Verse by verse teaching - Hosea 9:7 "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World"

Turn to the book of Hosea chapter 9. Hosea chapter 9. God willing we'll be expounding verse 7. If you're new here this morning we welcome you and we take the book of the Bible and we begin the first chapter, first verse, and we teach verse by verse all the way through that book. And our belief is that you should leave those doors knowing the Bible a little bit better than when you walked in each Sunday. So the tile of the message this morning is it's a mad, mad, mad world. That's the tile of this message. In this morning's verse Hosea prophesies of the realization that unbelievers will one day come to when the Lord comes again. Speaking to Israel Hosea says if you look in verse 7, the days of visitation are come. The days of visitation are come. Let's pray. Father we thank you so much for your precious word. Thank you for the wonderful time and Sunday school we had this morning. Those precious people. Thank you for those who are here who set aside their time Lord today to honor you and to hear Father God what your word has to tell them. I pray Lord that people will be edified. You'll be glorified and that you'll teach your word and open our eyes of understanding to it. We ask it in Jesus' wonderful name. Amen. The days of visitation are come. Speaking of idolaters, the prophet Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 10 15, they are vanity and the work of errors in the time of their visitation they shall perish. So we're talking about the days of that visitation. We're not talking about someone coming over and paying you a social visit. Visitation has the idea of the offender perishing. Which by the way should remind us of when Jesus said that God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish. But you have eternal life. Why? Because there's a day of visitation on its way for us. But right now he's talking about the day of visitation for the nation of Israel. And as he talks to Israel about the day of their visitation, it is a foreshadowing the day of our visitation, the visitation of the world. It's not talking about a social visit. It's talking about God paying them a visit to hold them accountable for their sins. Hosea chapter nine verse nine, if you just look ahead a couple of verses. We're not expounding that this morning, but just to give you a sneak peek. Hosea nine nine says they have deeply corrupted themselves as in the day of Gibeah. Therefore he will remember their iniquity. He will visit their sins. This is talking about God coming to visit the sins of Israel and the Hebrew word that's translated visit here. It means to visit in an official capacity. Suppose Brother Shepherd had a brother in law that was known to engage in unlawful activities. And if Brother Shepherd being a law enforcement officer, if he were to go pay his brother in law a visit, that brother in law may ask him now, is this a social visit? Are you here in an official capacity? Right? And so the Hebrew word translated visit here, it means to be official. In fact, sometimes in the Old Testament, this word is translated officers or office in the Bible. Listen to how it's used in Ezekiel chapter nine verse one. Ezekiel the prophet says, he cried also in mine ears with a loud voice saying, calls them that have charge over the city to draw near every, I'm sorry, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. So whoever has charge of the city, let those people in charge come near with a destroying weapon in their hand. The word charge here is the same Hebrew word translated visitation in Hosea nine seven this morning. So when we think of visitation here, we must understand that it's not talking about God paying a visit to Israel socially, it's talking about him visiting Israel in his official capacity as the sovereign, righteous judge of all the earth. He's in charge of it all. When God comes to visit Israel in his official capacity here in Hosea, and when God comes to visit this world at the end of the at the end of the age, he's going to come in charge of the city with his destroying weapon in his hand. Here's a kingdom truth for you this morning. As sovereign judge of the earth, God is righteously obligated to visit our sins in his official capacity. Because God's eternal, we need to understand there's no statute of limitations on God's visitation on sin. And in the state of Texas, if you and in most every state, I'm sure every state has a statute of limitations, but I'm intimately aware with Texas having been a peace officer here for so many years back in the day. But in the state of Texas, if you go so long after committing a crime without getting caught, certain crimes anyway, you're good. They can't prosecute you. Just hold out, keep your mouth closed. Don't get caught. Especially things like theft. And I enforce a lot of theft in my time in law enforcement. And I had a case once where I had indisputable proof that a truck driver, well, they're the worst kind too. Gabriel, they're the worst kind. By the way, I sent you a picture, brother, of Gabriel watching Sunday School in his big rig this morning. It's a precious picture. I sent it to the tech team and the Rick Maybank. If you're able to put that up on the screen a little later without interrupting this, just give me a thumbs up. Can you do it? Okay, just give me a thumbs up when you're ready, and I'll let everyone see. It's absolutely precious to me. Indisputable proof that a truck driver had stolen a large semi-trailer down in South Texas from a trucking company. I had records that placed him at the scene of the crime when the crime was committed. I found the trailer in his