Episode Transcript
Hosea chapter 8, God willing will be expounding verses 8 and 9.
The title of the message this morning is "Vessals Without Value."
Vessels without value.
In verse 7 last week in the book of Hosea chapter 8, Israel had sown the wind, if you'll
remember, and they were going to reap the whirlwind.
They sowed the wind when they should have been sowing their obedience to the Word of
God.
So now God said Israel is going to reap the whirlwind.
In other words, their nation, like a whirlwind coming through, their nation was going to
be destroyed.
Their nation would not yield the good harvest of blessing that they otherwise would have
had they obeyed God's Word.
If it did yield a good harvest, God said strangers shall swallow it up.
That was in verse 7.
"Strangers shall swallowed up," meaning people from other nations would devour what they had labored to produce for themselves.
Since God said this would happen
futuristically, strangers shall swallow them up.
Hosea now says prophetically in verse 8, if you'll look there with me, "Israel is swallowed up."
So,
Interestingly, this is something that's going to happen in the future.
But when something is uttered in the future, a lot of times God speaks as if it's already
in the present or if it's even happened already in the past.
Because of the certainty that is going to happen in the future, then we speak about
it as if it's happening in the present.
The Holy Spirit speaks of Israel through Hosea as if they have already been swallowed up.
Seeing Israel's condition in the future after it has been attacked by Assyria, Hosea said
Israel is swallowed up.
They have been eaten up and swallowed down.
Their priesthood is gone.
Their national sovereignty is gone.
Their strength as a nation is gone.
Their wealth is gone.
Their defense is gone.
It's all been swallowed down by their enemies on account of their sins.
Here's a kingdom truth for you this morning.
Sin never adds anything of value to your life.
It only burns what value you have at a quicker rate.
That's all it does.
For a while the prodigal son thought that sin was giving him the good life.
When sin was actually consuming what he had an alarming rate.
He leaves, he has a bunch of money in his pocket, things seem to be going well.
He's living it up with his so-called friends.
And before he knows it, it's all gone.
He was consuming what he had.
Sin gladly spent what he had, but it never contributed to what he had.
Thus the Scripture said he wasted his substance with riotous living.
Luke chapter 15 verse 13 and 14 says, "And not many days after the younger son gathered
all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with
riotous living, and when he had spent all, there was a mighty famine in that land and
he began to be and want."
What did sin do?
It caused him to spend all and acquire nothing.
That's what sin does.
Last week, Senator Dianne Feinstein passed away.
Against the word of God, Senator Feinstein fought for the rights of mothers to be able
to kill their unborn children in their wombs.
Against the word of God, Senator Feinstein fought for the right of two men and two women
to marry each other.
Against the word of God, Senator Feinstein rejected President Trump's recognition of
Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
Senator Feinstein was wealthy in the things of this world, but she was poor in the things
of God.
All indications show that Ms. Feinstein was an unbeliever that was hostile to the Word
of God.
If that's the case, then the moment Senator Feinstein died, there was no Capitol Police
to protect her.
She had no political pull to exempt herself from God's judgment and deliver herself from
hell.
Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, no one could apply political pressure and persuade God
to do otherwise.
God is no respecter of persons.
The American media can no longer sway the stories in her favor.
The Bible says, once again, God is no respecter of persons.
Fighting for the right to trample over the word of God, Senator Feinstein sowed the wind,
and now she'll reap the whirlwind, because everything she had is gone.
While she was living on this earth, she had plenty, but now it's swallowed up.
All the sinful things she stood for, which were applauded by this wicked world, added
nothing of value to her life. What does she have now? You live for the Lord. You don't
waste your substance. You lay it up. Jesus said you lay up treasures in heaven. But what
she did, there's no value to her now. She wasted her substance with righteous living.
adds no value to your life. Like the prodigal son, God blessed Israel with great spiritual
and carnal blessings as well, but they wasted their substance with righteous living. Look
back in your text, "Now," God said, "are they become among the nations as a vessel
wherein is no value." Now, throughout the Bible, if you'll notice, if you haven't noticed
just yet you'll notice now that we pointed out.
But throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, people are likened to vessels.
What is a vessel?
We think of a vessel, we think, well it's, I don't know, a lot of times we think of pottery
and things like that and they are vessels.
But a vessel, especially in this Hebrew word here, translated vessel, it means an apparatus.
An apparatus.
An apparatus is anything that's made.
You see if you make something, whatever is made is made for a reason.
It's made for a purpose, right?
And that's an apparatus.
This Hebrew word translated apparatus here, let me tell you how it's also translated in
the Bible.
is translated as instrument, furniture, artillery, weapons, jewels, stuff.
Well, we can understand stuff, can't we, Brother Doug? Stuff. Thing.
That's how it's also translated in the Bible. It's an apparatus.
Things that are made.
Why does God liken people to vessels?
Because people are apparatuses.
You are an apparatus.
We are things that are made.
When you make something, you make it for a specific purpose.
An airplane is made to fly.
It's a flying apparatus.
A truck, which Gabriel is here, he's probably watching right now, if not he'll watch soon,
but a truck is made to haul a load. It's a load-bearing apparatus.
