Episode Transcript
Hosea 12.
God willing, we'll be expounding verses 2 through 4.
The title of the message is "Princes and Poppers."
Princes and Poppers.
All of our teaching is done verse by verse.
We begin at chapter 1, verse 1.
Explain each verse until we get to the end of a book.
And then God gives us another book and we teach through that book.
In verse 1 of chapter 12 last week, we learned that Ephraim, the northern kingdom of Israel, was feeding on vanities.
They were walking in lies and they had made covenants with the nations around them rather than keeping the covenant that God had made with them.
And Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel, remained faithful to God longer than their northern counterpart did.
But Judah also eventually fell into idolatry and unfaithfulness to God.
So God not only had the controversy with Ephraim, the northern half, but if you look now in Hosea 12 too, the Lord hath also a controversy with Judah.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for your precious word.
I pray, Father, you'll give me the strength to finish this sermon and that you will have all eyes to be on you this morning, Lord.
And I pray, Father, that your Holy Spirit of truth will open our ears and our eyes to understand your precious word.
You'll receive all honor and glory.
We ask it in Jesus' wonderful name.
Amen.
Also, let me forget to remind you after church we have a dinner on the grounds next door.
It doesn't matter if you brought anything or not.
There's always plenty of food so come and be blessed.
So the Lord hath also a controversy with Judah that is the southern half of the kingdom of Israel.
The Hebrew word that's translated "controversy" here has the idea of a legal contest between God and Judah.
If you were looking at it in a court of law, it might be stalled this way.
The kingdom of heaven versus the kingdom of Judah.
And that's very unfortunate.
You know, in 1979, if you were around then, the film that grossed the most money at the box office was a film called "Cramer versus Cramer."
And it tells the story of damage that's caused by divorce.
And the title captured it all, "Cramer versus Cramer."
The two had become one, but that once holy union was now at war with itself because one of the parties decided to go against the union.
And the kingdom of Judah, you have to understand, was the kingdom of heaven at one time.
The kingdom of Israel was supposed to be God's kingdom in heaven operating here on earth.
If you'll remember, we've talked about this as we've gone through the book of Hosea recently.
When God created Adam, he said, "Let them have dominion."
And so God gave man dominion.
God made man in God's image.
And so God was to be ruling on earth through man.
Man was to be exercising the authority of the kingdom of heaven, ruling in that authority here on earth.
When Adam yielded to the devil's temptation, the Bible says, "Know you not that to whom you yield yourself, servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey."
And that's in Romans chapter 6.
When Adam yielded to Satan's temptation, he took that dominion and he forfeited it to the devil, whom the Bible now calls the God, little G, of this world, or the prince of this world.
And so the kingdom of Judah was the kingdom of heaven.
It was God's kingdom at one time operating here on earth, but unfortunately had rejected the rule of God over them.
And now remember, as goes Israel, so goes the church.
We've learned that in the book of Hosea.
As Israel was God's kingdom operating here on earth, so is the church.
The Bible says, "Jesus said to his disciples, 'The kingdom of heaven is within you.'"
The kingdom of God is in you.
We are the kingdom of God operating here on earth.
Remember the church is a city and Jesus is her king in the book of the Revelation.
The church is a bride and Jesus also is her groom.
The two have been made one, Kramer and Kramer, if you would.
The kingdom of heaven is the church of Jesus Christ.
And if there's one party that Kramer should have never had to go to court against, it was Kramer.
And if there's one party, the kingdom of heaven should have never had to go against, it was the kingdom of Judah, it was the kingdom of Israel, and it is his church.
God was their king, but Israel decided that they no longer wanted him on their throne.
So God now had a controversy against them.
God created that nation through Abraham.
God loved them.
God multiplied them.
God delivered them from their enemies.
God blessed them in the promised land, but now these foolish people had turned their backs on their king.
In the same way, God created the church, but many in the church have rejected God as their king, their rogue bodies, if you would.
And one day those tares that pose as wheat, thank God, will be plucked from the kingdom of God.
God had a controversy against both the northern and southern tribes of Jacob, for which cause he said, if you look back in your text now, it will punish Jacob according to his ways.
So Jacob means the whole nation of Israel, both the northern nation or northern kingdom and the southern kingdom.
All the descendants from Jacob, so Jacob is representing the whole.
As we all descended from Adam, so Israel all descended from Jacob.
Remember Jacob's name was changed to Israel.
So God uses the name Jacob to describe all that descended from him.
God said he would punish Jacob according to his ways, meaning according to the path, that way, that road that he took and the choices he made.
I thank God that God never punishes people unrighteous.
