it's unbelief. But it's not an act. It's a state, and we're all born in it. Rebellion against God, we're in that. But thank God it's pardonable. Christ died that when you and I will exercise faith, faith in Jesus Christ, then he'll save us. And this sin is pardonable. But unbelief is a terrible thing, and to go on in unbelief, there is no remedy, for it is. The remedy is to trust Christ. And when we continue on in unbelief, we've rejected the remedy. Then there are those that will tell you today that the greatest sin in the world is sin against light. Well, this is coming close to it. I'll be perfectly frank with you. I do not think today that there's anything quite so bad as sinning against light. I make this statement periodically. Let me repeat it. I would 10,000 times rather be in the darkest part of Africa this morning than to be sitting in the church and turn my back on Jesus Christ. But no one can argue from the word of God what will happen to the man who sins against light. That's a great sin to have heard the gospel and it's not a personal. We'll be able to go out of here this morning and go into the presence of Jesus Christ and say you never heard that he died for you and that you're to trust him to be saved. You'll never be able to. There are people that are able to go into his presence and say that, but that's not the greatest sin. What is the greatest sin in all the world? The greatest sin in all the world is sin against love. This is sin at its worst. You can't get any worse than this. This is the greatest of all. And that, my friend, is the message of Hosea. Goma was not only guilty of breaking the marriage vow, that's bad enough, but she sinned against the one who loved her. It's sin at its worst. May I say to you today, to sin against God today and a Savior that loves you is worse than the animism and the animalism of the heathen world today. May I say to you, the sin today of paganism is nothing compared to the sin of those that sin against love. It's deeper and it's darker than the immorality of the underworld and the demonism of the overworld. Hosea knew what sin was and he knew what love was. And sin against love aggravates sin. Israel knew the love of God as no nation did. You alone, God said, if I known of the nations of the world, you alone if I reveal this, you've sinned. But thank God, he's going to triumph. May I just lift out in closing three verses out of Hosea that tell God's story. The first is, Hosea 4, 17, Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. Ephraim is Israel. That's the charge, spiritual adultery. Then notice, though, all the great pulsating passion of an infinite God. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? God says, I can't give you up. I love you too much. And that's the reason he sent Hosea back to get that woman the second and the third time. He said, Hosea, you'll have to know how I feel. Go at Israel. And then the third and the last is Hosea 14, 8. Ephraim shall say, what have I do anymore with idols? I have heard him and observed him. I'm like a green fir tree. For me is thy fruit found. That's the victory. God's going to get the victory, my beloved. There is a day when Israel will turn from idols back to God. And that's my reason for believing that maybe Goma did turn and become a good wife and a good mother. I do not know. But I do know this, God is going to triumph. And the picture is the picture of the nation Israel. Somebody says, but does it have any application to us today? Yes. Does this shocking description of spiritual adultery, does it fit the church today? Well, the church is called the bride of Christ. Paul said to the Corinthians, I've espoused you that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. The church is to be presented to the Lord Jesus Christ as a bride. Listen, even to the church in Ephesus, the Lord Jesus Christ says, I have something against you. Now he says, I know your works and I know your labor. And I know that you can't bear those with false doctrine. But I have this against you. You have left your first love. My friend, it's not enough this morning to be busy for Christ. It's not enough to be active today for Christ. And it's not enough to be just fundamental. Those things are important and they have their place. But the important thing is, have you left your first love? Do you love him today? Hosea means salvation. It's the same word as Joshua, and Joshua is the same word as Jesus in the New Testament. Our Hosea today is joined to a spiritual harlot. Picture that is given in Revelation 17. It's the most frightful picture in the Bible. It's a picture of a church called the Great Harlot. Mystery Bible. That's the way the organized church is going today. Oh, how many this morning are covering up their frustration, their lack of spiritual experience today, the reality, by just being busy. It's merely nothing in the world but just nervous agitation. Down underneath they cannot say, I love him, I'm true to him. With hot tears today, he accuses the church of being lukewarm. God pity the man married to a lukewarm woman. God pity our Savior today joined to a church that's just lukewarm. Oh, that he said, I wish you were hotter cold. I wish you were in love with me. I wish you did care for me above everything. That's what he said. Let me be very personal this morning. How about you? Has there come between the Savior this morning and your soul a cloud? It'll shut you away from him, I'll tell you that. Spurgeon is crossing the street one day and And he stopped and had prayer, and when he got to the other side, a friend said to him, what in the world did you do praying in the middle of the street? He said, a cloud came between my soul and Christ, and I couldn't let it stay there even until I got to the other side of the street. How about you today? He says this morning, as he said yonder by the Sea of Galilee, lovest thou me. That's all important. May I say that it It's so important today that he is saying here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation, the mercy seat for our sins. And if you were here this morning without Christ, don't take any comfort from this message because you can walk out of here turning your back on a Savior that just simply said, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. When you reject Jesus Christ today, you're not just doing something that's bad. You're not just turning away in unbelief. My friend, you're committing the greatest sin of all. You're turning away from a God who loves you and died for you. There's no sin like that.
