Welcome to the broadcast ministry of Finding Purpose with Russ Andrews, where we seek to glorify God by making Him known and guiding others towards their true purpose in life. No one is here by chance. God put us here for a reason. And the most important thing we can do is discover his plan for us and commit ourselves to it. Keep listening as we learn from the Bible how to live wisely in God's world, which is the first step towards finding your purpose.
So, if you're going to take your Bibles and open up to Hosea chapter 2, and the title of this The Journey from Judgment to restoration. Last week we began our study in Isaiah chapter 1. We looked at verse 1 where we learned that the word of the Lord came to Isaiah during the reign of Jeroboam. Jerome II, son of Jehoash, king of Israel. And the year was around 790 BC.
And this was about 180 years after the reign of King Solomon.
So we've got to back up to Solomon for a second.
Solomon, who was the son of King David, was the last king of the United Kingdom of Israel. And it was during his reign that Israel reached its zingeth in terms of territory and wealth and power. God bless them so much. Sadly, his life was marked by many marriages, 700 to be exact, to foreign wives. Come on.
Yeah, we go on the test. He was going exactly against God's word. And so it is death. God And God waited till Solomon died in honor of King David. And instead, God punished Israel by dividing the name the kingdom of two.
So you have Israel to the north and Judah to the south.
Now, why did God punish Israel? Such as a girl. is Solomon's disobedience. Led Israel to turn away from God and worship other gods. And here's what happened.
In 1 Kings chapter 9. the Lord appears to Solomon, and he says to him, As for you. Think about your whole wife, okay? If you want performing and integrity, because this applies to you today and me. If you want performing in integrity of heart and of whiteness, it's statement you're following.
And do all I can land to observe my decrees and laws. I will establish your voice role over Israel forever. God will establish your life, man. If you do this. All God required of Solomon was faith.
All he had to do was trust God, and his obedience would serve as evidence of his faith, and his throne would have been established forever. But we need to understand that God's word comes with a warning. In 1 Kings 9, verse 5, the Lord warned Solomon, but if you or your sons turn away from me, and do not observe the commands and decrees I've given you, and go off to serve other gods and worship them. Then I will cut off Israel from the land I've given them. and will reject this temple I've consecrated for my name.
Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.
Solomon will totally disobey God. But what about all the other kings that followed in his footsteps? What was the response of Jeroboam, the first king of the divided kingdom? And to all the kings that followed him, all the way down to King Jeroboam II, really all the way down to Husha. They all disobey the word of God.
And they all led the Israelites in rebellion by worshiping other gods and following the evil practices of all the nations that surrounded them: the Ammonites, the Moabites. The eatablates. Then the mosquito bottles I have to sleep down. That's an old joke. And the Sidonians who were up in Sidon, which is north of Israel, Do you know who was from Sidon?
Jezebel The merit ain't half. She was the wicked witch of the West. Do y'all know anybody by the name of Jezebel? I hope your wife's not named Jezebel.
Okay. See, all these nations have their own special God that they worship. In 2 Kings 17. provides a summary of what they did. The Israelites did things against the Lord their God that were not right.
They did wicked things that provoked the Lord to anger. They worshiped idols that the Lord had said, You shall not do this. The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets. But they would not listen. You think we have no problem today?
They made for themselves two idols fast in the shape of the chaos, and bowed down to all the starry hosts. They even sacrificed their own sons and daughters in the fire in their worship of Baal and Monach.
So the Lord was not just angry, he was very angry with them. and he removed them from his presence. Yeah. The reason that God sent Hosea really were three reasons. First, Hosea was going to warn them of trying to judge them.
There was not. Second. Hosea wanted to stir their hearts to repentance. That's really what God wanted expressed through Hosea. And He wanted to offer them hope of future restoration.
So, what I want to look at first is how God was actually forced to judge the Israelites. He was put in a position where He had no choice but to judge them. Look at Hosea 2, verses 2 to 13. You listen. We're reading poetry here.
And if you're like me and you grew up in a town like Bethel, we didn't care a lot about poetry. I don't even remember reading a poem.
So I had to go to offer school and they entered the exam. I had a phone all there. The road that's traveled. Remember that one? The Robert Frost, that's the only pool on there?
Uh By the way, the Christian life is the road that's traveled. Do y'all like the way I work that in there? The main thing I want you to notice is how Israel's unfaithfulness. Broke God's heart and aroused his anger. In these verses, Hosea describes his wife's behavior as she rejected, and this is in real life, this happened to Hosea.
She rejected his love, deserted him, and took up with another lover. Hosea represents God, who is described in these verses, as a wounded and angry husband. And Gobra is the wayward wife, and she represents who? Yes, right.
So Hosea begins by speaking to his children who were the descendants of Jacob. The Israelites. And he says to them, rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she's not my wife. And I'm not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulest from between her breasts.
Otherwise, I will strip her that's Israel. I will strip Israel back here. and make her as bare as on the day she was born. I will make her like a desert. Turn her into parched land and slay her with thirst.
I will not share my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery. Their mom has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, I will go after my lovers. who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink. Therefore Again, this is Hosea speaking, I won't block her path.
Oh, really, God. I won't block her path with thorn bushes. I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them. She will look for them but not find them.
And then she will say, I won't give back to my husband as at first. But then I was better off than that.
So Hosea speaks of Israel as an unfaithful wife. Who has committed adultery by, again, Israel, by rejecting God and worshiping other lovers. And these other lovers were the false gods like Baal and Molech. Do we do the same thing? When we turn away from God and worship the things of this world, God at some point has no choice but to get our attention.
Israel was going to face the consequences of her sin, which had been exposed to God Himself. See, God says everything should do that. Everything that you watch, everything that comes out of your mouth, everything that you think in your mind, we can't cut anything from him. You know that right? Hebrews 4.13 says, Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.