He always punishes people according to the path they take.
When the road that we choose to travel departs from the road that God has given us to take, that's when God will visit us according to our ways.
Hosea said, if you look back in the text, according to his, that is Jacob's doings, will he recompense him.
God's going to recompense.
That means he's going to pay back Jacob according to the ungodly things he did when he departed from the way that God has established for him to take.
To illustrate this departure from God's way, God is about to go back now and show Jacob or show the people of Israel where they began as opposed to where they are at this time.
It's so good for us to do that sometimes, and that's what God is about to do.
When Jacob started off, if you look in verse 3 now, when Jacob started off, he took his brother by the heel in the womb.
Y'all remember that story?
Jacob and Esau were twin brothers.
They were born from the same parents.
They shared the same womb, but they did not share the same love for God.
All through the Bible, from the very beginning, as soon as Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel.
There was suddenly this distinction made between the ungodly line of men and a godly line of men, between the believers and the unbelievers.
God rejected Cain.
God accepted Abel.
Here we are again with Jacob and Esau.
It's the distinguishing point of demarcation between the ungodly line of men represented by Esau and the godly line of men represented by Jacob.
They represent those who belong to the fallen kingdom of this world and those who belong to the kingdom of God.
This story of the ungodly line and the godly line, it runs parallel.
Those two types of men run parallel through the entire Bible.
We watch as they run parallel, as they conflict with each other, all the way until you get to the book of the Revelation.
Then when you get to the book of the Revelation, the kingdom of heaven comes, the king comes, and the king takes the ungodly line.
He separates them from the godly line, the wheat from the chaff, and one enters into the kingdom forever, the other goes into the lake of fire forever with the devil and his angels.
In Esau, he belonged to the ungodly kingdom.
He was an unbelieving man.
Esau was born first.
And you see that a lot in Scripture, just like with Ishmael and Isaac.
Ishmael born first, but Isaac was the son of the promise.
And same here with Esau.
Esau was born first.
You'll see this over and over in Scripture.
And that meant as first born, he was supposed to inherit the birthright of his father.
He came out ahead of Jacob, getting a head start on life, metaphorically speaking.
But as he was coming out of the womb, if you'll remember the story, Jacob's hand, little Jacob, little Jacob's hand, called hold of Esau's heel.
You know how those babies, they have that natural instinct to grab.
They'll grab your finger or something like that.
Well, Jacob's hand called hold of his brother's heel.
Now, Jacob didn't know what he was doing, but God did.
And God had this happen.
And this is why God is mentioning this now, because this was prophetic.
When he was coming out of the womb, he called hold of his brother's heel to the foot as if to say, "Uh-uh, brother, you're not going to get ahead of me.
Uh-uh, I'm not going to let you get ahead of me."
Take your Bibles.
Well, you can look up here on the screen in Genesis chapter 25 verse 26.
Genesis chapter 25 verse 26 tells us that story.
It says, "And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel.
And his name was called Jacob.
And Isaac was three score years old when she bare them.
When Jacob took Esau by the heel, it was a presage.
It was a sign, a prophetic sign that was given by God as to what would come of these boys in the future.
Now, remember, Esau represented the ungodly line.
Jacob represented the godly line.
So as Jacob goes, the rest of the godly line goes."
You understanding that?
As Esau goes, the rest of the ungodly line goes.
In other words, it looks like when you're looking at today, you're watching the Bidens in the White House.
You watch the corruption going on.
You watch all the wickedness happening in our world.
You're watching the perverts get their way and become more and more empowered at the further we get down in the history of this world.
And it looks like these guys are ahead these guys have got things under control and they are ruling the world and leaving us behind.
But it's the same way here.
They start off ahead.
But in the end, the line of Christ, the believing line of Christ, catches hold of their heel.
And guess what?
When that little baby called hold of Esau's heel, the baby that came out first, that was God's way of saying the first shall be last and the last shall be first.
This was God's promise to you and me that though the world seems to be getting ahead, when Jesus comes back, they'll be getting behind and we'll be moving on with Jesus.
Praise his name.
Boy, that's good for the heart, Brother Doug.
I like that.
My goodness.
Esau started off ahead, but in the end, Jacob would win and overcome.
And since Israel represents the church, the godly line of men, then what happens to Jacob happens to us.
The world may appear to be ahead right now, but the people of God will win in the end because we have the birthright of Christ.
So we inherit all things.
Revelation chapter 21, verse seven, Revelation chapter 21, verse seven.
Jesus said, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son."
Man, we overcome through Jesus.
We overcome our enemies.
We then inherit all things through Christ and he's our God and we're his son.