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Jesus made it all.
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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?
In this episode of Through the Bible, we delve into the powerful teachings of the book of Hosea as Dr. J. Vernon McGee guides us through the trials of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Ignoring God's word not only led to spiritual adultery but also brought about God's judgment in a dramatic and prophetic transition. As we reflect on the message shared by the evangelist D.L. Moody and stories from Dr. McGee's own ministry, we're prompted to consider the essential role of scripture in our everyday lives. Throughout Hosea chapter 4, we witness the consequences that befell Israel when they neglected their sacred texts. Dr. McGee draws parallels to modern times, illustrating how turning our backs on divine guidance can lead to moral decay and personal dissatisfaction. Whether through personal anecdotes or deep scriptural insights, this episode calls listeners to introspection and a return to God’s word. Join us as we uncover the inhibitors to spiritual fulfillment and the inevitable consequences of idolatry and sin. Whether you are a long-time believer, a part of our World Prayer Team, or someone in search of spiritual clarity, this study provides profound insights. Prepare to embark on this enlightening journey through Scripture with renewed understanding.
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The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
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The evangelist D.L. Moody was right when he said, The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible. Listening to and obeying God's Word is a protection over our lives. And that's one reason that I'm so glad that you're here at Through the Bible, ready to get into God's Word with Dr. J. Verna McGee. And as you know, we're in the book of Hosea on our five-year journey through the whole word. And in this study, we're going to learn how the northern kingdom of Israel turned away from God because they forgot his word. Well, not only did they forget it, they wanted nothing to do with it. They completely turned their backs on God's ways. And you know, that's when God's man Hosea stepped up and said, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge of God's word. And then he relayed God's chilling consequence. Because you forgot the law of your God, I will also forget your children. I will change your glory into shame. Wow. I don't know about you, but that sobering pronouncement makes me sit up and listen. We're in Hosea chapter four. So as you open your Bible, let's listen to Dr. McGee's introduction on why God will judge his people.
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Now God says that he must judge the nation. And he says that he will change their glory into shame. Now the glory of Israel was actually the temple with the Shekinah glory upon it and his visible presence with the nation and his definite leading of them. And they're witness to the world of that day of monotheism. In a world of polytheism, they worship the living and the true God. That was their glory. It brought the Queen of Sheba from the ends of the earth. Now what is happening is this. God says, I will remove my glory from you. I'll remove my blessing from you. And I will judge you. I'll let the enemy come in upon you and take you away. And of course, the enemy is going to be able to say, look, they said they were God's chosen people. And look what's happening to them. And apparently their God's not a very strong God. Friends, we're seeing today in this land of ours something very similar to that. God is judging many churches and he's closing many doors today. You can look about you in this land of ours and see that God is still judging. And we are inclined to say, isn't it a shame to see a decline in a certain church? Well, maybe God closed the door. We need to recognize that only God today can afford to judge his own people, and he does that.
