Episode Transcript
Alright, Hosea 13, verse 1, the tile of the mesh this morning is "trembling souls."
Trembling souls.
We're starting a new chapter in Hosea this morning, in which God contrasts two different kinds of hearts, two different kinds of attitudes that reside within people.
You know, our nation is very divided.
And when you see the division of this nation, it goes to highlight the different hearts that people have, the different attitudes that people have.
And we're learning this morning about trembling souls as the Holy Spirit directs our attention to a time, if you look now in verse 1, to a time when Ephraim spake trembling.
When Ephraim spake trembling, let's pray.
Father, we thank You for Your precious Word.
I thank You for those who are here with us this morning.
Lord, what an encouragement it is to look out in the pews and see people here that we pray for, that we care about, and what an encouragement it is to see them coming back each Sunday and visiting with us, Lord, and learning Your Word together and worshiping together.
I thank You in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Real quick, before I forget, when we finish the building on Jesus, we'll be starting this Genesis to Jesus class again as soon as we have some people to have it with.
So if you've never been through it, then we encourage you to do so.
When Ephraim spake trembling, you may have never noticed before, but trembling is a frequent topic in the Bible.
And now that I've said it, when you read the Bible, you're going to come across that word "trembling" a lot of times, and you're going to say, "I remember Brother Richard saying that I never noticed how many times trembling was in the Bible."
But it's spoken of frequently in the Bible, and let me tell you this morning, first of all, every person trembles.
Every person trembles.
And I don't mean trembling in the mere physical sense, especially not in the physical sense.
I mean trembling in the spiritual sense.
And trembling can either be a holy thing or an unholy thing, all depending on who you're trembling at.
But everybody trembles at someone, at something.
To tremble at something means to have a great sense of awe toward it, to have a reverence, a humility or a fear toward it.
So it's called trembling.
As we learn in the book of Genesis, there are two types of people in the world.
There's the seed of the serpent, that's the ungodly line, and then there's the seed of the woman, if you've been to the Genesis and Jesus course.
That's the godly line of people.
And the ungodly line, they tremble at the devil.
They tremble at the world system.
Meaning they have a sense of awe, a sense of reverence toward the ungodly system in this world that he created.
There are people in this world who only care about what the world thinks, who only care about what the secular mindset approves of, and they laugh and scoff at anyone who thinks otherwise.
The godly line on the other hand, they tremble at the Lord.
Meaning they have a sense of awe and reverence toward him and him alone.
When Ephraim spake trembling, he's not talking about a specific time when a certain man in Israel stood up one day to make a speech and his voice cracked because he was nervous.
He had stage fright or something like that.
That's not what the Bible's talking about.
It's talking about a time in the nation's history when their heart was humble toward God and they trembled at his word.
There was a time when Israel spake with a trembling heart, when they had a sense of awe and reverence toward the Bible that they had at that time.
Thus, the leaders spoke in faith when they addressed their people and with submission to what God had told them, leading God's people according to God's word.
That's when Ephraim spake trembling.
Isaiah 66, verse 2, the latter part of it, Isaiah 66, we would say 2b says, "But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word."
God says, "I'll pay respect to that man.
I'll consider that person.
I'll take care of that person, someone who is not haughty in their spirit and proud and obnoxious and loud and boastful, but someone who is humble and who holds the Bible in my hand and trembles at my word lest they disregard it."
Do you know why political speeches don't move me?
It used to, they'd move me if they said the right words, but they don't move me anymore.
It's because in order to get the most votes, and I don't care what side of the political fence you're on, it happens on both sides, but in order to get the most votes, they poll their audience, and then they speak what the people want to hear.
And when a nation's leaders speak according to a nation's heart, they're not trembling at the Lord, they're trembling at the people.
That's what they're doing.
They're trembling at the influence of this ungodly world.
I'll tell you right now, I'm going to vote for Donald Trump, but I'll tell you this too.
I'm voting for the lesser of two evils.
Because his campaign, they sought campaign contributions from the LBT, G-T-Q, whatever it is, community, just like the Democrats did.
They're not as bad.
They stand for more things than I stand for in God's Word, but they still compromise.
Why do they want to reach out for their support?
Because they tremble at the people.
They want to make sure and please the people so they can get in power.
They've got a little stronger character to them.
I believe that very much.
At the same time, if you tremble at God's Word, then you wouldn't solicit from God's enemies.
