We are going to go back today to the Prophet Hosea once again, so please turn with me to the Prophet Hosea. And we are reading Hosea chapter 10. I want to read this chapter, there are 15 verses, and let follow me up as I'm reading these verses. Israel is an empty vine. He bringeth forth fruit unto Himself according to the multitude of His fruit. He has increased the altars according to the goodness of His land. They have made goodly images. Their heart is divided. Now shall they be found faulty or guilty. He shall break down their altars. He shall spoil their images. For now they, this is Israel, shall say, We have no king.

Because we feared not the Lord, what then should a king do to us? They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant. Thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the pharaohs of the field. The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beit Aven, for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof shall rejoice on it for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it. It shall be also carried to Assyria for a present to king Yarev. Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.

The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel shall be destroyed, the thorns and thistles shall come up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, fall on us. O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Giv'ah. There they stood. The battle in Giv'ah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them. It is in my desire that I should chasten them, and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows. And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn, but I passed over upon her fair neck.

I will make Ephraim to ride. Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his claws. So, sow to yourself in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord. Till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity, ye have eaten the fruit of lies, because thou didst trust in thy way in the multitude of thy mighty men. Therefore shall the tumultuous arise among the people, and all thy fortress shall be spoiled. As Shalman spoiled Beth Arbel in the day of battle, the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. So shall Bethel do unto you, because of your great wickedness, in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.

This is the end of Hosea chapter 10, and we are in the section, beloved brothers and sisters, in which God is responding to the people of Israel. He is telling them in those various chapters that we have already covered in chapter 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and now chapter 10. He is speaking to the nation of Israel, and he is responding to the nation of Israel. And he is telling them again and again the importance of understanding that if they are going to live in sin, they will end up to face the coming judgment. Now remember again, brothers and sisters, that when we are talking about the book of Hosea, the prophet Hosea was prophesying to the northern tribes of Israel.

And as he was prophesying to the northern tribes of Israel, he was giving them warning because by the time that Hosea was presenting God's word to the nation, those northern tribes in a terrible condition. And they were ready to be now taken captive and taken to the diaspora and to be dispersed, taken by the Assyrians as it is actually did happen later on in about 721 BC. And so right now in this chapter, just like the previous chapter, God is continuing to tell them of the coming fall of the kingdom of Israel. Soon, the kingdom of Israel is going to fall by the hands of the Assyrian or to the hands of the Assyrian.

So here he is speaking to them. And in those verses, those 15 verses that we have in chapter 10, we can see how the coming judgment is going to arrive. And ultimately that the Assyrians are going to take them captive, take Samaria captive. And so in verses one and two, as we have read, we see Israel failure to bring fruit for God. Isn't it true when God redeem a nation and redeem a people for himself, he is expecting from the people whom he saved and brought to himself to bring fruit for himself. Just like you and I are being exhorted by the Lord to bring fruit for God.

We are exhorted to live a life that will bring honor and glory to the Lord. What's the point of seeing a people whom God had redeemed that do not bring fruit for the Lord? The Lord Jesus himself, Yeshua himself has expected from the disciples and the apostles thought of the necessity of sowing that which will be honoring to the Lord. So there will be fruit for the Lord, the fruit of the spirit that we have, for example, in Galatians chapter five, love and joy and peace and all that which is glorifying the Lord. But here we see in this period of time of this nation of Israel in the northern kingdom that Israel did not bring fruit for God.

And we read in those first two verses. It says in verse one, Israel is an empty vine. You know, the vine Gephen is a picture of the nation of Israel. And God said that the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel. Israel. And Israel is called by God to bring fruit. And here Hosea is presenting God's word to the nation. He says, look, Israel is an empty vine. Israel. It says in verse one, and you notice that in verse one, it says he brings forth fruit. Instead of bringing forth fruit for God, he brings forth fruit for himself. You see, God expected from the nation to bring fruit for him, for the glory of God, for the honor of God.