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Before jumping into our study, I invite you to join our World Prayer Team. Together we pray for listeners like Nora in the Philippines who writes this. I heard your message and want to know if you will really be forgiven. I have sinned in the past and I have thought that I am unforgivable. I got involved with another man and our entire village knows. I'm hurting and crying right now, but your words in my language of Locano comfort me and give me hope. For the first time, I feel as if God might accept me as I am. Please tell me what to do next. Please tell me more about Jesus and how I can be redeemed. Are you ready to join us for the journey? Well, hop aboard as we pray for millions of listeners like this one all over the world by signing up at ttb.org forward slash pray. And let's do that now. Thank you, Heavenly Father. Thank you for the privilege of hearing your word. Help us to turn what distracts us and do what pleases you. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of sharing your word with the world. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're off to Hosea 4 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
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Now, we got down last time through the sixth verse of the fourth chapter of Hosea. And again, I'd like to say that this sixth verse here of this fourth chapter is considered one of the most familiar verses that we have. It's one that is quoted a great deal. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. And that's the way it opens. I went through it last time, and I'll not go any farther than that. But it was a lack of the knowledge of the Word of God that was the background of the sin of these people. The minute that Christian friend, you get away from the Word of God, you could not live a triumphant Christian life by any means. You could not live well-pleasing to the Lord. And I do not care how many of these method conferences you go to that have all these little gimmicks that if you do this and do that and do the other thing, that things are going to work all right for you in your home and in your place of business and in your social life, and everything will work out right. My friend, the Word of God makes it very clear that That's not by these little gimmicks, these little methods. It's by a knowledge of the Word of God. Now, that is as clear as the noonday sun in this book and certainly in other places. Now, will you notice as God continues to bring against the northern kingdom his judgment upon them, that is, he hands down a decision. He's going to judge them. And he has now proven that To them, his case, they broken the Ten Commandments. He went down the list and they had broken them. Now he says, as they were, verse 7, as they were increased, so they sinned against me. In other words, as the nation increased, God had promised to bless them by multiplying them. He told Abraham that. But all it did was just bring another sinner into the world. And after all, that's what happened when I came into the world. Just another sinner came into the world. But thank God, the grace of God reached down and somebody gave me the Word of God. And I was able to trust Christ as my Savior. But these people, they have an ignorance. They have no knowledge of the word of God. As they were increased, so they sinned against me. Therefore, will I change their glory into shame. God says, I'm going to turn your glory into shame. They eat up the sin of my people. They set their heart on their iniquity. They not only sin, but they like to brag about it. As a young fellow, ran with a pretty fast crowd in the bank I worked in. And we always like, especially on Monday morning, to brag about our weekend, what we did. And you know what it was, either to get drunk or... some adultery or something like that. That's what you brag about. And they not only sinned, they bragged about it. And there, verse 9 now, chapter 4 of Hosea, and there shall be like people, like priests. The unfortunate thing is that the priesthood had sunk down to the level of the congregation. Now, I have always believed, and as you've heard me say, that I started out in the ministry. I wore a Prince Albert coat and a wing collar. I look like a mule looking over a whitewash fence. But I soon gave that up. I dress just like the man sitting out in the pew. And I'm no different than that man in the pew. But I want to say this, that I want in the pulpit to give out the word of God so that I don't sink down to the level of that which is the man of the world. And today there are many ministers. They're the good guys. one man boasted to me he says you know he says my preacher says you know he says he comes out to our golf club he plays golf and i'm for that i do that i think it's great to mix with folk like that says after the game says he goes in the bar room with us has a drink with us says you know said he's just one of the fellas says i sure do like him well I wonder what God thinks about him. Like people, like priests. And I'll punish them for their ways and reward them for their doings, for they shall eat and not have enough. In other words, famine is coming to the land. And who would ever have believed that this great land of ours, just last year, a few years ago, that there would be no scarcity. Whoever heard of it, that you couldn't buy meat at the meat market, you couldn't buy bread, that there would be a scarcity of anything. May I say to you, I'm not sure. I think God judged us in the dust bowl many years ago. That's when I entered the ministry. And nobody listened to God then. Then we had to fight World War II. God judged us. And we didn't come back to God even World War II. So we've been fighting somewhere ever since. Just can't give it up. They shall eat, not have enough. They shall commit harlotry and shall not increase. You know, there's one thing, friends, about adultery. And I know today that I'm talking to a great many people that have had this in their mind and their heart because we're living in this day. And you can take it from a fellow that one time in his life before he's saved, you can never, never enjoy in a way in which God really wants you to until you can enjoy it in marriage. And when you can put your arms around the woman that you have been loving and you can say to her, I love you. above everything else in the world. Now, I say when you can say that, my friend, then there'll be an increase. And it'll be wonderful. Oh, they were committing adultery then, and they're doing it today. But actually, there's really no satisfaction in it. It's just a sort of a temporary release. And you hate yourself after that. And I know that. And some of