We need leaders who will tremble at God's Word.
We need people who don't fear the people but fear the Lord.
1 Corinthians 2, verse 2 through 4.
The Apostle Paul told the people at Corinth, "For I determined not to know anything among you.
Save Jesus Christ and him crucified, and I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
In my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."
Man, that's a lot of doctrine right there.
When Paul was with him, he was with him in weakness.
He was with him in fear.
He was with him in much trembling.
Does that mean when Paul stood before to speak to him, he was, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh."
And he spoke with a quivering voice?
No, it doesn't mean that at all.
But it means that his speech and his preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom.
He wasn't going there trying to speak something that he thought would please his audience.
He was going there trying to speak something that he knew would please his God.
And he trembled at God's Word, and he had fear toward God, not fear toward men.
Paul didn't suffer from stage fright.
If Paul were to get up here and preach, man, you'd hear it just like it was.
Paul didn't have a fear of public speaking.
Paul wasn't afraid that his audience wouldn't like him.
Paul was speaking of much trembling, meaning that as he said, his speech and his preaching was not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
To speak with a trembling tongue is to speak in the Spirit of God.
To put your words and your thoughts out of the picture and to speak only God, to please him and not to please the people.
Paul stood and spoke with the purpose of pleasing and honoring one person, and that's the God who sent him.
I was speaking to a preacher not too long ago.
Tammy happened to be with me at the time.
She remembers.
After a funeral, he told me that when he goes to a certain place to preach up north, that he tries to be careful about what he says.
You remember that?
Not yet.
It was Carl Hall's funeral.
He was that man with a large man with a loud voice.
He used to pastor there, and now he goes back and tries to be careful about what he says.
I tell you, it so caught me off guard when he said that.
Here's the kingdom and truth for you this morning.
A pastor can either fear the people he's preaching to or the God he's preaching for.
A pastor can either fear the people he's preaching to or the God he's preaching for.
What's the difference?
If I fear the people I'm preaching to, I want to make sure and say nothing that offends you, nothing that would drive you away, nothing that would keep you from putting money in the offering plate, nothing that would keep you from not liking me, nothing that would keep you from saying, "Well, Brother Richard's very offensive when he speaks, and he said something I disagree with the other day, because I like doing this, and he preached against it, and so let's replace him.
And so because I fear the people, I cater my message to what I think you like, rather than what I know you need and what God has sent me to say."
Then you have someone who can fear God and not fear the people.
Instead of trembling at the people, they tremble at the Lord, and then those pastors are by the love for God who loves the people, out of that love for the people, give the people what they need, rather than what their flesh desires.
And they preach fearing the Lord.
Listen, I try to be careful what I say at this church, but it's only because I want to be careful that what I say represents what God has said.
That's all.
Amen.
If I know, there's times when I'm preaching God's Word and I know that I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, and I know that it's the truth that's coming out of my mouth, and it's His Word clearly explained, and I know that.
And when I get through and I walk out of here, I don't care what the people thought.
I care in the sense that I hope they were edified and that they enjoyed the message and that they were worshiping with me in spirit and in truth, but I don't care in the sense of needing their approval, because I know if I'm speaking God's Word, I have God's approval.
And a pastor needs that security.
He needs that security.
And I thank God that here, when I speak to please the Lord, I have people that it pleases them to.
And that means so much to me.
I don't need to speak proudly with my own words.
I need to speak humbly with the words that God's declared unto us in His Bible.
One of the tokens of the beast in the end times, and if you'll notice a lot of times, and this is, I think, what good preaching should do, or not good preaching, but good Bible teaching should do, is that it should tie whatever text you're in to Genesis at the same time anchor it there in Revelation.
And by doing so, you're getting the full picture of God's Word.
And when we're looking here in the book of Hosea, and God is commending this time when Ephraim spake trembling, one of the tokens of the beast in the end times in the book of the Revelation will be how he speaks.
He will speak with a proud, boasting, and godless mouth.
He will not speak trembling at the Lord.
Revelation 13, verse 5, listen to this about the beast, and compare it to Ephraim speaking trembling at God's Word.
Revelation 13, 5 says, "And there was given unto him a mouth."
Do you know what the beast is going to be?
The kind of sin is going to be in the end times?
He's going to be a big mouth.
He really will.
He'll be a big mouth.