backyard. You want to get better than that? I found him inside the trailer. He had furniture in there. He was loading and unloading. Indisputable proof. But because he had stolen the trailer several years earlier by the time I found it, I did get it back. I did take it away from him, but they didn't prosecute him because of the statute of limitations. But God's eternal. He has no statute of limitations. He's not affected by time and space and matter. When Jesus comes again, he's going to prosecute sins that were committed all the way back to the Garden of Eden. He's going to prosecute sins that were committed in heaven before the devil ever left heaven and came down to earth. He's going to prosecute sins all the way back to the very beginning. God is righteously bound to visit every sin in his official capacity of judge of all the earth. So don't think just because you did something long ago. We do that a lot of times, don't we? Someone will bring something up. We'll go, "Well, that was a long time ago. " Like somehow that makes it okay. Well, in our mind, that may make it okay. But God's going to visit every sin and time's just not an issue with him. Not an issue at all. Hosea told Israel, look back in your text, "The days of recompense are come. " So there's a days of visitation and there's days of recompense. And this isn't one plus the other. It's one that is the other. Kind of like faith and works. It's not faith plus works. It's faith that works. And the days of visitation are days of recompense. God's going to come pay a visit to pay you back. That's basically what he's saying here. It's not just the days of visitation. These are the days of recompense. Visitation speaks of God coming to hold Israel accountable for their sins. Recompense speaks of God paying Israel back for the crimes they've committed. So visitation, we got it? This is precious. This man is stuck in a snowstorm in a truck in Idaho. He's not all right. Stuck in a snowstorm in Idaho. He can't move. He can't even move until the snow is cleared off the road because he has such a heavy load according to his permits. And there he is this morning stuck in the snow, but it didn't keep him out of Sunday school this morning. That's me teaching Sunday school this morning. Him watching Gabriel. We love you. That means so much to me. Thank you for sharing that photo. It was encouragement to me and I'm sure it was encouragement to them as well. So visitation is standing before the judge. Recompense is paying for the damage. Visitation is standing before the judge. The judge convicts you. The judge sentences you. And now you have to pay for the damages. Whether through suffering, corporal punishment, fine, whatever. That's the idea it's speaking of here. Something to balance the scales for the crime that was done. Before God closes the final chapter on this present world, we have to understand that all of the books have to be balanced. They have to be balanced. They have to be squared up. Justice has to be served. Not a single sin, not even a little one committed by a child is going to be swept under the rug for all eternity. Every penalty for every sin must be paid in full, leaving a zero balance on every book in God's court for every person. That's justice. The beautiful thing about the gospel is for those of us who trust in Christ, there's already been a day of visitation. For those of us who trusted Christ, there's already been a day of recompense. There's already been payback. Sometimes we pull a joke on someone and go, I pay you back. There's already been payback. When Jesus went to the cross, God visited the sins of mankind. Jesus stood before the judge of all the earth as you. And you that day in Christ were condemned and sentenced. And Jesus paid back the court for the damages you've done. He died in your place. It was a capital penalty death. And that's as high as any laws in our government can go is death. And Jesus died for every one of us and paid for the damages, recompense and visitation right there on the cross. Jesus stood before the judge for my sins. He paid the damages. But those who refuse to accept that glorious truth that Jesus stood before God in their place will one day be called to stand before God themselves. They'll have to give an answer themselves. They'll have to stand before the judge, be sentenced, be condemned and make full restitution for the damages. But they can't. You say, well, they can die. You see, the thing about Jesus is he died as a non guilty party. The thing about us is how many of you all have ever tore up a credit card before? Yeah. Well, you know why people use a terror credit cards? They're like, I'm not letting that happen to me again. I learned when I was young the trick behind the credit cards. You get this big balance here and you go, oh, man, that's a lot. Brother Doug, they're really kind to people. They really care about people. They say, well, you know what? All you have to do is pay the minimum balance due today. Wow. By the way, we have 23 percent interest. We just keep it in the background. And so you make the minimum balance and you keep charging that card and using that card next thing and it grows into a monster that you can't keep up with. The minimum balance keeps getting higher and higher and higher. And you never get the card paid off. You never square it away. Your debts never square it away. The people who die in their sins, you realize they die as sinners. The people who died thousands of years ago, they're in hell today. Do you realize they're still sinners today? They still don't trust in God today. They're still unreconciled to God today. And you know what that means? Every day for all eternity, there'll be a sinner forever charging up the debt that can never be paid. That's why the lake of fire is eternal. They're caught in this judicial trap and there's nothing that can zero the books for them. But on the day of visitation, when God visited Jesus on our behalf, he said it's finished. And what he was saying was, balance is paid for. And when he went to the tomb and came out as a new creature, so to speak, he came out alive. The credit card was shredded. It's done. The Bible says, having been raised from the dead, the apostle Paul said, death has no more dominion over him. And that he died, he died in the sin once and now that he lives, he lives unto God. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed in the sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's why the apostle John said that those who believe in him, they can't sin. Because his seed remains in him and abides in him. I can't sin, not in Christ. Oh, I'm a sinner in Richard. But in Jesus, the debts paid, the card is shredded, and I'm sitting together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But apart from that great substitution that Jesus gave us, having stood before the judge in our place, it's all on us. You can't pay for it, and you'll be forever indebted to the court for crimes you cannot pay, and you cannot quit doing. People who do this, you know why they reject God? You know why they reject Christ? They want to sin without being held accountable for it. That's why they reject the notion of God. They don't like the idea of God, so they say, "Well, we'll invent our own God, and we'll just push God out of our mind, and we'll say that there is no God, because we don't want to be held accountable for their sin. " They hate the idea they're going to have to answer to God for the actions one day. They say, "Well, we just created ourselves. That way we don't have anybody to answer to. We just created ourselves, just evolved. " Because they hate the idea of God, they ridicule the prophets of God's Word today, the preachers. We're the prophets of God's Word today. They claim that we're fear mongers, and they claim the message we preach is a lie. It's fairy tales. And just as Israel claimed back then about the prophet Hosea, nevertheless, Hosea said, look back in your text, "Israel shall know it. " I said at the introduction of this message, there's going to be a great awakening one day, a greater revelation one day. Israel shall know it. Israel may be denying that God's Word is true, Hosea said, but one day they're going to know it is. They may not believe that Jesus is the Christ today, but one day Israel shall know. They may mock the prophet Hosea's message now, but one day Israel shall know that what he warned them about was true. Church, the world is having a really good laugh at us right now. The world mocks us. They say we're ignorant. They accuse us of being hateful and judgmental, and they refuse to acknowledge the truth of their Creator and the Savior he sent. But one day the Bible is telling us here, they shall know it. Romans chapter 14 verses 11 through 12 says, "For it is written, 'As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me. '" Oh, that's going to be nice one day. "And every tongue shall confess to God. " That is, every tongue is going to bow and acknowledge God as the judge and creator of all the earth. "So then," he says, "every one of us shall give account of himself to God. " "One day every atheist that denies the truth of God shall know it. " They'll know the truth of God. "One day every person that mocked God's word shall confess that it's true. " What did Hosea say they shall know? If you'll notice after the word they shall know it, the phrase they shall know it, you'll see a colon, a full colon in your text. Where's my pointer? Grammar is a beautiful thing. There we go. See that full colon, the two dots? That's a colon. There's a comma at the bottom, a semicolon. But a full colon, "Israel shall know it. " Now we're going to introduce what Israel's going to know. What are they going to know? They're going to know, number one, the prophet is a fool. The prophet is a fool. That's what they're going to know when the day of visitation comes. They're going to know the prophet's a fool. Every godless society has somebody that they view as their authority on life and death. A lot of people, including Oprah Winfrey, they had Eckhart Tolle as their guru on life and death. Tolle, Oprah and Oprah taught the people that we're all part of God. The earth, the creation just burps up different life forms. So when we die, we just come up with a different life form. It's just always just continuing and everything's okay. One day they're going to know, the godless people of the United States are going to know that their prophet is a fool. The godless people of the United States no doubt view the scientist as their prophet, don't they? The Christian says, "Follow Jesus. " They say, "Follow the science. " I mean, it's very clear that's their prophet. They undoubtedly view the word of the scientist to be far superior to the word of Christ, to the words of the Old Testament and New Testament prophets. The Muslims, whom the godless world supports. You ever wonder why the people who don't believe in God believe in supporting the people who don't believe in what they believe and what they support? You ever wonder why homosexuals support Muslims who would cut their heads off? They're all on the same team. That's why. They all have the same, they're all of their father of the devil in the works of their father they will do. So the Muslims whom the godless world supports, they say, "Follow Muhammad. " That's their prophet. The communists say, "Follow