you know that, my friend. And God knows that because that's what he's saying here. God's spelling it out for you. They shall eat and not have enough. They shall commit harlotry, adultery, and they shall not increase because they have ceased to take heed to the Lord. Harlotry and wine and new wine take away the heart. Last time we gave you all these statistics about liquor in this country today. And nobody, and I mean nobody today, is lifting a voice against this. And I don't think I've said very much about it. But I sure have said a whole lot the past couple of days. And from time to time, we do mention it. Arlatrin wine and new wine take away the heart, my friends. And part of our problem in Washington today are these two sins, harlotry, adultery, and liquor. They're the two problems in our government today. That's the reason that men lie. That's the reason that men will do crooked things. And that is not confined to one party or just one group. The whole crowd is guilty today. One writer said that in Washington, you don't know who to trust. May I say to you, what a sad commentary on our nation today. Don't tell me the new morality is working. It didn't work for Israel. They got away from the word of God and they said, we try something new. And they went in for it. The northern kingdom, you see, they had sin galore. They put up two golden calves. And with that worship of Baal, I was connected with it, the grossest forms of idolatry and the Verse 12, my people ask counsel of their idols, and their staff declareth unto them, for the spirit of harlotry hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot departing from under their God. Now he's speaking here of the harlotry, spiritual adultery, which is turning from God. They went to inquire of idols. And today, we find people running after the gurus of India. Well, they haven't done much for India, by the way. But yet, we've had a crowd running after them. And someone has said that one of them that came over here, he said that very candidly, he came for the money. And that it was nothing in the world but a religious racket as far as he was concerned. Yet people went after him. People are going off into this type of thing today. And there's actually the worship of Satan today. I have here a clipping that comes from Daytona Beach, Florida. A group of Satan cultists tortured and beat a 17-year-old youth to death, believing he was an undercover narcotics agent, police said Wednesday. May I say to you that worship of Satan today is certainly not helping morality by any means. And these people going into idolatry, idolatry was leading them into gross immorality. Now, let me keep reading here. And They sacrifice, this is verse 13 now, chapter 4. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the hills under oaks and poplars and elms because the shadow of them is good. That's where they put their idols, was on top of a hill under a grove. And you hear a great deal in scripture. And they found out today, archaeologists, that the center of worship of idolatry was in these groves. It was cool there, nice place to go. Therefore, your daughters shall commit harlotry and your spouses shall commit adultery. You see, the worship of idols, and we today have turned to idolatry, covetousness, All of this today, the greed of this country today has caused many a family to try to get on in the world. They want to move to a better neighborhood. They want a swimming pool. They want a boat to take down. And they say we're doing this for their children. And then all of a sudden their children take off and there are thousands. Thousands of young people today that are wandering up and down this country and all over the world. I saw them in Hawaiian Islands. I talked to three young people in Constitution Square in Athens, Greece. Two young men and a young lady. And I'm sure that none of them were beyond their teens. One of them could have been 20. And there they sat, and they were then under the influence of drugs. I tried to talk with them, and I tried to find out who they were. And they said, we're nobody. We don't count. We've dropped out. What's happened today, friends? What's taking place today? Why, the problem is back there in the home. We're idolaters. We're worshiping the almighty dollar. We've forgotten God. We've turned away from the living and true God, and we no longer worship him. And we've not turned to a savior that can redeem us and help us. Now, verse 14. He says, I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, nor your spouses when they commit adultery, for they themselves are separated with harlots, and they sacrifice with harlots. Therefore, the people that doth not understand shall fall. God says ignorance, so the law excuses no one. And because these people have gone on, I'm not going to judge them for the sin they're committing right now. I'm going to judge them because they've turned from the living and true God and from his way. My friend, as I said to a man, and I met him on a golf course, by the way, and he said, joined our foursome he soon left us when he found out we were three preachers and this man made a statement well he said that he guessed that he was a sinner he'd done this that and the other said yes I guess I'll go to hell and I said brother you know you're not going to hell because you commit these sins he says what do you mean I'm not going to hell because I thought that's what you preachers said I said this preacher never said that I said you're going to hell because you've rejected Jesus Christ These people were being judged not because they had become harlots. They were judged because they've turned from the living and true God. Now, will you notice he says here, though thou Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-Avon or swear the Lord liveth. God says, I'm going to hold Judah back. I'll not judge Judah yet. And Judah, don't come up and worship these calves that they put up here. Now we come to something that's quite interesting. Verse 16. For Israel slideth back like a backsliding heifer. Now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place. Now, friends, let's look at what really backsliding is. A great many people think backsliding means that you have become a Christian, joined the church, and then you drop back into sin, and that's backsliding. Now, may I say to you, that's not backsliding the way it's used here. And God illustrates it so you can't miss it. For Israel slideth back like a backsliding heifer. Now, I'm very happy the fact that as a boy, I had the privilege of living in the country and in a little town. And I think I've mentioned this before. There's a live next door to us in southern Oklahoma in a little town. We lived in a