Episode Transcript
Now next week we'll be starting another Genesis to Jesus class.
God willing I'll advertise it this afternoon when I get out of church.
If you have not been to the Genesis to Jesus class, you need to be there.
This is when we start at the very beginning with how we got our Bible.
We work our way through.
How many of y'all have ever been to the Genesis to Jesus class?
Raise your hand.
How many of y'all would recommend someone go through that Genesis to Jesus class?
That's every hand in here.
And it's worth your time, I promise you.
We have a gentleman who called me the other day and said he wants to come.
And he wants to, he hopes he'll come to everyone.
He wants to.
So y'all be in prayer for him.
We've got someone else who wants to come and then we have Chris who wants to start back from the beginning since he got in the middle.
And so anyone else that wants to come, we'd love you to be there if you haven't gone through it and invite anyone you know who needs to learn God's Word to come Sunday morning at 10 a.m. there in the fellowship hall.
We'd love to teach them God's Word, young and old.
If they can read, they're welcome to be in there as long as they can sit still and listen and pay attention.
They're welcome to be in there.
I've actually had the young people in the class, I've actually had them answer more questions than the adults once they start going.
And they pay good attention and I'm very, very proud of the ones who've been in there.
We've had elderly people and we've had young people in there and they're all welcome.
Hosea chapter 13 verses 7 and 8.
Hosea chapter 13 verses 7 and 8 this morning if you take God's precious Word and we will study God's Word verse by verse again this morning.
I'd like to say a special thank you to Sterling.
Sterling is the driver of the bus that my mom and dad are on, their tour bus.
And Sterling got the bus hooked up.
So we've got 45 passengers listening to us this morning on the bus.
And so we welcome the passengers on the tour bus to our service this morning.
And Sterling, we thank you.
Just keep your ears on God's Word Sterling but keep your eyes on the road.
That's a deal?
All right.
Hosea chapter 13 verses 7 and 8 the title of the message this morning is Wild Beasts for Wild People.
Wild beasts for wild people.
Last week in Hosea chapter 13 verse 6 God said that he fed Israel in the barren wilderness as a shepherd feeds his sheep.
And in those previous verses in Hosea 13 6 we learned that wherever God leads us, praise God he feeds us.
The Lord said according to their pasture so were they filled.
They were filled and their heart was exalted therefore have they forgotten me.
Praise God wherever your pasture is God can fill you.
Whatever comes in life God can feed you and sustain you and help you grow and learn.
And God filled them in the wilderness but when they were filled they forgot God.
Fullness should always result in thankfulness.
But God filled them and they forgot him.
They got filled and they forgot God.
So let's look now in verse 7 this morning where we're taking our beginning.
Therefore God said I will be unto them as a lion and now you're probably getting where we're talking about wild beasts for wild people.
They were wild because they forgot the Lord their God.
And now God's saying I'm going to be unto them as a lion as a shepherd feeds his sheep so God filled Israel with the pasture that he grazed them on and they forgot him.
And because they forgot him God said I'm going to be unto them as a lion.
Now here's the kingdom truth.
People who forget the shepherd will meet the lion.
People who forget the shepherd will meet the lion.
I believe that's why the nation of America that we live in is going to be held to a higher standard by God.
Is going to suffer and is already suffering judgment from God.
We are suffering judgment from God now.
But God is going to hold us to a higher standard because the Bible says where much is given much is required.
Lions are apex predators and that means they're at the top of the food chain.
God is a shepherd to his people.
Lions are the leaders of their flock.
But when someone rebels against God's leadership they're not letting God guide the flock.
They're not letting God tell them where to go and what to do.
They're trying to put themselves above God and they're not acknowledging him as their shepherd.
So God said those who forget me as their shepherd he said I'm going to be unto them as a lion.
They've rejected my authority over them.
Jesus said he's the good shepherd.
But when Jesus comes again against those who rebel against him in the last days he's not going to come back as the good shepherd.
The Bible says in the book of the Revelation he's going to come back as the lion of the tribe of Judah.
Why is he coming back as a lion?
Because he was not accepted as the shepherd.
He was not believed on as the lamb.
And so they're going to be confronted by God as a lion.
As an apex predator a lion comes against his prey boldly and it overpowers them.
And that means no one can rebel against God and win.
No one can escape from God when his judgment comes.
God will win every conflict against those who fight against him.