But instead of bringing fruit for the glory of God, Israel as a nation brought fruit for themselves. He brings forth fruit unto himself. According to the multitude of his fruit, he has noticed that what did Israel do? He has increased the altars. And you know why you need an altar? You need an altar to put a sacrifice upon them. So Israel have increased in the northern kingdom. They have increased this altar here and another altar there and another altar there. There were a multitude of altars. But you see, on the altars, you put sacrifices in order to offer them to a God or to the true and living God.

Well, in this case, what we read in verse one, that Israel have increased altars according to the goodness of his land. They have made goodly images. You see, not only that there were multitude of altars, but there are also multitude of images. You know, if I will say it in a New Testament language, beloved brothers and sisters, this is an Old Testament way of saying the importance of not having the works of the flesh. This is exactly what the apostle Paul in the book of Galatians said, the contrast between the fruit of the spirit in Galatians five to the works of the flesh in verses 19 to 21.

This is the contrast between truth for God and the works of the flesh. And so what we see here that Israel had these works of the flesh, multitude of altars and offerings to multitude of images, God's idolatry, which was simply the works of the flesh rather than the fruit of the Holy Spirit of God. Paul, in that language, Paul, in that language, when he spoke to the Galatians, he's saying to them in Galatians chapter five, he said to the walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh to be subject to the spirit of God. And therefore they will not allow the flesh, the old nature to have its way or his way.

And so he is explaining what is the works of the flesh and what is the fruit of the spirit. For the flesh, he says, the works of the flesh is or are manifest, which are, and he gives us all these things, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, and wrath, and stripes, and seditions, heresies, envying, murders, darkness, reviling, such as like this, the apostle Paul is saying to the Galatians. And yet in contrast, the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, again, such there is no law. See, there is a contrast between fruit for God, which is come in the power of the spirit of God, and the works of the flesh, which is ultimately dishonoring the Lord.

So Israel is an empty vine, God is saying. What a statement to say about his own people because of their departure from the Lord. Building altars, having goodly images, setting the things of God aside, look at the condition of the nation. And so in verse 2, he says, Israel's heart was divided. In verse 2, their heart is divided. You see, when the heart is divided, when the heart is not occupied with the Lord Jesus, with Yeshua, the Messiah, what happens? The occupation with all those things which ending up at the end to be destroyed by God. The heart is divided. You know, a divided heart oftentimes causes us a lot of failure in our life.

When our heart is not focused and our eyes are not fixed on the Lord. You know very well how it is, can happen to us as believers today. When our hearts are divided, we are not focused. We are not engaged with the things of the Lord and things are filling our hearts and our mind to take away from us the devotionness that we should have devotion to the Lord. And Israel's heart was divided. And you know what God says? Okay, your heart is divided. He says, look in verse 2, he says, he shall break down their altars. He shall spoil their images. Israel, you see what I'm going to do?

I'm going to break down all these altars that you have trusted in and you have been using for sacrifices to those images. He says, I'm going to break them down and I'm going to spoil all those images that you have. And by the way, when he talked about those images, it always takes us back to the earlier time of the history of the nation of Israel. When Israel, you remember when there was the divisions of the southern kingdom Judah and the northern kingdom Israel. And when they were building in Bethel and Dan, those golden calves, and that where Jeroboam or Yeroboam in Hebrew did not allow the northern kingdom to go to worship in the temple in Jerusalem.

And he drew them away from the true and living God. And he made those calves in these two locations, Dan and Bethel. And they ending up worshiping on these mountains rather than going to Jerusalem to worship the true and living God. That is exactly what happened. And so here we see that God is telling Israel, look, you have failed in bringing fruit for me. And instead of bringing fruit for God, you end up to produce that which is acts of the flesh, the works of the flesh, images and altars which ultimately I will break down. Do you know for us as believers today, when we are not walking with the Lord and when we have all these things that fill up our mind, at the end, God will have to remove them from us and to judge that which is contrary to him.