rancher. He had a big ranch and he had two boys and they were both about my age. And we three played together. We used to ride these heifers out in the lot and they would, you know, tie a rope around. As we said in that day, a belly band we'd put on them. We'd hold on to that. And then they'd buck us off. Now, every now and then, this rancher would load up. This was in the days before the automobile. In a wagon, he would load up these heifers to take them to market or take them out to the ranch. And he had a great big board. That is, it was a thing constructed out of boards that he put up at the back end of the wagon. It was a runway that you just try to run the heifer up back. Well, what they'd do, you'd put a rope around the heifer, and then you'd push her from the back. And as you'd get the heifer up, she'd go a part of the way, then she'd stiffen those front feet. She'd just put them out stiff. And you know what would happen? You couldn't pull her. She'd start sliding backwards. That's what backsliding is. Backsliding heifer. They were stiffening their front feet. And instead of being led of God, they were slipping backward all the time. And backsliding means when you turn your back on God and you step on that little neck of yours and that little mind of yours and you say, I'll have nothing to do with God. You're backsliding when you do that. You see, when you refuse to go the way God wants to lead you. Now he calls Israel here a backsliding heifer. There are a lot of backsliding heifers today and bulls also, by the way. Now, let me read the next verse. Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. Now, we come to another word here. The word backsliding is mentioned three times in this book, and you'll recall it's only Jeremiah and Hosea, and they spoke to a nation ready to go into captivity, accused them of doing this, refusing to be led of God, refusing to come to God. Now, Ephraim, that name occurs 36 times. He picks out one of the tribes of the 10 tribes in the north and applies it to all 10 of the tribes. And I frankly have never been able to figure out just how God uses that term. Is he using it in a way that is the term of endearment or is it a term of ridicule? Now, this time through Hosea, I've come to the conclusion that it's a term of endearment. It's a pet name. You see, Israel in the north had really no name as a nation. Judah in the south was really the nation. And these 10 tribes had revolted, you see. And now God gives them, I think, a pet name. And you'll find all the way through, it'll occur 36 times, Ephraim. And he says this in, I would say, a longing sort of way, but with a note of finality. He says here, Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. God says there comes a day in a man's life that if he keeps on being in a backslidden condition, refusing to listen to God, there'll come a day when God no longer can speak to that man. Now he says to them, your drink is sour. You'll become an alcoholic if you keep at it, brother. And it's not a disease. It's a sin. Their drink is sour. They have committed harlotry continually. Her rulers love shame more than glory. And the sad thing today is that we have men in government in high places instead of using a language that is clean. And chase. They love to cuss. And they love to drink. They love the shame more than glory. The wind hath bound her up in its wing. They're carried away by every wind of doctrine. And they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. God says, I'm going to make them ashamed before it's over with. Well, that brings us to the conclusion of chapter 4. Begin chapter 5 next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, Dr. McGee convinced me of the joy and peace found in living a quiet, righteous life before the Lord. How about you? We're midway through our study in Hosea now, so if you'd like to share these studies with a family member or friend, they're available on our app or at ttb.org. Or to purchase our Bible bus flash drive that conveniently holds all of Dr. McGee's five-year messages and also includes all of his notes and outlines for our studies and more than 100 of his booklets, you Shop our online store at ttb.org or call us at 1-865-BIBLE. And while you're at ttb.org, check out our new softcover Bible companions for the New Testament. Again, that's ttb.org or 1-865-BIBLE. And when you call us, please tell us how you listen. Is it by app or online? Is it YouTube, your local Christian radio station? There are so many different options. And you know, by sharing this little bit of information, you help us to be good stewards of the resources that God has so graciously provided through faithful listeners like you. Now, as we break for the weekend, join me for Dr. McGee's Sunday sermon. You can listen by app, online, or look at our radio station listing at ttb.org. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll meet you right back here next time as we continue to make our way through the Bible.
SPEAKER 02 :
We're grateful for the faithful and generous support of Through the Bible's partners, whom God uses to take the whole word to the whole world.
Join us on the Bible bus as we delve into the profound messages found in the book of Hosea. This episode uncovers the deeper meanings behind the prophet Hosea's life and name, emphasizing the theme of salvation through history and biblical context. Through a poignant letter from a listener in Oregon, we explore the difficult questions of morality, justice, and faith in our modern world, linking these struggles to the book of Hosea and its timeless counsel.
SPEAKER 03 :
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
SPEAKER 01 :
Here's an interesting fact for you. The name Hosea, who is God's spokesperson in the book that we're studying right now on the Bible bus, is another form of the name Joshua, which is the Hebrew version of the Greek name Jesus. Hosea, Joshua, Jesus. All their names mean salvation. The Old Testament men named Hosea and before him Joshua were pictures of what Jesus Christ embodied in the flesh, God's salvation. Welcome to Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. I'm Steve Schwetz and I'm welcoming you aboard the Bible bus as we continue together our five-year journey through God's entire word. Now, Dr. McGee begins our program by sharing a letter from a concerned listener. No doubt we all will be moved by this issue we still deal with, and it all comes down to what we'll hear about in our study of Hosea 3 and 4, that people follow destructive ways because they don't know or understand God, and that individual tragedy naturally leads to despising the truth and withholding mercy. Let's listen now to this letter from Corvallis, Oregon.
