Flight HOS01 - Part C

In a nutshell, that is the spiritual law of sowing and reaping. Whatever you plant, it's gonna grow. If you plant bad stuff, bad stuff's gonna grow.

If you plant good stuff, good stuff's gonna grow. Today on Connect with Skip Hytick, Pastor Skip shares a valuable yet simple spiritual truth about reaping what you sow. But before we begin today, we want you to know that a brand new way to connect with Pastor Skip and this ministry is coming right to your backpack, purse, or pocket. It's text messaging. And if you've connected with us through prayer or a financial gift, you'll be the first to get a text welcoming you to the group.

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hosted by Skip. I think it's safe to say that the family is under attack today. I know that's a phrase that you have heard me say. In fact, I'll tell you the truth. I've said that sentence for 40 years, and every year it's been true. And today it's truer than ever before.

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Request the Dads Make a Difference package online at connectfascip.com or by calling 1-800-922-1888. Okay, Pastor Skip continues his message from the book of Hosea, part of his series, The Bible from 30,000 Feet. Here Hosea marches into the courtroom and lists the charges.

And the charges are as follows. Number one, apathy. Number two, uncertainty. And number three, idolatry.

I want you to notice them all. When I say apathy, I mean they stop growing spiritually because they stop loving to learn the things of God. Chapter four, verse one, Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land. There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. Verse six, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge.

Three times that word is mentioned. I will also reject you from being priest for me because you have forgotten the law of your God. I will also forget your children. God tells them they have rejected knowledge. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Be careful. Be careful as Christians of what I can only describe as an anti-learning sentiment, an anti-intellectual sentiment. Seems to be very popular among Christians these days. Well, we don't care so much about what we know in terms of doctrine. We care about, you know, how we feel and we care about, we love the Lord. It's not about what you know.

Okay, I understand that. But you have to know certain basic truths so that your love can find full vent and full fruition. You and I need to be instructed in the things of God. Jesus said learn of me. Peter said grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So the key is to give yourself to Bible study but then convert your knowledge about God that you learn into knowledge of God on a personal basis so that you go from learning to take those principles of learning into your relationship, betrothal.

Learn and then with that learning, grow. So there's a great book out called Knowing God. It was out I think in 1972 or something like that was put out. I bought it in 73 or 4, maybe 76. I get my dates messed up. J.I.

Packer. And he said in his book this, I wanted to share this with you. Whenever we embark on any line of study in God's holy book, we need to ask ourselves what is my ultimate aim and object in occupying my mind with these things? What do I intend to do with my knowledge about God once I have gotten it? For if we pursue theological knowledge for its own sake, it's bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited.

The very greatness of the subject matter will intoxicate us. But then he goes on to say, but if you pursue knowledge and then you convert your knowledge about God into knowledge of God on a personal level, you'll grow. The thing about Israel, hence this indictment, they didn't care. They didn't want to learn. They didn't want to learn because they didn't want to grow spiritually. They had lost their spiritual appetite. So apathy is charge number one.

Second charge, uncertainty. See, they didn't know what the future held. They didn't want to trust God.

So they decided let's trust other nations and form alliances with them to protect us against the big bad Assyrians. So chapter five, look at chapter five, verse 13. When Ephraim saw his sickness, that is the northern kingdom, and Judas saw his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jerob, yet he cannot cure you nor heal you of your wound. Look at chapter seven, verse eight. Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples.

Ephraim is a cake unturned. Imagine cooking pancakes tomorrow morning. You cook it on one side and you don't flip it to the other side.

You take it out. So one side is hot. The other side isn't cold anymore. It's just sort of lukewarm and gooey. A half-turned pancake.

Ephraim is a half-cooked, half-baked pancake. Jesus said to the church of Laodicea, I wish you were hot or cold but not lukewarm. I want you hot. That's how I prefer you. Or I want you cold so I can convict you.

If you're hot, I can use you. If you're cold, at least I can convict you and get you back to a heated state. But if you're lukewarm, I'm gonna just spit you out of my mouth. Sort of like tea.

I love hot tea and I love cold tea, but lukewarm tea. Ephraim is a half-baked pancake, a cake unturned. Charge number three, idolatry.

In chapter four, I'm kind of bringing you around a few different places. Verse 17 says, Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. For God to say let him alone indicates that he's determined to judge them.

Judah has a chance, Israel does not. I mentioned a few weeks ago on a Sunday that one of the indications that God is judging is when he lets us have what we want. He turns us over to our desires. Ephraim has joined to his idols. What the northern kingdom did is they paid lip service and tipped their hat to the God of Israel. But they also brought in other religious systems and other belief systems and and mixed beliefs, gods and goddesses with Yahweh, the God of Israel.