That's what he does. Because the works of the flesh are going to end up at the end to only drain us down and bring judgment upon the people of God. So Israel's failure to bring fruit is saying to them, Israel is an empty vine. By the way, it was Yeshua who said in John 15, I am the true vine. Yeshua the Messiah is really representing the nation of Israel who truly brought fruit for God. He is the true vine. Israel was an empty vine. But Yeshua the Messiah, the true Israel of God, who brought so much fruit for God in every step he took here upon the face of this earth.

That's why God said, this is my beloved son in whom I found all my delight. And so, Hosea continued to present and notice what he's saying to them in the next verses, verses 3 and 4. He says, listen, judgment is coming. It should be anticipated. Israel's judgment is an anticipated judgment. And so in verse 3, Israel's cry. And look what they do here in verse 3. For now they, the word for they is applied to the nation Israel. They shall say, we have no king. Because we feared not the Lord, what then should a king do to us? You see, Israel will realize that they were led away from God by their kings.

And you notice what they're going to say. They say, we have no king. Well, they had a king. From the beginning of Jeroboam, all the way to the time they were taken by the Assyrians, they had a king. But they had no king in a sense of leadership. A king that will lead them in a way that is pleasing to God. They had no king. Because it says in verse 3, because we feared not the Lord. In other words, what their king did, their king led them away from the Lord. That's what their king did for them. And you know, that was God's warning already a long time ago when Israel wanted a king.

In 1 Samuel chapter 8, we find out that the people of Israel, the elders of Israel, gathered themselves together. And they came to Samuel unto Ramah and they said unto him, Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Make us a king to judge us like the other nations. You see, Israel wanted a king that he would judge them like the other nations. You see, they wanted to be like the other nations of the world. And God had to say to Samuel when he cried to him, it says that Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And you notice what the Lord said in 1 Samuel chapter 8 and verse 7.

He said, the Lord said unto Samuel, And then he told them what their king is going to do to them in 1 Samuel chapter 8. And you know, brothers and sisters, this is exactly what happened when you read the history of the kings of Israel, the northern kings, not so much the southern kings. Every one of those kings did not go after the will of God. They did evil in the sight of the Lord. Jeroboam the first, Jeroboam the second. They're all gone in a way that they've led them away from God. And they're crying now, we have no king, in verse 3, because we feared not the Lord.

Then should the king do unto us? In other words, they have come to a point that they're really saying that even their own king cannot help them now. Oh, he's there as a king in his position, but he cannot help them because they have already been led astray. And so Israel could not trust in their king's word. In verse 4, it says, They have spoken words swearing falsely in making a covenant that judgment brings up as a hemlock in the pharaohs of the field. You see what they are saying here? That those kings of theirs, they spoke in all kind of words. They did swear, they made promises.

And they made all kind of covenants and agreements with other nations around. But really, they only led them away from God. How sad when the kings led the nation away from the Lord. Again, I would like to make an application in a New Testament setting. How thankful we need to be for godly men and women that lead us in the way of the Lord. How thankful we have to be for older men and women in the history of the assembly age, of the church age, that have pulled the people of God in the right way. But oh, how sad it is when there are leadership in the professing church today that have led the nation, the church, the assembly, the people of God away from the truth of the word of God.

God going to hold them accountable. God dealt with the nation of Israel in the past and will deal with them in the future. And he will deal with the present-day dispensation leadership who lead the people of God away from the truth of the word of God. They were not perfect, but they had a responsibility with the grace of God to seek to lead the people in a right way. But what we say, they spoke many words. They made many speeches and promises and they made covenants and so on. And yet they led the people of Israel away from the truth, from the living God. And that's why it says the judgment is coming because at the second half of verse 4, it says, judgment is springing up as hemlock, the word in Hebrew for hemlock is a head, as the head of the weeds which are poisonous weeds, which showing to us that judgment is coming upon a crop, just the same like judgment is coming upon the nation of Israel.

It is right at the door. It is coming because God is going to deal with the nation that has been astray, with the leadership, with the king that has turned them away from him. And so this judgment was anticipated. In verses 3 and 4, judgment is coming. And so now, in these next verses, we find out what God is going to do to those gods that the nation trusted in. Idols that the nation follow after. We find out in verse 5, 6, 7, and 8, that there will be a destruction of all what they trusted in, of Baal. And God is going to destroy the idols that Israel have trusted in.