SPEAKER 02 :
As the chairman of Corvallis Right of Life, I have been involved lobbying state legislators concerning several bills. One bill we are concerned with has to do with handicapped babies being denied food and water after birth to hasten their death. In talking to legislators, the feeling among them seemed to be that it is better to let the child die, whatever the methods, to spare the family the burden of a handicapped child. After talking to them, doubt began to creep into my mind. Maybe it's better for such a child to die. Maybe God would have it this way. But I still felt sure that starvation and dehydration weren't the way. As this was happening, a baby girl was born in an Oregon town severely deformed, right to life, knew she would soon die, but fought for nearly a week to legally secure food and water. It wasn't easy. The night the baby died, I was led to read in Lamentations. Before I went to sleep, this scripture made an impact. And it's from Lamentations 4, 3 and 4. Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young. But my people have become heartless like ostriches in the desert. Because of thirst the infant's tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth. The children beg for bread, but none gives it to them. And that's the end of that quotation. The next morning at 7.30 a.m., I switched on the radio and there you were, reading the very same scripture. I took it as a sign from God to me, that this was indeed a heartless thing that is happening and removed any doubt I had. I thank you for your part in reaffirming to me what I am certain God was trying to impress on me. I also thank you for the words of your own that morning, denouncing abortion as a major evil of our time, You're probably not surprised to hear that the clergy in this community do not share your strong convictions against abortion. But with the help of God, we continue our fight against it. May God bless your ministry as it opens the eyes of many like me who are seeking answers in the Bible but stumbling along through it. We need your help so much. I appreciate that letter, as you can well understand. And may I just say this one word, regardless of the condition of the baby, to take that baby's life as murder and to say that you can take that baby's life, you're taking the place of God. And God doesn't like to share his place with anyone, by the way.
SPEAKER 01 :
Let's give the Lord his proper place in our attention now. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, thank you for your great love, for giving us what's best even though we don't always understand it. Please help your word to quicken our hearts to bring comfort and instruction and conviction. Thank you, Lord, for its truth that helps us discern truth and obey you. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, it's time. Let's open to Hosea 3 as we go through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 02 :
Now, friends, today as we come to the fourth chapter of Hosea, we're now coming to a section where we're leaving the private life of Hosea. It fades into the background, and the emphasis now is upon the Lord and Israel. But I would just like to back up for just a moment, therefore, to chapter 3 at verse 1, because this, I believe, is very important. Here we read again, "...then said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love cakes of raisins." Now, four times in this little verse here, you have the word love mentioned. Great many people think you have to get to the New Testament before you find anything about love. I believe that if you'd examine it carefully, you'd probably find that there's more said about love in the Old Testament than in the New. That is because, of course, the Old Testament is much longer. And there's more of it than we have of the New Testament. But it is interesting to note that there's a great deal about love. Now, I was thinking after I made the broadcast last time that this first verse here is actually an equation, a mathematical equation. And it puts it like this. God's love equals Israel's sins. And I shouldn't say equal, but God's love times Israel's sin equals Hosea's love times Gomer's sin. So you see that we do have an equation here. And out of that home, he comes now to speak to the nation, and he knows how God feels about them. Now, everything up to this point has been in the way of generalization. God has said they've sinned, that they have played the harlot. They've been unfaithful to him. Now he's going to spell it out. And you can make a comparison actually between this particular chapter and the first chapter of Isaiah. And you ought to compare it there because Isaiah spoke to the southern kingdom and then he spelled out God's charge against the nation. Now, here again, God brings them into court. He makes certain charges and he proves them. That is the message of chapter 4. In fact, chapters 4 and 5, he's saying now to Israel, you are playing the harlot. And Israel in this chapter is guilty of lawlessness, immorality, ignorance of God's word, and idolatry. And we see here in this first verse, the Lord confronts Israel with the fact that they have no knowledge of God. And then in verse 2, he spells out their specific sins. Now, will you listen to it? 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. Now, he says these three things here. There's no truth, there's no mercy, and there's no knowledge of God in the land. In other words, these people have been brainwashed with idolatry. And as a result, there was actually no mercy. And God had instructed them to be merciful. In fact, he said, when the stranger comes into your land and the poor, they are permitted to go in and glean. And God says, I take care of them this way and you're to do this. Why? Because he says, I am the Lord your God and I'm a holy God. They'd forgotten that. They were no longer being merciful. And there was actually no knowledge of God in the land. Oh, there's a great deal of religion, but no knowledge of God in the land. Now, they were breaking the Ten Commandments. Listen to this. By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break out and blood toucheth blood. Now, each one of these things that he mentions, they were breaking the Ten Commandments. Go back to the 20th of Exodus and read it. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery." And all of this was even among their relatives, blood touching blood. They were committing all of these sins. They actually were breaking the Ten Commandments. I want to say something very carefully at this time. And will you listen very carefully? God gave the Ten Commandments which is only part of the Mosaic system, to the nation Israel. But in that, God expresses His will. The church today is not put under the Ten Commandments as a way, that is, that is not living the Christian life if all you do is keep the Ten Commandments. Now, that doesn't mean you break them. It just simply means he's called you to a higher plane, and you're called to live in the power of the Spirit of God. Now, God is not asking the unsaved world anything, but he does have a great deal to say about nations. And the nation Israel that he chose and dealt with them furnishes a pattern to the other nations of the world. Now, we have had what has been so-called a Christian civilization in Europe. It never was really Christian, but it had the semblance of it. The laws were patterned after this. And these are laws for a nation. I shall not kill. I shall not commit adultery. Among those are other things. God condemned drunkenness. God condemned homosexuality. And he has the strongest language for that. He says when a people or an individual indulges in that, and I don't care what you call it, my friend, God says he gave them up. He gave up this nation. They were guilty of that. They were guilty of indulging in these sins. We today are guilty of the same thing. There's no knowledge of God in this land. Oh, I know there's a church on every corner, and Sunday morning you can hear church bells everywhere. But of course, a very small percentage of the population go to church, and very few are actually being reached with the Word of God. There is a Gideon Bible in every hotel room and motel room in this country. As far as I know, the first thing I do when I go to a new hotel or a new motel to stay, I look around for the Gideon Bible. And I've noticed recently it's been out on the table. That is, it's been out and opened up so you can see it. Now, I do not know how much it's being read. The Gideons say they receive many letters telling of conversions. But I'm sure that a great many of those Bibles are not ever opened. I know I've been to several places where I'm convinced that the Bible had never been opened before. We're a nation of biblical ignoramuses. We do not know the Word of God today in this land. But the Watergate hearings in Washington certainly turned the spotlight on our government and actually not the one political party but to both political parties that there's corruption in this land of ours. And I wasn't quite sure whether all of the liars were sitting in the witness stand or were on the other side on the committee. And I think you'll find them in both parties. I think that you will find corruption today in this land in both parties. And the chairman of the committee was greatly disappointed in him, the way he not only misquoted Scripture, he misinterpreted it and said that the four Gospels contradicted each other. And that went out on television. And may I say to you, I, for one, protest that. Because I felt like demanding equal time, everybody else demands equal time to answer that, that there is no contradiction in the four Gospels. And when a man says that, he reveals a woeful ignorance of the Word of God. Now, I'm saying all of this to say this, that our land is in the same kind of a condition that these people were in in that day. I'm going to take just one particular phase. We're told that a few years ago that in Washington, there were 128 cocktail parties every day. And again, the spotlight that's been turned on these hearings reveals that there's drinking probably in Washington. Couldn't be more in Los Angeles, but there's been a great deal of it there. Now, I want to share with you today some facts and figures, and there are a few brave editors today in this country, but most of it's the liberal press. They follow one particular line, and just like Israel was brainwashed, Our nation today is being brainwashed by nothing in the world but propaganda and liberalism. But down in San Diego, the local paper down there had a headline, and this goes back to January the 11th, 1972. It was on the front page of the paper, bottom of the page, but it was a headline, Alcoholics Cost Area Businesses $10 Million." May I say to you, people cry out about the high cost of living, cry out about the high cost of war and high cost of government. All of that is true. But who's crying out against liquor today? No one's crying out against it. What do you suppose that has to do with what you buy at the store today? They say, preacher, this is none of your business. It's my business in several different ways. And I wish there were more crying out against this sort of thing. The pulpits become extremely silent in these matters. And when I go to the store, I'm paying a higher price for things because government, And the nation, we are engaged in gross immorality today, breaking these Ten Commandments. You don't get by with it as a nation. These commandments have been the basis of every so-called Christian civilization. And I'm not going to debate that point with anyone. Now, will you listen to this? Today they're saying alcoholism is a disease. And this has been answered by a doctor. He says, alcoholism a disease? If so, listen to this. It's the only disease contracted by an act of the will. It's the only disease that is habit-forming. It's the only disease that comes in a bottle. It's the only disease causing hundreds of thousands of family disruptions. It's the only disease promoting crime and brutality. It's the only disease contributing to hundreds of thousands of automobile accidents. It is the only disease playing a major part in over 50% of the more than 50,000 annual highway deaths. It is the only disease which is sold by license. It's the only disease that's bought in grocery stores, drug stores, and Wellmark retail outlets. It's the only disease that is