the emperor. Follow the president. Follow the supreme leader. " If you're in North Korea. Israel, like many religious Americans, they had a habit of following whoever told them what they wanted to hear. That's basically what we do here in America. Whoever tells us what we want to hear, that's who we're going to follow. Whether it's the scientist, the dictator, or the religious guru that departs from God's word, who's whoever words you follow. That's your prophet. That's your prophet. And Hosea said, "Israel shall come to know that the false prophet they listen to is a fool. " When the blind, following the blind, finally fall into the ditch together, they're going to know that they were following a fool. This world is finally going to wake up one day. Every god-denying, Christ-rejecting scoffer that you know that's ever lived will soon face a sobering day when they wake up in hell and realize they've mocked the truth and they followed a fool. That's sobering, isn't it? They will realize that. Look back in your text. Not only is the prophet a fool, but look, the spiritual man is mad. Now, when we're talking about mad, we're not talking about angry. We're talking about crazy, madness. Not the godly man, but the spiritual man is mad. Not the man filled with the Holy Spirit, but the spiritual man. See, there's a difference. I believe this is speaking of men who prophesied under the influence of unclean spirits. They prophesied under the influence of devils, whom Israel followed, and unfortunately whom the world is following today. Prophesying of this very thing, Zechariah 13, verse 2. Listen to this. "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered, and I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. " You see how that goes together? The prophet is a fool. Oops, sorry. Already gone to another one. The prophet's a fool. The spiritual man's mad. So what it is, the prophet has an unclean spirit, and he's prophesying through that unclean spirit. And God's saying here in Zechariah, giving us some insight to what Hosea means, that he's going to cause the prophets and the unclean spirit, by which they prophesied to pass out of the land. That makes sense? They mock and persecute us now, but one day God will cause the prophets and the unclean spirits to pass out of the land, and those who follow them will know that they all prophesied lies. Hosea said they'll know that they are mad. They're out of their minds. I watched a video this past week. How many of you all have heard of Ken Ham? Ken Ham. Christian. He's a scientist who's a Christian. He's a fine man. How many of you all have heard of Bill Nye the Science Guy? Isn't there some more Christians in here heard of the atheist scientist Bill Nye than they have the Christian scientist Ken Ham? But that's the world. The world doesn't want to support Brother Ham. In this video I was watching, I guess they were about to go into a debate or something. I don't know. I know they debated before. But Ken Ham and Bill Nye were walking together. They were talking to one another when a young girl came up to Ken Ham and asked him how God created the world. Ken Ham, such a sweet man, he took his time to answer the little girl's questions as he's still walking, because he had somewhere to go and she followed him. He lovingly explained to her that God created all things by his word. Bill Nye tried to interrupt and Ken kept talking to her. Finally, Bill Nye looked at that little girl and he says, "People have been evolving for millions of years. " He let that little girl know there is no God. That little girl, as Bill Nye started talking to her, you could see Ken Ham. He starts putting his armor on that little girl. You could see the protective, fatherly Christian nature in that man. He says, "We've been evolving for millions of years. " He let her know there was no God. That little girl looked up at him and she pointed to Ken Ham. She says, "I believe like him. " She says, "I believe in God. " He says, "Well, when you grow up and you go to college, think on your own. " He says, "Our scientists have gone to college and all this. " Ken Ham put his arm on that girl. He says, "We have scientists who went to college too and we believe in God. " He says, "In fact, this man believes in God too. He just won't acknowledge it. " That's what he told that little girl. He was precious to watch. Nobody creates people. He's telling that little girl, "We just evolved on our own. " It just popped right up. Yesterday, most of you all know I was in the hospital yesterday with AFib and didn't supposed to be here this morning preaching. It was supposed to be in the hospital, but thank God the Lord put it back in a rhythm and I got out. But something as simple as the electrical currents in my body, and I had absolutely no control over them. Something so complex that if they're not just right, the top and the bottom of the heart won't be together in pomp as it should. It has to be so precise. As I laid there and as I began pondering on it, I thought again, "How can anyone deny the creation of God? " We're so intricate. And God programmed us and I have no control over those signals. A man who can't control the signals from his brain to his heart, somehow it just popped right up and controlled everything. You know what that is? That's madness. It's madness. The prophet is a fool. The Bible says, "The fool said in his heart there is no God. " The spiritual man is mad. You listen to these climate people, my goodness, they're going crazy. Folks, it's madness. One day the people will realize their prophet is mad. When the atheist denied God and told that little girl she evolved, he said, "No, he knows God too. " But he hasn't