So verse 5, listen, interesting here in verse 5, it says, the inhabitants of Samaria, this are the people, shall fear because the calves of Beit Avin, for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof shall rejoice on it for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it. Now this is an interesting verse, because this verse 5, you notice it used the word the calves. You see, that takes us back again to 1st Kings. It takes us back to 1st Kings, when earlier at that time, 1st Kings chapter 12, when they established those two calves, in Beit El, and in Dan. And so it takes us back to the time when the Samaria, Shomron, is the northern kingdom, and Samaria is the central area of the northern kingdom.

The city of Shechem, Shechem is there. And so the inhabitants of Samaria, this is the northern people, it says they will fear because of the calves. But notice it says here, the calves of Beit Avin. The Bible now changes the name from Beit El, the house of God, to Beit Avin. And this is actually the house of iniquity, or the house of vanity. See, God is calling Beit El, now Beit Avin, because what happened, there they have established the calf, and they said, this is your God. In other words, it become a house, not the house of God anymore, but the house of vanity, the house of idols.

And so they will be afraid. Why? Because they are mourning over the fact that there is judgment coming, and that God is going to destroy this calf at the worship of Baal. You notice that it also says not only that the inhabitants, or the people, but also the priests that in the past rejoice over the calf, they also are going to be fearful because God is going to remove this idol from their presence. Now, the word priests here is not the ordinary priest that God is using, the name priest that God is using to the priesthood of the true and living God. Here, this expression is not the word Kohen in Hebrew, but the word is Komer in Hebrew.

Not Kohen, but Komer. The word Komer in the scripture is used about three times, and it is always applied to those priests who are worshipping false gods. In fact, our people today, the Jewish people today, when you tell them that there is a pastor of a certain church, they don't call him a priest of a certain church, they call him a Komer, the same word that we have here in verse 5. Why? Because Israel today do not believe that Christians today are worshipping the true God, because they don't accept the fact that Yeshua is the Messiah. And that's why a priest today in so-called the church, the body of Christ, by us as Hebrews, by the Hebrews, they are not called Kohanim, or priests, but they are called Kmarim.

You notice today, for example, the Roman Catholic priests today, in Hebrew, they are called Kmarim, not Kohanim, not the Hebrew word Kohen, for those who worship the true and living God, but they are called Kmarim. This expression is found at least three times in the Bible, in 2 Kings, chapter 23, and verse 5, and in Sephaniah, chapter 1, and verse 4, the word Kmarim, or Komer, is mentioned. So you see how the Bible is so accurate? The Bible is saying that those priests from the people of Israel who were worshipping those golden calves false gods are actually not true priests. They are not called priests in the Hebrew terminology of saying priests, of the true priests of God, but they are called Kmarim, Komer.

And that's why the word here in verse 5 for the word priests is actually not Kohanim, but Kmarim. False worship. false priests who are worshipping false gods who are worshipping idols. And so verse 5, the people and the priests, the false priests, will mourn over the calf idols that will be destroyed. In verse 6, the calf idol will be carried away unto Assyria. It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present unto King Yarev. Ephraim shall receive shame. Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. What a sad situation here. Can you imagine a god being carried away? The calves that they worship going to be carried away?

The true and living God is everywhere. He is in full control. And here is these gods, these idols, they are going to be carried away. And what we read in verse 6, that Ephraim shall be ashamed. And that Israel shall be ashamed of their own counsel. Can you imagine when you see your god with a small g being carried away? Into Assyria? Oh, give me my god back. In other words, what do you find out? They are such a shame to be occupied with a false god. Small g. What a shame. That's why, by the way, 1 John tells us, little children, keep yourself from idols. That's what the believers, we are exhorted, to be kept from idols that takes away from us the relationship with the living God.