A person is made to serve the Most High God to the praise of His glory.
You are a glorifying, serving apparatus.
Now, if a plane won't get off the ground,
then it's a vessel we're in is no value.
If a truck won't haul a load,
it is a vessel we're in is no value.
If a person won't serve and glorify his creator,
he is a vessel of no value.
in the same way if a nation won't serve their creator and glorify Him, that nation is a vessel of no value.
And that's what Israel had become.
Like a plane that despises its motor and its wings.
They had despised their unique calling in the ministry as a repository of God's truth,
as being witnesses of God to the world.
They despised it.
Again, like a plane would despise its motor and its wings.
Like a truck would despise its trailer and its heavy-duty axles.
Instead of being the salt and light of God among the nations,
God said, "Now are they become among the nations as a vessel we're in."
There's no value.
Like a plane at the airport that won't get off the ground.
See what we must understand this morning, how this applies to us today.
Everything that's made is made for a purpose.
You were made for a purpose individually.
The church of Jesus Christ is a vessel as well.
The church is an apparatus. We are something that is made.
Something God made.
In Matthew chapter 16 verse 18, Jesus said, "I will build my church."
I'll build it.
First Corinthians chapter 3 verse 9 says, "For we are labors together with God, ye are
God's husbandry, ye are God's building."
It's something God made.
So we're made for a purpose.
We're an apparatus.
The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms what kind of building we are.
We're built as the temple of God, like the temple in Israel.
The church is an apparatus that God made to be filled with His presence, to work His work,
and to teach His truth.
When Israel quit doing what they were designed to do, they were still a vessel that God made
for that purpose. But since they were not fulfilling that purpose, they were a vessel
of no value. And listen, no matter how popular a church becomes, no matter how influential
or wealthy or large of a church that it becomes, a church that does not do the work of God
and teach the truth of God no longer has the presence of God.
It can have a global broadcast.
It can have letters coming in left and right.
It can have the pews packed.
It can have all the latest, greatest things going on in that church as far as the world
goes.
But if you're not doing the work of God and you're not teaching the truth of God, that
church does not have the presence of God.
God's not there.
In Matthew 23, 38, Jesus told the Jews who were not holding and teaching God's truth
and who were not doing God's work.
In fact, they crucified the work of God.
They nailed him to a cross.
And Jesus told those Jews, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."
That means God's not in there anymore.
You're not doing his work.
You're not teaching his truth.
Your house does not have his presence.
It's empty.
Yes, it still says church on the sign outside.
Yes, it still belongs to the same denomination.
They're still getting their quarterlies to teach Sunday school.
They're still on the rolls with the domination.
Yes, it is still a church, but it's a vacant church.
It's full of people and it's empty of God.
That's the way a lot of churches are right now.
Full of people and empty of God.
It's their vessels without value.
What good is a church if you can attend church your whole life and never hear the truth that
gives you everlasting life?
You know, there's a lot of people in churches like that today.
I hear from them all the time.
Just like the other day when I was talking to this young woman from Mississippi, she's
in a Baptist church, same denomination name that's on our side, our sign outside.
Ours says Baptist and I, by the way, I don't care what my name is.
All right.
This has been called a Baptist church for years.
I don't care.
You can take it off, won't bother me a bit.
A Bible church sounds good.
That sounds pretty good.
I don't care.
I don't mind being called a Baptist.
That's fine.
But what I'm saying is it has the same name on the sign at her church that ours does here.
And when I shared with her the gospel, she said, "That just seems too simple."
Just seems too simple. Not sure about that.
Going faithfully to church.
But the church she's in is not teaching her the truth she needs to hear.
So what good is a church like that?
If you can go there your entire life and not know how to have everlasting life.
2 Corinthians 4, verse 6 through 7 says,
"For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
The church is an earthen vessel.
It's composed of people who are made of clay, the same soil that Adam was made from the
dust of the earth.
That's us.
And we have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God that's come to us in the
face of Jesus Christ.
That is the treasure of the church that we hold in these earthen vessels.
I have that knowledge in my heart.
It resides inside this earthen vessel.
And I love to get up here and when people come, I like to get in that classroom next
door.
We get here in front of the people and I like to share that treasure with others so that
they can have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
in Him, in them.
The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is the treasure
of the church.
But if a church is without this treasure, then it is a vessel wherein is no value.
You see?
The people of Israel were empty vessels among the nations.
They were earthen vessels without heavenly treasure.
Hey, if Israel is here worshipping the same junk, the same false gods that the nations
around them are worshipping, what good are they to the other nations? No good. That's
why God said among the nations, they're a vessel without value. We're in as no value.
No good at all. Their vessel should have been shining the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God. But like the bridesmaids in the New Testament that had no oil in their
lamps, they were vessels with no light inside them.
What do you do with an apparatus that doesn't work?
What do you do with an apparatus that just won't work?
The plane won't get off the ground.
No matter what you do, it just won't get off the ground.