"There was given unto him a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies."
Not great in the sense of, oh, that's great.
Great in the sense of big things.
He's going to have big plans, talk big words, puff himself up, and he'll be speaking blasphemy against God, making himself stronger and more powerful than God.
"And power was given unto him to continue forty and two months."
So, about three and a half years, he's going to go on doing this.
And it will begin to look like, in the people's eyes, that he's going to get away with it.
That he can back up his mouth.
Daniel, chapter 7, in the Old Testament.
Daniel, chapter 7, verse 25, speaking of the same beast, says, "And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High."
That's us.
You're going to have a pathetic man with a big mouth who's going to blaspheme God, who's going to make Christians to be public enemy number one, Christians and Jews.
Can you not see that already starting to happen?
That's what the Bible calls the spirit of Antichrist.
In other words, the man of sin hasn't come on the stage yet, but that spirit is already here.
The devil is already setting the stage up, where Christians and Jews are the two big enemies.
He's going to speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High.
And think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of times.
In other words, three and a half years again.
So you've got 42 months in Revelation, you've got times, times, and dividing of times in Daniel, and in both you've got a man with a big mouth who ridicules God and persecutes saints.
That's going to happen for three and a half years.
Don't let someone tell you, I heard Brother Shepherd explain that to Leah very well, by the way, when Leah was down, don't let someone tell you that we're exempt from all that stuff, because we're Christians.
That's a bunch of baloney.
If that's the case, God's going to have to apologize to the Christians who get their head cut off, and imprisoned, and burned, and shot in the other countries right now.
In some of those countries that are represented, they're listening to us online.
And so that's going to happen.
The man of sin will not tremble at God's word.
He will boast against God's word and blaspheme it.
Most people brag on themselves, but when Ephraim spoke in times past, he trembled at God's word, and when he spoke trembling, look down in your text again, he exalted himself in Israel.
When Ephraim spoke trembling, when he humbled himself and trembled at God's word, his trembling resulted in him exalting himself in Israel, means lifting himself up.
The way up is down, spiritually speaking.
As a Christian, if you want God to raise you up, then you go down.
When Ephraim was trembling, he was exalting himself in Israel.
He wasn't trying to exalt himself, but when he placed himself beneath God's word, he placed himself over his enemies.
That would have been a great kingdom truth, but it's true.
When you place yourself under God's word, you place yourself over your enemies.
Matthew, chapter 23, verse 12, Jesus says, "And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased," and he's made low, "and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted," lifted up.
Lucifer did just the opposite, didn't he?
Lucifer tried to exalt himself by lifting himself above the Most High God.
What Lucifer did in heaven is what the man of sin is going to do on earth.
Lucifer will enter that man of sin like he entered into Judas, like he entered into that serpent in the book of Genesis.
He's going to enter into the man of sin in the book of Revelation.
As he boasted great things against God in the serpent in Genesis, he's going to boast against God in the Revelation.
It'll be the same thing as he tried to create anarchy in heaven and drew a third of the angels with him with his big mouth.
There came that time when God said, "Okay, big boy."
He didn't use that language.
He kicked him out of heaven.
Suddenly, Lucifer and his angels realized he didn't have the power to back up the words he spoke, just like a bully.
Then he gets punched in the nose, "Oh, don't have the power to back up his words."
That's what happened to Lucifer.
In the end, the man of sin is going to be just like that for three and a half years, trying to create the complete anarchy against God, trying to commit on earth what he had attempted in heaven with the angels.
He'll do it again at the end of time.
So by defying God's word, he did not tremble at it.
Because Satan doesn't speak trembling, he wasn't lifted up.
He was cast down to the earth.
At the end of this world, he will be destroyed because of his big mouth and not trembling at God's word.
What does the devil want to do?
He does not want to tremble at God's word.
He wants people to tremble at his word.
Daniel 7, verse 11.
Speaking of the man of sin again, that's going to come at the end of time.
"And I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horned spake."
A horn here coming up out of a beast is still the same man of sin.
He's listening to the voice of the great words, "which the horned spake, I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame."
Now the people of this world who don't tremble at God's word today, they're trembling at the evil influence of Satan's fallen world system.
They want to please the world, not the Lord.
They're trembling at the wrong person.
They're following the devil's kingdom advice, but his kingdom advice will fall.
It will fail.
Isaiah 14, verse 12 through 16.