As the lion is bold and dominant and as God will come against Israel as a lion because they forgot him.
So the Lord will do the same to every nation that forgets him.
Psalm chapter 9 verse 17.
Psalm chapter 9 verse 17 says the wicked shall be turned into hell in all the nations that forget God.
The wicked shall be turned into hell in all the nations that forget God.
Nations that forget the lamb are going to meet the lion.
As a lamb God will redeem his people from every godless nation.
The Bible tells us that there's going to be people redeemed from every tribe, from every tongue, from every nation around the world.
God's going to redeem them as a lamb out of all of these godless nations but as a lion God is going to condemn every godless nation he redeems his people from.
God will not only be under those who forget him as a lion but also look back in your text he said as a leopard by the way.
Here's another beast.
As a leopard by the way.
Now if you looked at the drawing that Rebecca did this morning for your sermon notes you'll notice that the leopard's in a tree.
How many of y'all saw that leopard in a tree?
I know that some of the adults like the notes and a lot of the kids like the notes.
The leopard was in a tree.
A lion, a leopard hunts and it stalks its prey stealthily, stealthily.
They use camouflage to blend into their surroundings as they lie in wait to ambush their prey.
While they're walking along the path that they're going on.
As a lion a sinner's destruction is certain.
As a leopard a sinner's destruction is unseen.
Repeat that again.
As a lion a sinner's destruction is certain.
As a leopard a sinner's destruction is unseen.
Take your pen now and in your Bible underscore the words by the way.
A leopard where?
By the way.
To the people who forget God he will be to them as a leopard by the way.
In other words they'll be walking down their godless pathway in life and they'll be thinking that everything is going well for them.
That they're getting by as they are.
They're getting by by denying God.
They're getting by by living against his word but they won't see the leopard along the way that they're walking on.
He'll be waiting in the tree above them.
He'll be hiding in the bush ahead of them.
He'll be silently lurking coming up behind them.
And when they least expect it the leopard will catch them on the way.
Here's a kingdom true for you this morning.
As a lion God always wins against a rebel.
As a leopard the rebels defeat is not seen until it's too late.
When walking the rebellious path Eve didn't see the poisonous fruit did she?
Eve didn't see poisonous fruit she saw pretty fruit.
The Bible says that fruit was what?
Pleasant to the eyes.
She couldn't see the danger by the way.
She was walking the way that God told her not to walk but she couldn't see the danger by the way.
It was like a leopard.
It was stealthy.
The sin was pretty to her eyes.
God warned her about the danger but she could not see the danger.
Why?
Because God wants us to walk by faith and not by sight.
God wants us to obey him because we trust that he knows best not because we perceive something to be good or evil.
God warns us about the destructive path we're on but like a leopard the destruction often can't be seen until it's too late.
God said like a leopard, look back in your text, will I observe them?
Might want to underscore the word observe.
In fact underscore those two words I observe.
I observe that is an attribute of God.
God is observant of people who are walking down the wrong pathway.
God is observant of people who are walking down the right pathway.
The fact is God is observant.
God says I observe.
Whatever we're doing God is observing.
There is nothing that's concealed from his sight.
Hebrews chapter four verse thirteen says neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Adam couldn't hide from God.
Jonah couldn't hide from God.
And you and me we can't hide from God.
You can block God out of your mind but you can't block yourself out of God's sight.
Here's a kingdom truth this morning.
You may not be observing God but God is observing you.
To the enemy of God let this truth be a warning.
But to those of us who trust in God let this truth be a great comfort to our hearts.
God sees every tear you shed.
God sees every heartache you suffer.
God sees every trial you face.
Whatever your situation is in God says I observe.
Trust him for he observes you.
You know one of the comforts he gave us is that his eyes on the sparrow.
Do you know what he says when he says his eyes on the sparrow?
He says I observe the sparrow.
And if I observe the sparrow how much more do you think that I am observing you?
Trust him because he observes you and your heartache is not going unnoticed.
God will be unto them as a lion.
God will be unto the rebels as a leopard.
And God says, verse 8, here's another beast, I will meet them as a bear.
I will meet them as a bear.
Now that word meet, that Hebrew word translated meet there, it means to come into contact with.
You know people live their entire lives here on this earth far away from God.
They get as far away from God as they possibly can.
They try to stamp out anything in society that reminds them of God.