confessed it yet. But one day every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess to him. And that man who denies God to that little girl is going to confess God before everybody in the end. One day people will know that the preachers who told them that Jesus' death and resurrection was the only way to God that they were not mad. They're going to know that the preachers who told them that Jesus' death is insufficient and they have to work and do their work to get to heaven too, they're going to know they were mad. It's madness. The Bible says if we could have been saved by following the commandments, then Jesus died in vain. Yet the world is full of preachers who are telling people they had to follow the commandments to go to heaven. It's madness. And those who speak these things do not speak by the Spirit of God. They are spiritual men who profess to speak by God's Spirit, but they're speaking really by their own spirit. And under the influence of unclean spirits. Ezekiel 13. 3. "Thus saith the Lord, Woe unto the vile prophets. " Now see, that's the prophet that's a fool here in Hosea. He's a vile prophet. Woe unto the vile prophets that follow their own spirit, not God's spirit. Their own spirit. They preach what they invent in their minds. Things which they have not seen. In other words, God hadn't rebuilt it to them. That came from their own wicked imagination. Why do people follow madness? Hosea said they follow it. Look back in your text. For the multitude of thine iniquity. That's why you follow madness. That's why you follow a fool. Because of your many sins. Here's a kingdom truth. Sin distorts judgment. Sin distorts judgment. Alcohol physically distorts judgment. That's why people in Tosca, they all call us. That's why they have wrecks. Spiritually, mentally, sin distorts judgment. Here's what we do. We rationalize the sin we want to do to make us feel good about it. God accepts me like I am. We rationalize it. We glamorize the sin we want to do to make us feel proud of it. Gay pride. We institutionalize the sin we want to commit to make us feel informed about it. We've gone to college. You see how that works? It's absolutely amazing. We rationalize. We glamorize. We institutionalize. And you see that in the world today. We're informed. I've gone to college. Follow the science. The multitude of our iniquities has caused us to rationalize, glamorize, and institutionalize madness. We follow madness because of our sins. Look back in the text. And the great hatred. This is the motive behind all of it. People who deny God hate God. You notice that? People who say they don't believe God, they spend the majority of their time trying to disprove his existence. Trying to criticize those who do believe. And if you don't think he's real, why are you so eat up with all of it? People hate Christians. Why? Because they hate God. That's the only reason. The Gospel of John, chapter 7, 7, Jesus said, "The world cannot hate you, but it hates, but me it hates," he says, "because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil. " Hear what Jesus is saying? The world's not really hating you. They're not really mad at you. They're mad at me. Why are they mad at me? Because I'm telling them they're wrong. Because I have a Bible. I've given a law to man that tells them you're wrong. Why did John the Badgers get his head cut off? He told the king he was wrong. Why did Jesus get nailed to a cross? He told the Pharisees and the Sadducees that they were wrong. He said, "You'll know the truth. The truth will make you free. " Why are you talking about it? We've never been in bondage to anybody. So if you're in bondage to sin, you are. God forbid we be called sinners. They hate it. People hate God telling them what to do. People hate God telling them they're wrong. People hate God. Therefore, they hate us, and their hate causes them to reject the truth we teach and follow madness. There was an atheist. I forgot his name. It was very famous. And someone was interviewing him one day, and he said, "Evolution logically doesn't make any sense. " He said, "But because I choose to not believe in God, I follow it. " Amazing. At least it was honest. But if you don't believe that somebody created all of this order in the intellect, if you don't believe that somebody made all of this happen, you're crazy. But because you hate God, because you hate someone being over you and telling you how to live, you'd rather deny truth and logic and light and follow madness, foolishness, and walk in darkness. That's the short and sweet of it. You ever wondered why otherwise brilliant people, I mean brilliant people, can be so spiritually stupid and fall for such foolish concepts? It's amazing. It's because they reject God ruling over them. Remember what they said about Jesus when they crucified him? "We will not have this man rule over us. " That's why. They follow madness because they love their sin and they hate their God. And with that, we'll close this morning and God willing, take back up in the next verse, next Lord's day. Boy, I love how the Scripture speaks so plain to us. Sit our minds straight and tell us like it really is. Father, we thank you for your precious word. I thank you for those who came here this morning. I thank you, Father, that Lord, you give me the opportunity to preach this morning. I so love to teach your word. And I pray, Father, for all those who came and those who tuned in online, your word will just take up residence in their hearts. Help us, Lord, to let our thinking be fashioned by what you say. Your thoughts will be our thoughts. Your words, Father, your commandments will be our delight. We ask it in Jesus' wonderful name. Amen.