Through Christ, we overcome the ungodly line of men.
They advance in this life, but through Christ, we take hold on their heel and we, the meek, inherit the earth.
Jacob took hold of his brother's heel.
Look back in your text now and by his strength, he had power with God.
And by his strength, he had power with God.
Now the Hebrew word that's translated strength here, it has the idea of exertion.
It has the idea of effort that Jacob gave into seeking the blessing of God.
And if you want something bad enough, then you're going to put some effort into getting it.
I put some effort in becoming a pastor.
I put some effort into the training that I needed to get my secular career.
I put some effort into getting my wife.
Where is my wife at?
There she is back there with the visitors.
Hello, sweetheart.
I put some effort into getting my wife and Jacob puts some effort into seeking God's will and blessing in his life.
If you care about something, you're going to put some effort into getting it.
That's how Jacob started out.
Remember Jacob wrestling with Jesus.
I'm not going to let you go unless you bless me.
That's how Jacob started out.
But by Hosea's time, Jacob's offspring put no effort into seeking God's will, put no effort into seeking God's blessing at all.
Unlike their father Jacob and unlike some of the great men that descended from Jacob, like King David, King Solomon, like Samuel, and many others, they simply didn't care.
They didn't care about God.
Adrian Rogers once described people like this as people who yawned in the face of God.
That's the way our nation is today.
You talk about God and there's just no hunger for him.
Esau, he didn't care about getting God's blessing at all.
When Jacob later on, after he had gotten a lot of things that God had blessed him with, Jacob tried to offer Esau something.
Esau said, "Brother, I've got all I need."
Well, Jacob didn't have all he needed.
Jacob had wives and cattle and riches, but when he met with Jesus, when he was alone before he met his brother Esau, he said, "I'm not going to let you go unless you bless me."
Because he knew that any blessing of this carnal world was only temporary.
He knew the true blessing had to come from the Lord Jesus Christ.
That promise seed that God promised would bruise the serpent's head, back in the book of Genesis.
The word power here, it says by Jacob's effort he had power with God.
In that word power here is different than this word effort.
The word power here speaks about authority.
Remember, God said of Adam and Eve, or God said of mankind, "Let them have dominion.
Give them kingdom authority here on earth."
And the word power is speaking about that kingdom authority that was given to Jacob.
Jacob had authority with God.
Now remember, all this ties in with us.
What happens to Jacob happens to the church.
When Jesus was here, before he ascended back to heaven and told everyone goodbye, he said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."
In other words, that dominion has come back to man through me.
Adam lost the dominion of kingdom authority.
Jesus as a man regained God's dominion of kingdom authority.
And then when he sent out the church, he delivered that dominion of kingdom authority back to me and you.
We can now walk in the power of God's kingdom authority here on earth.
All power is given unto me in heaven and earth.
Jacob had authority with God.
And this is again speaking about kingdom authority, reigning authority, the power to rule over your enemies in the kingdom authority of God, the literal version, words at Hosea 12.3 this way.
It says, "In the womb he took his brother by the heel and by his strength he was a prince with God."
That's what we are through Jesus Christ, because the Bible says we are seated together with him in heavenly places.
When he set on his throne, we sat on his throne with him, we regained the kingdom authority to rule on earth and the power of God.
I've told you recently the gospel returned to us the dominion that sin took away, and it will.
Here's the kingdom truth for you this morning.
All men will either rule in God's name or they will be ruled by God's enemies.
All men will either rule in God's name or they will be ruled by God's enemies.
Jacob ruled in God's name.
He had power with God.
And Hosea, remember, is a prophetic book.
That's why we reference the book of the revelation as we're looking here at Hosea.
It's a prophetic book speaking to prophetic people, me and you, what happens to Jacob happens to us because we have entered into the same gospel covenant with Jacob.
Revelation chapter 12 verse 9 and 10.
Revelation 12 9 and 10, we're talking about ruling over the enemies of Christ in the kingdom power of God.
Revelation 12 9 and 10 says, "And the great dragon was cast out."
Who's that great dragon?
He is the devil whom Adam yielded God's kingdom authority to.
But in the end, when Jesus, our king comes, the great dragon is cast out.
That old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.
He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him and I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God," watch this now, "and the power of his Christ."
Here's the power coming back to the church.
Here's the power coming back to man.
"For the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day and night."
Now notice he says the power of his Christ.
The only way that the power of God can be given back to man is through Christ who came as man and regained that power back on our behalf.
By fully obeying God's law, by fully overcoming God's enemies, which were our enemies, by putting them under his feet, he then hands the kingdom authority back to man.