And so, here we find out that what a shame will be that their god is being carried away to Assyria. Actually, the fall of Samaria in 722, 720 BC, they were carried with their gods to Assyria. What a shame. In verse 7, Samaria and her king will be also cut off. Again, Samaria is in connection with Israel, with the northern tribe. In verse 7, it says, As for Samaria, her king shall be cut off as the form upon the water. Just like you take form of the water away, you cut it off, you remove it, Israel is going to be removed, Samaria and her king are going to be removed, just the same, like a form that's being removed from the top of the water.

Look at the condition, judgment is coming, Israel, God is saying to them, you are the vine that's supposed to bring fruit for me, but there's no fruit for me, and you had fruit for yourself, you had the works of the flesh, going to end up to bear the consequences, your king is going to be carried away, your idols are going to be carried away, and you are going to be carried away, and you are going to weep, you're going to have fear, that's what's going to happen in verse 8, the destruction of the high places is because of Israel's sin, the high places also, of Avin, the sin of Israel, notice Avin become the sin

of Israel, and Avin is the word for vanity, and it takes us back to Beit Avin, Beit El, the house of God, to become the house of vanity, where the idols was there, this was the sin of Israel, the sin of idolatry, the sin of the golden calf, when instead of looking to the true and living God, worshipping the false idols, worshipping this golden calf, and so on, and so the sin of Israel become is Avin, it shall be destroyed, and it says, the thorn and the thistles shall come up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, cover us, and to the hills, fall on us, you see, God is telling the

nation of Israel, through Hosea the prophet, of anticipated judgment, and the sin of Israel was idolatry, and what's going to happen when the idols are going to be removed, thorn and thistles shall come up instead of them, now do you remember when the first time we find out in the Bible about thorns and thistles, and if you remember, we're going back all the way to Genesis chapter 3 and verse 18, and I'm going to read that verse in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 18, where we find out how we end up having thorn and thistles growing here upon the face of this earth.

In verse 18, God said, in verse 17 of Genesis chapter 3, God says to Adam, Adam, he says, because you hearken not to my voice and you hearken unto the voice of your wife, and you have eaten of the tree which I commended thee, saying, thou shall not eat of it, he's saying to him, cursed is the ground for your sake. In sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life. And Lord, verse 18, thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee, and thou shall eat the herbs of the field. You see, sin came into the world. Adam disobeyed God. Adam chose to follow in another direction, rather to submit himself to the God who loved him and had given him the garden of delight.

But you see what happened? Because of sin, thorns and thistles began to grow upon the face of this earth. The first time we find it in the Bible. And now we find out in Hosea, in our chapter 10 and in verse 8, that thorns and thistles are going to grow out from under after the removal of this altar and the gods of the nation of Israel at that time that thorns and thistles will be resulting of the sin of the nation of Israel and will come up. You see it says here, the thorn and the thistles shall come up on their altars. And you notice that when the judgment of God comes and the anticipation of this judgment is coming, look what the nation will say, you notice what they say, and they shall say to the mountains, cover us mountains, and to the hills, fall on us hills.

You see, when the judgment of God would come, the nation will cry for the mountains to fall on them, for the hills to cover them, that they will end up, if you will, their lives of judgment and so, it is anticipating upon them because of their sin that they have committed before the Lord. And you know, brothers and sisters, this is exactly what's going to happen in the tribulation period. When men and women and people rejected the message of the Messiah and the grace of God, when they will reject the message of Yeshua or forgiveness and restoration and salvation and they will reject this and they will carry on and rejecting it, once the church, the body of Messiah is going to be removed after God is going to unleash judgment upon the face of this earth, you know what the people are going to say?

The very same thing. I want to read a verse in the book of Luke, if you turn to the gospel of Luke, please. chapter 23 look what Yeshua himself said to the disciples when he was teaching them concerning the coming tribulation and Yeshua said to them in chapter 23 of Luke beginning from verse 28, Jesus turning unto them and he said, daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for yourselves and for your children for behold the days are coming in the which they shall say blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bear and the paps which never gave suck.