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?"
Now watch how this transitions here.
Watch how this transitions here from the devil attempting anarchy in heaven to the devil attempting anarchy on earth at the end of time to the devil ultimately being destroyed because of it.
Watch how this happens here in Isaiah.
"How art thou fallen from heaven?"
There's the first scene, "O Lucifer, son of the morning.
How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations?
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.
I will be like the Most High."
Now I want you to notice that.
I'm going to just pause right there for a moment.
This morning in Building on Jesus class, we were teaching about our identification with Christ.
And learning that, we learned that we were crucified with him, we were buried with him, we were raised with him.
And where do we sit right now, Brother Christ?
Do you remember?
With him in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.
So those of us who tremble at God's Word, who recognize that we're justly condemned under His law, and we go to the cross and bow the knee to King Jesus and be justified by our faith in what He's done, we get lifted up to sit on the throne.
The devil who did not tremble at God's Word attempted to ascend to that very throne where we're now seated, and he gets cut down to the ground.
Why?
Because he sought it not by faith.
He sought it not by trembling at God's Word.
He sought it not righteously.
We sit at the throne in Christ on account of God.
He attempted to sit on the throne in spite of God.
That's the difference.
That's the difference.
What's now?
For thou hast set in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north, verse 14, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most high, verse 15, yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee saying, listen now, is this the man?
Ah, now we go from an angel in heaven to a man on earth, you see.
See how the transition is?
Same angel in heaven was the same angel in the snake as the same angel in the man.
Is this the man that made the earth to what?
Tremble.
That did shake kingdoms?
The world trembles at the wrong person.
They want to be accepted by their fellow man, they want to be accepted by the godless ideology that's pushed by this godless world.
And so they tremble at the wrong word.
And in the end, the person who speaks those great words will have a great fall, and those who trembled at them will fall right along with him.
They'll be cast in the lake of fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels.
A man is no safer than the kingdom he belongs to.
So Israel was safe when he spoke, trembling at God's word.
Look back in your text now in Hosea 13, but when he offended in Baal, that is when he started trembling at the gods of this world instead of the one true God, he offended in Baal.
Speaking of King Ahab, the Bible says in 1 Kings 16 31, "And it came to pass as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbael, king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him."
Now he's trembling at Baal's word.
The nation was trembling at the wrong thing, so instead of Ephraim being exalted, look back in your text, he died.
He died.
The Bible says in Proverbs 18 12, "Before destruction, the heart of man is haughty," it means lifted up.
"And before honor is humility."
"Those who tremble in Christ shall reign with him."
You bow the knee at the cross, you sit on the throne in heaven.
"Those who tremble in Antichrist shall die with him."
You see the difference?
"Those who tremble in Christ shall reign with him."
"Those who tremble in Antichrist shall die with him."
To tremble in Christ is to bow yourself to the authority of God's word, acknowledge the sins you've committed, acknowledge Jesus as a Savior that God sent to die for those sins, but to tremble in Antichrist is to bow yourself to the God-denying, anti-Christian world system that you're born into, which is trying its best to stamp out our voice today.
It hates us.
It thinks we're weird.
That's the new thing now, weird.
Well, I guess to them we are weird.
And I'd hope we'd be weird, as weird as they are.
"Those who lift themselves up in pride shall be destroyed."
What a moniker for some people to put on themselves.
Pride.
"Those who lift themselves up in pride shall be destroyed, but those who humble themselves to the cross shall be exalted."
As the Apostle Peter says as we close in 1 Peter 5, verse 6, "Umble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time."
In due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
In due time, they'll be exalted into Christ who died for them.
Father, we thank You so much for all You've done for us.
We thank You for Your Word.
We thank You, Father God, that You have given us the choice of what we tremble at, and I pray You'll give us trembling hearts.
Lord, the book of the Revelation, You spoke of the fearful and unbelieving.
Lord, they were fearful at the wrong thing, and they didn't believe.
We're the fearful and believing.
We tremble at Your Word.
We fear Your great name.
And Father, because of it, because we've been crucified with Christ, put in a lowly tomb, acknowledging Father God, our sin, we've been raised together in Christ Jesus to sit at Your own right hand.
Lord, help us to remain trembling.
We may remain, as we put ourselves under Your Word, will remain to walk over our enemies.
In Jesus' wonderful name, amen.