As Jacob had power with God, so we have power with God.
Notice that John called again this the power of his Christ.
Hosea 12.3 is referring us back again to the time when Jacob was alone with God when he wrestled with Christ.
Christ came as a man and met with Jacob, just as Christ came as a man and he met with Joshua before he went into Jericho.
He met with Jacob before he crossed over and met his brother Esau.
Genesis chapter 32 verses 24 through 28.
Genesis 32, 24 through 28 says, "And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day."
Again, that man is Jesus.
That was God coming in the flesh.
"And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he that is the man, God in the flesh, Christ touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh.
And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him."
Jacob is wrestling with Jesus.
God came in the flesh and Jacob is wrestling with Jesus.
He says, "I'm not going to let you go unless you bless me."
You see, sometimes God makes us wrestle with him.
You look there in the New Testament, you'll see Jesus doing the same thing in the New Testament.
Jesus, God coming in the flesh in the New Testament, this woman comes up to Jesus and says, "I've got a child that needs to be healed."
Jesus says, "Oh, you're Gentile.
It's not proper for me to give the children's bread unto a dog."
And the woman says, "That's true, Lord, but the dogs do eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table."
You know what that woman was doing?
She wouldn't take a note for an answer, Brother Doug.
She was wrestling with the angel.
She was wrestling with the angel of God.
She was wrestling with the messenger of the covenant.
And she was saying, "That's true, Lord.
I understand that, but you said that in Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed."
So we're taking...
She had faith and Jesus said, "I hadn't seen faith like this in Israel."
And he blessed that woman.
And that's what Jesus does.
He was wrestling with Jacob.
How bad do you want it, Jacob?
Jacob says, "I know there's no other blessing on earth that can be given to me that will last forever, that will overcome sin and will overcome death.
I can have all the cows I want to, but if I die without God and without His forgiveness, I've lost it all.
I need the blessing of Abraham.
I need the blessing to overcome sin and death.
I need the blessing of being reunited to God forever and ever.
I'm not going to let you go unless you bless me."
So he says here in verse 26, he said, "Let me go for the day breaketh."
He said, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me."
Verse 27, "And he said unto him, 'What is thy name?'
And he said, 'Jacob.'
And he said, 'Thy name shall no more...
I'm sorry, thy name shall be called no more, Jacob.
But Israel, for as a prince, hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
You've overcome, Jacob.
You've overcome in me, and now you're a prince, and now you have power with God, and now you have power with men."
Jesus was literally telling him, "As a prince, you have power in conjunction with God, and in conjunction with men, you have prevailed."
Hosea said, verse 4, "Yea, he had power over the angel."
Now the literal translation puts it this way, "Yea, he is a prince unto the messenger."
He didn't have power over the angel in the sense that he had authority over the angel or he had strength over the angel, but it was a prince unto the messenger.
That's literally what that's saying in the Hebrew.
He was a prince unto the messenger.
Jesus made Jacob a prince unto him.
Now remember what happens to Jacob happens to us, as Jesus made him a prince unto him, so Jesus shall make us a prince unto him.
Revelation chapter 1, verse 5 and 6, Revelation 1, 5 and 6, "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father.
To him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen."
What happens to Jacob happens to us, who's entered the covenant of Jacob, who have wrestled with the angel, who have laid hold of Jesus like that woman who had an issue of blood.
She said, "If I can just touch the hem of his garment, my issue shall be dried up, and we come to Christ with a greater issue, with an issue of blood.
We come to Christ in our sin.
We come to Christ in our unholyness.
We come to Christ as enemies of God and dead in our trespasses and sins.
And we come to him at the cross and we laid hold of him, and we take hold of that blessing, and we are saved."
And God says, "Through him, through Christ, he's made us kings unto God, princes unto God, but not just that, but priests also."
You see that?
Kings and priests, because you can't be a king unless you've been a priest.
You can't be.
God has the dominion, and we rule as kings and priests unto God in that dominion.
As a priest, we offer God the Lamb who died for us, and having offered up the Lamb, God offers down the authority of the Lamb.
We offer up the Lamb's blood.
He passes down the Lamb's authority.
There is no power apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
No power.
Paul said, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes."
Jacob was a prince unto Jesus.
God appearing to him as a man.
Look back in your text, "And prevailed."
And prevailed.
He didn't prevail over Jesus.
He prevailed because of Jesus.
He prevailed.
Why did he prevail?
Because, look back in your text, he wept and made supplication unto him.
He didn't prevail because he was a better wrestler.
He prevailed through weeping.
He prevailed by making supplication to Jesus.