You take it to the scrapyard and you crush it.
tried fixing Israel, Israel didn't want to be fixed. You take it to the scrapyard and
crush it. You break the vessel. Speaking of the people of Moab in Jeremiah chapter 48
verse 38, God said, "There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab.
And in the streets thereof, for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure."
That's what you do.
You break the vessel, saith the Lord.
When Jesus comes, every vessel that rejects God's word and does not hold the glorious
light of this gospel that we preach will be broken as a vessel wherein is no value.
churches that are endorsed by the world, that are endorsed by the people, churches with
big name pastors that aren't preaching the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ when Jesus
comes again, they will be broken as the worthless vessels they are, just like God tore down
the empty temple after its priest rejected Jesus.
Just told them there won't be one stone left on another of this temple right here.
God's not in it.
And in 70 A.D., after Jesus had risen from the dead, God tore it down.
The Romans came in and tore it down just like Jesus said.
Still not there, by the way.
You can go to Israel today.
You can look all over for it.
Temple's gone.
You know what is there?
The Wailing Wall.
You know what is there?
On the Temple Mount?
A mosque, but no temple because the temple became a worthless vessel.
Now the temple of God is the church.
Verse 9, "For they are gone up to Assyria."
God said, "Ishil is a worthless vessel."
Why?
Because they've gone up to Assyria.
They went to Assyria rather than going to God.
You see, Israel wanted to please Assyria and depend on them rather than please the Lord
and depend on him.
Israel was like a church today that wants to please the world and depend on them rather
than pleasing God and depending on him.
They want to make the world happy.
They want the people to be pleased with what they're doing.
They want them to keep coming.
They want their applause.
The United States is full of churches like that.
Why are they an empty worthless vessel?
Because they have gone up to Assyria.
Why are many churches worthless vessels today?
Because they have gone up to Assyria.
Because instead of putting their ears to the Word of God and listening to what He desires
of them, they put their ears to the world to see what the world desires in a church
and they conform accordingly.
They've gone up to Assyria.
Look back in your text, "Like a wild ass alone by himself."
That's how they went up to Assyria.
They went up to Assyria like a wild ass.
the Word alone, put a little space there, underscore by Himself. Churches today, they're
like a wild ass that can't be tamed by the Word of its Master. They buck and bray like
an ass. "Oh, hey, anyone do better than that?" I don't know. That's pretty good. But that's
That's what they do with the word of God.
Just kick and buck and they pray.
They don't recognize their owner.
They don't recognize their rightful home in the kingdom.
They just run off like a wild ass bucking and braying off into the wilderness.
They lead the kingdom of God and they go out alone without God to dwell in the world.
They tell you this morning, some churches should change their name on their signs.
They should.
They should change their name to Wild Ass Methodist Church.
They should.
I'm not kidding.
Buck and Bray Baptist Church.
Church on the go up to Assyria.
And vessel without value community church.
That's what they ought to put on there.
What good is a church if it doesn't contain the treasure that the impoverished sons of
Adam so desperately need?
It's no good at all.
Again, look at those words by himself.
Look at the words alone.
The Calvinists want us to believe that God made some people sinners.
I think God made the Egyptian sinners.
God made Pharaoh a sinner.
For this cause have I raised thee up so I could destroy you.
They quote Romans that God makes them sinners, that God wanted Adam to send the Garden of Eden,
that God wants people to not believe the gospel so he can be glorified by saving some
and be glorified by condemning the others.
That's what they say.
Yes, God raised Pharaoh up.
No doubt about it.
But what he did when he raised him up, he took a man that was a sinner down here.
who was a wild ass, who wasn't going to listen to God's Word and he knew it.
And he took the sinner down here and he raised him up and put him on the throne up here.
And through that he gained his glory.
God did not take an innocent man and make him a sinful person for his glory.
How did Israel go up into the wilderness?
Alone by himself.
want us to believe that God created some people to go to hell. That's a lie.
Don't ever blame God for the creature's sin. When Israel departed from God, he did it how?
By himself. Say it with me. How did Israel go? Against God's word? By himself. God had
no part of it in it. When Lucifer departed from God, he did it by himself. God had no
part in it. When Adam departed from God, he did it by himself. God had no part in it.
And when Jesus went to the cross and returned sinners back to God, he did it by himself
alone. We had no part in it. With that, we'll go ahead and close this morning.
willing to take back up in the next verse, next Lord's Day.
Boy, I'm glad I have a Bible to set the record straight.
Father, thank you for your precious word.
Thank you, Father, that you make things so clear and you're so precise with your words.
Israel did apostatize from the faith.
But with no help from you, with no encouragement from you, they did it by themselves.
They did it, as you said, alone.
Even so, when we turn into the New Testament, we see that Jesus by himself purged our sins
the cross and sat down at the right hand of God.
He did it alone by himself.
I thank you, Lord, that if we had no part in what he did by himself, you have no part
in what we do by ourselves against your word.
Thank you, Father.
In Jesus' precious name, and I pray you'll bless the food that we're about to receive
next door in the fellowship we're about to have.
Help us to have a wonderful time, Lord, eating and fellowshiping together in Jesus' wonderful