It's a practice known as syncretism. And because of that, they diluted the pure worship of God. But for God to say let him alone indicates I have resigned myself to judge them. That's why, as I've mentioned before, but I'll just touch on it again, I get very concerned about our country. Because although people say you better watch out, God's going to judge America if we don't turn, I think he already has begun the judgment. I think he's turning us over to what one news commentator called we're now in late stage decadence. And if you look at what people are arguing about, nobody would even consider some of the policies that some are offering.

20-30 years ago, they wouldn't even be discussed. So you want that? You can have it.

Let him alone. Chapter 5 verse 1. Hear this, O priests. Take heed, O house of Israel.

Give ear, O house of the king, for yours is the judgment, because you have been a snare to Mizpah. It's all in the northern kingdom, east of the Jordan River, and a net spread on Tabor. That is the prominent mountain in the north that you will see. We will point it out to you when you go to Israel with us, 12 miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee. Chapter 8, 9, and 10. The prophet predicts judgment on this nation. Let's look at a few verses. Chapter 8 verse 3. Israel has rejected the good.

Ever heard of Jerome? Jerome, the scholar who translated the Bible from Greek into Latin, translated this, Israel has rejected the God who is good. I think that really captures it. Israel has rejected the God who is good. The enemy will pursue him. Verse 7 chapter 8.

They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stock has no bud. It shall never produce meal.

If it should produce, aliens would swallow it up. Chapter 9 verse 7. The days of punishment have come.

The days of recompense have come. Israel knows. Go down to verse 17 in chapter 9. My God will cast them away because they did not obey him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations. Today, Israel is back in their land, sort of. Since 1948, they've been back in their land, sort of. Actually, the Jewish people have wandered since the Assyrians took the northern kingdom in 722 BC. There are today, living in the land of Israel, about 8.6 million Jews.

There are 8.6 million Jews living also in the United States of America, and a couple million scattered around the rest of the nations of the world. So they're there in part, but not in totality. One day, he will bring them totally back and restore them, and you and I along with them. Chapter 10 verse 14. Therefore, a tumult shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be plundered.

As shall man plundered Beth-ar-bel in the day of battle, a mother dashed in pieces upon her children. Verse 15. Then it shall be done to you, O Beth-el, because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel shall be cut off utterly.

Now just a quick note about these places. Beth-ar-bel is a prominent mountain right by the Sea of Galilee. Again, remind me, and I'll point it out to you, when we're at the Sea of Galilee, you can see the Arbel. Anybody who's been to Israel knows that prominent mountain. It's where the winds come through and churn up the Sea of Galilee. Beth-ar-bel was a place of a very famous battle where the Assyrians attacked Israel. They're making a reference to it.

Beth-el was the center of the northern kingdom when it split. Now notice he says, you've sown to the wind, you're going to weep the whirlwind. There is a law of the harvest. It's called you reap what you sow. It comes to us also in the book of Galatians chapter 6. Do not be deceived.

God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. If he sows to the flesh, he's going to reap corruption. If he sows to the flesh, he's going to reap corruption.

If he sows to the spirit, he's going to reap everlasting life. In a nutshell, that is the spiritual law of sowing and reaping. Whatever you plant, it's going to grow. If you plant bad stuff, bad stuff is going to grow. If you plant good stuff, good stuff is going to grow. Here's the deal about the law of sowing and reaping.

It's never equal. That is, what you reap isn't exactly what you sow, because typically you reap far more than you sow. If you have a handful of seed, you throw it into a field. You won't get a handful of produce. You'll get bushels full of produce. You will reap far more than you have sown in terms of quantity. So if you sow to the flesh, you're going to get buckets of corruption. If you sow to the spirit, you'll get more than you put down. You'll get fruit that abounds to your account. That's why it makes sense to serve the Lord, because you sow a little bit of your seed. You say, well I don't have much. That's all you need. Jesus took a few loaves and fishes and fed a multitude.

Let him take your life and feed a multitude. Chapter 11 through 14 is the last section. It's about a faithful God, and let me split it up this way. Chapter 11 is about a faithful God and a runaway child.

That's the analogy. Chapters 12 and 13 is about a faithful God and a rebellious teenager. The kid grows up. And chapter 14 is a faithful God and a restored adult. That is the language that is used in these chapters. Now back in chapter three, God's love was typified by the love of a husband and a wife.

Now it's a father and a child. Chapter 11 verse 1. When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son, and they called them.

So they went from them. They sacrificed to the bales and burned incense to carved images. I taught Ephraim to walk. You can hear the love of a father. Taking them by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck.

I stooped and I fed them. Notice the language. Again, relational, but of a father loving a child, not dragging your child, not kicking your child, prodding your child, drawing your child.

You know, it's interesting. I have seen over the years these kind of leashes that parents will sometimes wear with their children. If you've seen them, they're elastic. They kind of go out to a certain point, but then they don't go any further, and the child feels the tug, and the tug brings them back to the father.