Then he's taking us to the tribulation time they shall begin to say to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us for if they do these things in green tree what shall be done in the dry and you see beloved brothers and sisters when the Lord was speaking here he was on the way to the cross and the people of Israel the daughter of Jerusalem crying over the Messiah that he was taken now and going to be crucified soon with other two malefactors as he's heading towards the cross he's carrying the cross he's heading towards the place of the crucifixion and he Yeshua is saying daughter of Jerusalem don't weep for me

but weep for yourself because because because the day is coming and you remember there was two fold times there was time came in the time where the Romans have destroyed the city of Jerusalem and when the Romans have killed so many of the people of Israel of the Jewish people and what happened when they were carried away and then he takes us even beyond that to the tribulation time where in the tribulation time in the book of Revelation and now turn please to Revelation chapter 6 and you will see that in the tribulation time after the church is gone in Revelation chapter 6 they will also cry that the mountains will fall upon them because

of the sorrow and the suffering that they will experience Revelation chapter 6 and we read from verse 12 and I'm reading those verses because it really connects here with the passage we are reading this is the sixth seal that is going to be open in the tribulation period in verse 12 and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and Lord there was great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood and the stars of heaven fell into the earth even as a fig tree cast her untimely figs when she is shaken off a mighty wind and heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled

together and every mountain and island were moved out of their places and now listen to verse 15 16 and 17 and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in dens and in rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and to the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand you see what we really learn here that when God come in

judgment then men they will cry to the mountain fall on us they will cry to the hills cover us because we rather have the mountain fall on us than to face the judgment and the wrath of a holy God that's what we learn here and here in the prophet Hosea in the chapter that we are learning from today in Hosea chapter 10 we find out that the nation will say at that time when the judgment is coming and destruction is coming they will say unto the mountains cover us and to the hills fall on us because of the judgment it is going to come upon the nation now now here is in anticipation of Israel's

judgment that ultimately came in 722 721 BC that Assyrian came and destruction came but what we learn in Revelation chapter 6 takes us to the tribulation period and the time when the assembly the church not going to be here during the tribulation and only those that rejected the Messiah and the false church are going to remain here in this earth experience the 19 judgment that are going to fall upon the face of this earth the seals are going to be opened the trumpets are going to be sound the bowls are going to be poured the judgment of God upon a world that rejected his son the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of this world

and so here beloved brothers and sisters as we move on in our chapter in verses 9 10 and 11 of Hosea chapter 10 we have again as the reassurance that punishment will come and we read here in verse 9 Israel Israel sinned since the day of Giv'ah in verse 9 he's saying oh Israel thou hast sinned from the days of Giv'ah there they stood the battle of Giv'ah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them now Giv'ah by the way you remember the story in Judges chapter 19 20 and 21 those last three chapters of the book of Judges you remember the story of this Levite who married a concubine and what happened we

have talked about it in fact we have it in chapter 9 and verse 9 they have deeply corrupted themselves as in the day of Giv'ah what happened in Giv'ah Giv'ah was the city that belonged to Benjamin the Binyamin and when that Levite went to dwell there in Giv'ah but some of the people of Benjamin gather around the house where he was staying and they wanted to take his concubine he wanted him first of all and then they took the concubine and you remember what they did to her they sexually molested her and they ultimately killed her and as he get up in the morning and he see this concubine dead he takes this concubine and

he cut her into 12 pieces and he sent her all over the tribes of Israel to show the wickedness that had happened in Israel then chapter 20 all the nation of Israel gathered against the tribe of Benjamin and if you remember there was this period of time that is called in the days of Giva when they went and they fought against Benjamin and the beginning Benjamin was winning the battle against the ruins of the nation of Israel and one time he killed 22,000 men another time 18,000 men and then later on finally the nation of Israel defeated Benjamin and there were many many who died in fact almost the whole tribe was totally erased there

were 600 individuals that were left they didn't have even wives to marry and they had to find wives for them to marry that the tribe will not be destroyed and you see what a wicked time that happened in the history of the nation of Israel and so we find out that he is saying to them in verse 9 O Israel thou hast seen from the days of Givah that is again the northern kingdom they stood and the battle of Givah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them in other way what he is saying now in verse 10 he says listen I will send you punishment God is saying to them and then in