What it's saying is this.
Jacob put himself under Christ, and so Christ put Jacob over his enemies.
You see that?
Jacob put himself under Christ, and by being put under the authority of Christ, he then was over the enemies of Christ.
One of the censurians spoke to Jesus about authority.
He said, "I too am a man set under authority.
I can tell a man, 'You go here, and you go there, and they have to do it.'"
He was saying, "I recognize Jesus that you are set under the authority of God, so all you have to do is speak the word, and my servant will be healed."
Jacob got under the authority of Christ, that he got over the authority, the power of his enemies.
But not so for Jacob's descendants in the time of Osean, and not so for Jacob's descendants today.
Israel's in a mess today, and they'll continue to be in a mess until they put themselves under the authority of Christ, God's son.
As if God is saying, "Look, Jacob, this is how you started out.
You were wrestling with the angel.
You were a prince with God.
Authority was given to you.
But now, look how far you've fallen.
Now you're about to be taken captive by Syria.
You're about to be ruled by your enemies instead of ruling over them.
Look how far you've strayed Jacob.
Where were the men like Jacob who were willing to take hold of God and make supplication to him as Jacob did?
Jacob found God in Bethel, where God revealed himself to Jacob in the dream of the latter.
Remember that?
God was showing how Jesus, being Jacob's ladder, how Jesus would bridge the gap between heaven and earth through the cross, bridge the gap between sinful men and the holy God.
Hosea said, "Look back in your text, he found him in Bethel.
In Bethel, God told Jacob in Genesis 28, verses 14 and 15, "And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south.
And in thee and in thy seed that is Christ shall all the families of the earth be blessed."
Jacob said, "I'm not going to let you go unless you bless me.
It's not just going to be you getting blessed, Jacob.
All the families of the earth are going to be blessed.
And behold, I'm with thee," he said, "and will keep thee in all places, whether thou goest and will bring thee again unto this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to the of."
As goes Jacob, so goes the church.
Remember what Jesus told the church?
All powers are going to be in heaven and earth.
What did he say?
As he told Jacob, "I'm not going to leave you until I've done everything I told you I'd do," Jesus told the church, "I will never leave you nor forsake you.
I am with you always, even at the end of this age, even at the end of this world.
I will never leave you until I've done everything I've told you I'll do.
I'll accomplish it."
When God told this to Jacob now, when God told Jacob and him all the families of the earth would be blessed, when God told Jacob he would never leave him until he's accomplished everything he promised to do, he was not only speaking to Jacob, he was speaking to me and you.
Look back in the text, Hosea said, "And there he spake with us."
The promise given to Jacob was given to Jacob's descendants, and that means it was given to me and you, because the Bible says that they which are of faith are the seed of Abraham.
We are the seed of Abraham.
When you read God's wonderful promise to Jacob about the nation that would come through him and the ladder that would bridge heaven and earth, you are reading God's words to you.
There he spake with us.
We can either be princes or we can be paupers, all depending on what we do with the ladder God sent, all depending on what we do with Jesus.
We can either take hold of Christ and be blessed and regain that kingdom authority that God had given man and overcome the enemies that had brought sin and death upon the world like Jacob, or we can reject him, be ruled by our enemies, and be condemned by our creator like the people in Hosea's time.
The choice is us as ours, excuse me, the choice is ours to make.
The message was given to us, the choice is for us to make, and I tell you for me in my house, we'll serve the Lord.
I choose the blessing of Christ because he took the curse for me.
I lay hold of him and I received the blessing.
I received forgiveness of my sin in the kingdom authority.
One day when he comes back to reign, by God's grace, I'll rule and reign with him, and so will you if you believe on him as your savior.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word today.
We thank you for your instruction in the book of Hosea.
We thank you, Father, for teaching us, Father, the vivid, deep truths of God, the returning of your kingdom authority, and the manner in which it's returned, which is through your son, which is by your gospel, which is preached into the world.
And Father, I pray, Lord God, that we'll continue to serve you, to love you, to follow you, and to grow in this wonderful truth that you've given us.
Help us, Lord, to walk in your power and strength this week, and to be obedient to your word, and to come back next week to learn more of your truth.
I pray for each and every person who came here today.
I pray, Father, you'll bless them.
I pray, Father, you'll edify them, Father, through what they've heard in your word.
And Father, I pray for your blessing upon the meal that we're about to receive, that if anyone here does not know Christ as their savior, that they'll meet with me after church, or Brother Shepherd, and we'll share with them, Father, your word, how they can come know Christ as their savior, and they can overcome through him as well.
In Jesus' precious In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