It might look a little weird, like they're walking their dog, but actually, I've come to realize those are cords of love. That's a parent loving his child to give a little bit of freedom, but not too much to get in trouble, and to bounce back when you're at the end of it. But verse seven, my people are bent on backsliding from me, though they call to the most high, none at all exalt him. Let's go down to chapters 12 and three. The child now grows up to a rebellious teenager. Some of you can relate to that.

I was one. Chapter 12, verse 1, Ephraim, the northern kingdom, feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind. He daily increases lies and desolation. Also, they make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried to Egypt.

They're trying to buy the favor of Egypt to keep them protected. Verse three, he took his brother by the heel in the womb. Remember Genesis 25? Little Jacob was grabbing Esau's heel, and he took his brother by Esau's heel, and in his strength he struggled with God. Yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed. That's Genesis 32.

That's the history of the nation. He wept and sought favor from him. He found him in Bethel, and there he spoke to us. Chapter 14, last chapter, is the restored adult. Verse 1, O Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

Now throughout this book, Hosea doesn't pull any punches. He calls what they have done sin. He uses the term iniquity. He calls it backsliding. He calls it what it is.

Why? Because you need to know your condition before you can get healed of it. You need to know what the problem is. First John chapter 1 verse 8, if we say we have no sin, we lie and do not practice the truth. Verse nine, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So like a good lawyer or a good doctor, he's saying to the patient, your condition is sin, iniquity, backslide.

Here's the solution. Verse 2, take words with you and return to the Lord. That is, when you talk to God, be specific about what you're confessing.

Word, I think I've blown it. How? What exactly are you confessing? Say to him, take away all iniquity. Receive us graciously for we will offer the sacrifices of our lips. Verse 4, I will heal their backsliding.

I will love them freely, that is without their cause, for my anger has turned away from him. I will be like the dew to Israel. He shall grow up like the lily and lengthen his roots like Lebanon.

Verse 6, his branches will spread. His beauty will be like an olive tree. His fragrance like Lebanon.

That is, there'll be a delight. Interesting thing about cologne or perfume, it has absolutely no utilitarian use, but it's delightful. You smell good. Some of you put too much on, but generally, when you put a hint of it on, oh, you smell good.

It's better than B.O. And so God is saying, not only will you be useful, but you'll be a delight to me. I love being around you.

Ah, you smell great. Verse 8, Ephraim will say, what have I to do anymore with idols? I have heard and observed him.

I am like a green cypress tree. Your fruit is found in me. Who is wise? Verse 9, let him understand these things.

Who is prudent? Let him know them, for the ways of the Lord are right. The righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them. Now as we close the book, think of your own life. Think of the times that the Lord warns you.

I know I can think of several times when God tries to get my attention and say, you've got to watch this, you've got to turn from this, you've got to pivot from this. So think of your car. You drive down the street, a light comes on that says, you need service, check oil. You can do one of two things. You can do one of two things. You can stop, check the oil, take it in, or you could carry with you in the glove box a little hammer. And when you drive and that little emergency light goes on, just take the hammer and smash it in. Break the light. You've solved the problem. It's not warning you. You're fine.

For now, but not for long. So when the Holy Spirit warns you and warns me, hey, take heed, take note. Instead of carrying the little hammer and pushing him away, take heed to the warning light. Every prophet sent to Israel was a warning light for them to repent. Now unfortunately, and I'll get off my horse and pray after this.

Not this being my horse, my high horse. Repentance is a very unpopular topic these days. A lot of preachers do not want to talk about repentance.

They'd rather talk about how to have your best life now and how to feel good and smile well, and that's about it. But do you know that repentance was the very first message John the Baptist ever preached? And do you know that that repentance was the very first message that our Savior Jesus Christ preached? And do you know that in that lovely sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, blessed are those who mourn. They will be comforted. I think among believers, there needs to be a little more holy mourning.

There used to be a holy laughter movement. There needs to be a holy mourning movement where we recover, we recapture the holy character of the living God, and we exalt Him, and we turn from and we turn from those things God is telling us to turn from. Amen. You know, when God paints a picture of the future, it's not an educated guess. It's something we can hang our hopes on with certainty.

That's why we share these Bible teachings to encourage you to fully trust what God says in His Word. And when you come alongside this ministry through your support, you do the same for many listeners around the world. This year, I'm praying God will open doors for these teachings to reach more people in major cities across the United States. When you give today, you will make that vision possible. So please consider a gift today. Here's how you can do that.

Thank you for your generosity. Tomorrow, Pastor Skip begins a message from the Book of Joel. Now I want you to notice a theme that's in this book.

I mentioned it at the beginning. It's the theme, The Day of the Lord. Twenty-six times the Bible mentions it. Five of those times are in the Book of Joel. More than any other prophet, he speaks about the Day of the Lord. Connect with Skip Hyten is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.