verse 10 it is in my desire that I should chasten them and the people shall be gathered against them and they shall bind themselves in their two furrows in verse 10 the punishment is coming God had promised he promised them in Leviticus chapter 26 in De 8 that there will be judgment that coming upon a nation that will disobey God and he going to surely bring it to pass and he is just intending it's coming the judgment is coming in verse 11 Ephraim is compared to a heifer who forgot what he learned look Ephraim is an heifer that is taught and loved to tread out the corn but something happened to Ephraim I passed over

upon her fair neck I will make Ephraim to ride Judah shall plow and Jacob shall break his claws you see what happened Ephraim Israel forgotten what they have learned and they have in other words Ephraim like a heifer that is taught and he loved in the beginning what he did to tread the corn and to feed on that but he changed his ways you see that what happened to Ephraim brothers and sisters it can happen to us when we neglect to remember what the Lord have done for us can you imagine when a person has been exposed to the things of God have been under the umbrella of God's people many blessings he or she

have received learned the things of God grew up maybe in a home of believing family and then forgotten what they learned in fact they set it aside I don't need that and it's like a heifer that was taught and loved in the beginning what they had been taught you see the heifer there was to tread to work in the field but to eat from the field to enjoy what God had provided for them but now Ephraim forgot that have gone astray and so God's saying you see he's saying to them but he says I passed over upon her fair neck I will make Ephraim to ride Judah shall plow Jacob shall break his cloth in

other words Ephraim will no longer enjoy what he had he had forgotten it he had gone astray who forgot what he learned that's what we find out in verse 11 so that judgment is coming so you know what now Hosea does Hosea in verses 12 and 13 he is raising up a call to seek the Lord you know there's a time that men come to his wits end when judgment is coming and we anticipate isn't it happening like to us sometimes when we forget the things of the Lord and we kind of you know we leave you know we don't need to read the Bible we don't need to pray we don't need to go

to a congregational meeting I've learned about it in the past I've heard about it and we are flowing and slowly slowly the enemy drawing us away from the things of the Lord and ultimately allowing us to involve with things that are not good not honoring to the Lord and ending up down spiritually and then judgment is anticipated in its coming and to turn back to the Lord isn't a time judgment is coming and usually when judgment is coming fear come upon us because we don't like to be judged then all of a sudden we kind of stand and say I got to go back to God I got to go back to the Lord and

that what Hosea does here in these verses in verses 12 and 13 he's appealing to the nation of Israel to seek the Lord he's appealing to them and so he's telling them in the next verse 12 Hosea appealed to Israel and he's saying to them sow to yourselves in righteousness reap in mercy break up your fallow ground it is time to seek the Lord he's telling them till he come and rain righteousness upon you you see what he's telling him listen don't sow anymore in unrighteousness don't sow a life of sin anymore because whatsoever man soweth death shall he also reap a principle that we learn in the scripture that is found to us both

in all the new testament but galatians 6 is very clearly he says don't fool yourself don't think that you are fooling god he says because whatsoever you sow that you are going to reap so you see what Hosea is telling to the nation he says listen you sow to yourself in righteousness do the right thing and you're going to reap mercy but if you are going to sow unrighteousness you are you are going to reap judgment and so he's appealing to them and he's saying to them break up your follow ground you know this expression to follow the hard ground oh how you think about god is appealing to people i mean we talked about

some of us spoke about our family members what's going to happen when our children or when our parents when our brothers and sisters harden their hearts to the message of the gospel what's going to happen if they will not soften their hearts and be break these down these hard hearts they're going to end up to face the judgment of god that's what's going to happen so they must sow in righteousness they soften their hearts and they're going to reap mercy but otherwise they're going to reap judgment and so he say it is time to seek the lord stop with your foolishness stop with your ungodliness stop playing around stop with idolatry stop with that which