That's how come these atheists want to tear down Christmas signs and tear down when God we trust and tear down anything in school.
They want to take away any remembrance of God at all as if we put God out of our sight and we don't talk about him then maybe he's not there.
And maybe we won't have to be held accountable to him.
But the fact is God says I will meet them.
Everyone that pushes God out of their sight, pushes God out of society, out of their family, out of their heart, out of their schools, they may walk at a distance from God.
But one day God says I'm going to meet them.
I'm going to confront them.
I'm going to deal with them face to face.
You can run from God but one day you're going to run into God.
And when you do God says I'm going to meet you as a bear, as a bear.
What kind of bear?
Not a koala bear.
Not a teddy bear.
But look what it says.
That is bereaved of her welts.
Boy you don't want to mess around with a mom of bears cubs.
You don't want to do that because she's naturally going to defend those cubs.
She's going to be enraged.
It's a great offense to a bear for her cubs to be stolen.
In the same way it's a great offense to God for Israel to forsake him as they did to serve a false God, Baal.
And God is naturally going to defend his holy name.
When people deny God as their creator and they say God didn't make us, we made ourselves, we rose up from the miry pit of the sludge, the primordial sludge.
We crawled out of the ocean in our own power.
We developed our own amazing anatomy.
All of this we did ourselves and we do not give any glory to God for that.
When you steal God's glory it's all the same as stealing a cub from a bear.
And God says I'm going to meet them as a bear that's been bereaved of her welts, her cubs.
When God judges this world it's not going to be a pleasant thing to see.
He's going to judge this world with fierce anger and with a righteous passion that must be quenched by his wrath.
He will confront those who reject him as a bear that's bereaved of her cubs.
Look back in your text now and will rend the call of their heart.
Will rend the call of their heart.
The Hebrew word that's translated call here, it's not like I'm going to call someone on the phone.
The word call means an enclosure, an enclosure.
Now what is the enclosure of our heart?
Sir?
Of course the pericardium.
Would you all nurses agree with that?
Alright we got it verified.
We follow the science here at Central Baptist.
We follow the science.
But to put it in modern day terms how about a breast bone?
How about a sternum?
How about some muscles on the chest?
How about some flexible muscles that you can get bumped in your chest and your heart doesn't explode?
God gave us this incredible organ called the heart and he enclosed it within a protective framework like we would put a helmet on our head when we ride a motorcycle.
When you ride a motorcycle I don't ride them.
I did good just riding Brother Jesse's scooter the other day.
But that's the call of the heart.
God says I'm going to rip that open.
I'm going to rip that sternum open.
I'm going to expose that breastplate.
God put muscles and flexible bones on our chest to protect us.
But he says I'm going to rend the call.
I'm going to rend or rip open.
That's what the word rend means.
I'm going to tear open the enclosure of their hearts.
What is God saying here?
God's not being gross.
God's not saying I'm just going to rip them open like I'm flaying a deer or something like that.
It's not what God's saying.
You see the call is the protection of the heart.
It's what the heart is trusting in.
It's the heart's defense.
You see?
In other words, the defense in which the enemies of God trusted is going to be torn away by God.
As the chest that defends the heart would be torn away.
I read this week, you're talking about what we trust in.
It's gotten very popular.
You know, used to if you wanted steroids, you would have to go to a veterinarian or some crooked doctor.
Anybody now can get on the internet and have some anabolic steroids sent in the mailbox to them.
Low T is what they call it.
And so I just send them and boy, they're bodybuilders.
They eat that stuff.
And now we've got men.
Man, when I was going up, we didn't have as many muscular men as we do today.
You all noticed that?
Well, we've got men, 70, 80 year old men walking around.
I read this past week where one of the largest bodybuilders in the world died of a heart attack at the age of 36.
Did you see that, Brother Shepherd?
At first, I thought they may have been talking about you.
I got afraid until I realized he was only 36 and it wasn't you.
But people like that trust in their muscles.
And you see right there, you can't trust in those muscles.
Those muscles can't defend you.
In whatever someone's trusting in someone says, well, we trust in the science.
The science says there is no God.
The science says that we evolved over billions and billions of years and we're going to trust in that.
Let me tell you, the greatest science professor ever was is going to break the eastern sky one day and he's going to expose all those lies.
He's going to rip what they've been trusting in just like you'd rip open the cage of the heart.