taxed by the government and on and on. There's more to this. I'll just read that to you today. May I say to you, our eyes are shut to this because we've been brainwashed and the liquor interests have this tremendous control today. And as a result, our nation sinks lower and lower because we have what's called a new morality. It wasn't new at all. Israel was practicing it way back yonder. In about 700 B.C., and I wouldn't call it new morality back there by any means, they were breaking all these commandments and God condemned them for it. And homosexuality was practiced even back as far as Sodom and Gomorrah. It's the reason he destroyed these places. He judged them. And today, actually, some of the legislatures filled with men ignorant of the Word of God ignorant of this thing which has been basic for this nation of ours, and they pass legislation that makes it so that two homosexuals can get married. The liberal church says that we should not consider them sinners, And I know I speak to many homosexuals. I'll get letters on this. May I say to you, the Lord Jesus Christ says that you've got to be born again. And he can deliver you from it. These things are not diseases today. But when they're treated as what they really are, sin, then God can deal with us. We are doomed as a nation, as much as Israel was condemned and sent into captivity. And after all, they were God's chosen people. We are not. By any stretch of the imagination, we can't make that claim. But this is the basis on which God judges nations. I spent a little time there and I got warmed up on that. I think somebody today needs to be saying something along this line. But the pulpit is strangely silent in this connection. Well, one reason they never study Hosea. You know, here's one of the forgotten prophets. Now I'm going to keep on reading. Verse 3. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth in it shall languish, with the beasts of the field, with the fowls of the heavens, yea, the fish of the sea also shall be taken away." The land will languish. All of a sudden we found out that we're polluting everything today. When I was a boy, I went swimming in a swimming hole in a creek in southern Oklahoma that was as clear you could see, 25 feet to the bottom. My friend, may I say to you, it smells to high heaven. We polluted the land today. The land here is mourning. And then another very interesting thing is a few years ago, it was plenty. All of the granaries were filled with grain. It was plenty of everything. And may I say today, we're hearing something about scarcity. You see, when God judges a nation, the land is involved, and even the beasts and the fowls have to suffer for the sin of man. And they are suffering also today because of man's sin. Verse 4, Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another. For thy people are as they that strive with the priest. What has happened? Why, the priest in that day was not doing his duty. Not warning the people. And God had raised up the prophet. What about that? Verse 5. Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother. That is the nation. Why? Because now even there were the false prophets that were rising up and telling people, well, everything's going to be all right. This thing's going to work out. We live in a new day. The Bible is an old book in the Ten Commandments. They belong to the past, to our grandfathers and grandmothers. But we today have reached a very high plane. May I say to you, we are a dirty lot. We have sunk very low today as a nation and as a people. Now, verse 6 is probably one of the most quoted verses. It's considered to be one of the most familiar verses. I'm reading now Hosea 4, verse 6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. That's the reason we're teaching the Bible today. That's the reason we're going into a book like this, is because, my friend, it's the ignorance of the Word of God. They're destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I'll also reject thee, that thou shall be no priest to me. You see, God intended the whole nation. to be priests unto him. And in the millennium, they will be that. But God says, you're not even going to have priests at this particular time. Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. That is, even the people of the nation, now God says, I will also forget you. Because you've forgotten me. In other words, they've come to the time of judgment because they've gone through a long sordid history of departing from the Lord. Now, I'll have to leave off there today. But you can see how important this chapter is. And we hope, though, to finish it next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 01 :
It's a sobering reality that we see the people of Israel in Hosea's time and also in our culture turn their backs on God. Augustine said it so well. Spend some time thinking about what we've studied. And as you do, why don't you confess to the Lord how, at many times, you've forgotten Him as the priority of your life. And then tell Him that, as of now, He's first place again. You know, there's more to learn from this great book of Hosea. And as always, if you'd like to listen to this study again, or any other study from our five-year journey through the whole Word of God, all of Dr. McGee's studies are available in our app or online. Just visit ttb.org to listen now. to your many options. Or you can call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE for help in finding what you're looking for. Now as we go, I'd ask that you join me in reading through the rest of Hosea 4 before tomorrow's study. It always helps with the program to have read the passage in advance. to read ahead each day and prepare your heart for what God wants to teach you through His Word. You can download our free Bible reading schedule at ttb.org or just call us at 1-865-BIBLE to receive it by mail. Again, that's ttb.org or 1-865-BIBLE. You can also write to Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. I'm Steve Schweitz. For all of us at Through the Bible, we're praying that you walk with God until we meet again. See you next time.
SPEAKER 03 :
Jesus came in all, all to be my own. Sin had left the prince unsaved. He washed it white as snow.