is leading you away from god it is time to turn to the lord it is time to seek the lord isaiah said this in his chapter beautiful in isaiah chapter 55 i'll read this verse isaiah 55 in verse 6 listen how beautiful seek ye the lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our god and he will abundantly pardon how wonderful when we turn to the lord and all the sins that we have committed when we confess it before him and say lord

i have sinned against you i rebelled against you and we read here that he will abundantly pardon and you know how god can pardon us today he can pardon us on the basis of the finished work of yeshua the messiah the only ground whereby god can forgive our sins is upon the finished work of yeshua the messiah the lord jesus the messiah who died for us on the cross and paid the penalty for our sins that's the only ground that we can receive forgiveness of sins and that's what hosea is saying to the nation of israel he says it is time to seek the lord till he come and he will rain righteousness upon you

and it's so beautiful you know when you think about it what a message it's like a gospel message and how important for people to listen to this voice of the lord to the holy spirit of god that speak to them and appealing to them listen turn away from your evil way turn away from your sin it's time to turn to the lord it's enough you are meddled with this and you have spent your time you have spent your energy about everything around it is time to turn around and go back to the lord because he is going to forgive you he is going to rain righteousness upon you hosea is saying and now look at

this in verse 13 look at the result of wickedness will be if you don't turn to the lord look ye have plowed wickedness ye have ripped iniquity ye have eaten the fruit of lies because thou didst trust in thy way in the multitude of thy mighty men you see what hoshea is telling israel he says look he says you have to sow righteousness because if you sow righteousness you will benefit from that you will reap mercy but look when you plowed and sowed wickedness what you ripped you ripped iniquity you've eaten of the fruit of lies in other words what the food that you have eaten and what you have enjoyed in a sense is

the result of that which is not from god that which is lies because why because you have trusted in your way and you have trusted in your mighty man instead of in the lord that's what he's saying to israel you put your trust in yourself you put your trust in your leadership instead of in the god of abraham isaac and jacob and that's why you end up reaping iniquity and not grace and mercy you sowed wickedness you didn't sow righteousness and therefore you will reap iniquity and you will not reap mercy so he concluding now this interesting chapter hosea chapter 10 in verses 14 and 15 is what is the consequence of godless living listen

to this because the noise of war is sound among the people there is coming the armies of the Assyrians were going to come now very shortly to take the nation captive and verse verse 14 he said therefore shall a tumult it's a noise of war arise among thy people and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled as as shall shall man spoiled bait in the days of battle the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children you you see they were anticipated the coming of the armies of the Assyrians to take them which they did and they dispersed them you know look at the nation of Israel up till today brothers and sisters scattered among the

nations of the world the tribes of Israel are dispersed are scattered among the nations of the world and a partial return we enjoy to see today but even the return is a return in unbelief but there is a beginning of the work of God the work of the Spirit of God and so we find out that the noise of war is sounded if you read 2nd King chapter 17 verses 1 to 6 you will notice there that it was about 721 BC where ultimately the Assyrian took the nation of Israel and scattered them and so the conclusion of this chapter is in verse 15 so shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness

see God saying listen it's coming and all this he said Bethel be unto you because of your great wickedness the house of God where you should have been pleased with and enjoying and serving God you end up to live a wicked life and follow after idols he says listen because of this soon in the morning verse 15 shall the king of Israel shall be cut off a sure thing that is going to happen to the nation of Israel and beloved brothers and sisters this is a sad chapter it must have grieved the heart of God to do it to his own people but the coming fall of Israel's kingdom was prophesied by Hosea and in

722 Israel failed to the Assyrian later on Judah and Benjamin also would fall to the Babylonian a bit later on but in that time he's speaking about the northern kingdom whose sin brought about the judgment of God may we listen to the voice of the Lord and when we are away when we are astray if someone is away and astray from the Lord it is time to seek the Lord there is always a time to turn back to the Lord because he's going to bless he will abundantly pardon us if we turn to him confess that everything that we have in him is through Yeshua Jesus our Messiah and the Lord will abundantly bless those

who seek the Lord and turn back to him can you say amen to that amen