Take their defense away.
People, nations who have a strong economy, who have a strong military, people who have trust in whatever their faith and their confidence is in.
When Jesus comes back, he's going to rip it open and they'll be defenseless against the son of God.
Their strength is in the call of their heart.
But like a fierce lion, God will one day tear the call of their heart that they're trusting in and when he does, God says, look back in your text now, and there will I devour them like a lion, back to the lion again.
In other words, they're going to be easily overcome by a greater force than themselves.
Devour.
You know what that means?
When you devour something, it's no more.
It reminds me of when the serpent that Moses threw down devoured Pharaoh's servants.
When the Lord comes back, all of his enemies are going to be devoured.
You won't see them again.
You remember when the Israelites left Egypt and that big Egyptian army came after them?
And suddenly that sea, that red sea, God just closed it up on them and their enemy was no more.
If you saw anything, you saw bodies on the shore.
But you didn't see any soldiers anymore.
They're gone.
They're dead.
The sea devoured them and when Jesus comes back, the sun's going to devour them.
God says, look back in your text, the wild beast shall tear them.
The wild beast shall tear them.
Now when we're talking about the wild beast here, notice it's singular, not plural.
He's not talking about the lion, the leopard, the bear bereaved of her cubs.
Or he would have said the wild beasts.
But the wild beast shall tear them.
The wild beast speaks of the instrument of God's judgment.
In 1 Kings, there was an old prophet.
Maybe you'll remember the story.
And he talked a younger prophet into doing something that God told him not to do.
And when the younger prophet disobeyed the Lord, God sent a wild beast to kill that prophet.
In 1 Kings 13, verse 26, the Bible says, "And when the prophet that brought him back from the way he heard thereof, he said, 'It is the man of God who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord.
Therefore, the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion which hath torn him and slain him according to the word of the Lord which he has spake unto him.'"
God did the slaying, but he used the lion as the instrument of his judgment that day.
The wild beast, therefore, here in the book of Hosea, is the instrument of God's judgment.
And in God's instruments of judgment, they can be many things.
They can be an enemy nation.
They can be a pestilence like COVID or like polio or whatever else may spread.
They can be whatever God chooses.
The main thing to understand is this.
God is doing the devouring, but the beast is the one doing the tearing.
God is the one slaying, but the beast is the one that's doing the attacking.
A rebel may die at the hand of another rebel, but the rebel killing him is the instrument of God's judgment.
You see how that works?
A nation may fall to another enemy nation, but the enemy nation that wins the battle is the instrument of God's judgment against that other nation.
Wise people.
Wise people will learn to see their defeats coming from the hand of God rather than the hand of their enemies.
Wise people will learn to see their defeats coming from the hand of God rather than the hand of their enemies.
God said, "The wild beast shall tear them."
Look at our nation today.
Inflation is not the problem.
Inflation is a problem, but inflation is not the problem.
Politicians are not the problem.
Immigration is not the problem.
Germ warfare is not the problem.
The problem is our nation has forgotten God, and these are the wild beasts that God has sent into our land, and they're tearing our country apart.
We'll close with this.
Wild beasts make the tears, but God makes the wild beasts.
Wild beasts make the tears, but God makes the wild beasts.
You want to be delivered from the wild beast?
You want to not meet the lion?
You want to not get got by the leopard or the bear bereaved of her cubs?
Remember your God before it's too late.
Father, we thank You for Your precious Word.
I thank You, Father, for those who came today, for those who tuned in online.
I thank You, Father, Lord, that Your Word is alive and fresh and applicable to our lives today, both individually, Father, and nationally, Lord.
I pray that the fear of God will be in our hearts, Lord, that we'll reverence the Lord our God, that we'll seek to obey Your Word, and, Father, Lord, that as a nation I pray for revival in our land.
And I pray, Father, that we won't look, dear Lord, to a man to deliver us, that we won't look to a political party to deliver us, that we won't trust, Father, in our economy or in our military or in anything else that we've trusted in over the years or in our educational system, Lord, that we will trust the name of the Lord our God, and that we will begin to teach our children again, Lord, where they came from, who they should listen to, what truth, Lord, God, should we listen to, Lord, and to point them back to Your Word, Father.
The Word of God we ask it in Jesus' precious name, that we won't forget, Lord, our Shepherd, in Jesus' precious name, amen.