Everything has been uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account. Because one day we will stand before God. God was going to have to strip Israel, ban her, and make her like a desert. In other words, Israel was going to eventually realize that her sin They left her empty and thirsty. for the God she had deserted.
This is the way God works. In his pursuit of us, he often has to let us come to the end of ourselves.
so that we can see our great benefit of it. We have to get to the point where we realize that nothing in this world will ever satisfy our real inner thirst for God. God has made us for Himself, and man's heart is restless until it rests in Him. I've left into a gal this afternoon. This is a little bit of a sense they work on the studies.
It was like three o'clock the afternoon and then I was giving it a shower at this club that I'm a member of. He came in there. He has just retired. He's in his 60s. We were in business school together.
And he said, well, Sandy, what do you do? And so and I was thinking about work and I was trying to get back to my office and get ready for the life. I said, well, um I told him about finding purpose. He said, Well, you know, um I've really just um I've retired. I feel like I lost.
Like I don't have purpose. I said, well, you come for the right now. Yeah. You know, talking about Bible study, and I think he's going to join me on one of my morning studies.
So you see, God. Yeah. We have to get to the same place many times as the prodigal son. Remember him in Luke 15? He asked for his inheritance from his father and then he took off with his wealth to a far country where he squandered it all away and while living?
You ever done that before? Until he came to the end of his senses when he had nothing, when he was just eating the food that the pigs had, and he remembered his father's love, and he remembered the warmth of his home. And he said, I'm going to set off and go back to my father. 'Cause I'll be like one of the hired help. What is it?
The father did when he saw him. From a distance, which told you he was looking every day to see if his son was coming back. When he saw him on the horizon and he recognized him, he ran. And he grabbed hold of them and he lifted him up and he bare him up. And his son was trying to confess to him.
And he said, Don't worry about that. And he took him back home and he put a coat of what he calls on him and he had the servants took a pig. And they celebrate it. You see, that's what God wants for you and me. And that's what he wanted for Israel.
And that's still what it was for Israel today. is there back in their land. This is a picture of a pennice. And this is what God, His judgment is designed to bring us to a place of repentance. But look at verse 8.
She, that is Israel, has not acknowledged, this is what God is saying, has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil. who married on her the silver and the gold. which they used for payment. They were taking the blessings from God. and offer it to Baal and Molech.
That's it. as if Baal and Molech were providing them with fertile crops and All the rest. In other words, the Israelites did not thank God and they did not worship Him for all of His blessings. Remember, this is the God who set them free from bondage in Egypt and then led them through the Red Sea on dry ground. And then he gave them manna and water from heaven.
water from rocks and manner from heaven, for 40 years in the desert. And then he defeated their enemies in Canaan and gave them the promised land. He gave Israel great power and wealth under both King David and then King Solomon. And even in the midst of their sin, during all those kings you're reading about, He sent prophets like Elijah and Elisha to warn them. But they would not listen.
Okay. They rejected God. In fact, they got to the point where they did not even acknowledge His name.
Now before we point fingers at the Israelites, How about us? Do we thank God daily for his blessings? When you sit down with a group of men around a business table, So you want to bury your head and thank God before them. Do we acknowledge it? God to our family members who are lost.
Are we wanting to acknowledge the name of Jesus to our friends? When is the last time? Let me ask you. And listen, I gotta look in the grotesque. But when is the last time we actually went up to a friend?
and told them that we have Place our trust in Jesus Christ. And he's why we have hope. in his fallen world. When's the last time you did that? In Matthew 10, 32 and 33, Jesus says, Who have acknowledged me before men?
I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven one day. Don't you want to step in heaven one day and the Lord says? He's one of them. He acknowledged her be Okay. But whoever disarms me before men I will dishonor him before my Father in heaven.
When we or a nation continue in sin without acknowledging God and without general repentance. God has no choice but to do what. Judges be And with this said, we need to understand the purpose of his judgment outside. is always to lead us towards repentance. 2 Peter 3, 9 says, The Lord is patient with you.
Is he been patient with you? His patience with me is ridiculous. The Sunnies put up with me. And I became a Christian when I was 10. If you saw some of the things I've done Excuse me, Russ, what the heck are you doing up to Europe?
But the Lord is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to what? Repentance. This is why John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministry preaching a message of repentance. When is the last time you heard that on Sunday morning at church? You need to repent, people.
I mean, have you ever heard that? Lives. That's what Jesus started out with. That's what Jelly Matters started out with. By the time of Hosea, Israel was in desperate need of discipline and punishment.
And what she needed was a wake-up call. That's what God was going to give her. Look at verse 9. Therefore, I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, and to cover her naked body.
So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers. No one will take her out of my hands. I will stop all her celebrations, her yearly festivals, her new moons, her Sabbath days, all her appointed festivals. Look at verse 13. I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the bales.
She decked herself with rings and jewelry and went after her lovers. But Maybe. She forgot. The commercial war. Even Israel's so-called religion Displease God.
Okay. What? Because it was not true worship. They weren't worshiping the one true God. They were worshiping idols made of wood and clay that did not even exist.
I'm gonna go take a thank you. Yeah. But aren't we the same way? Yeah. Even in Jesus' day, the religious Jews Fail to worship.
The one true God. who just happened to be standing right in front of them. Yeah. They do not recognize the time of his appearing. In Isaiah 29, 13, the Lord says, These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me is made up only of rules. Taught by men. If there was enough averse for the church in America, that is it. What do you think God will say about our worship? Of him to die.
in churches all across America. Here's the question. Are we really worshiping on Sunday mornings in spirit and in truth? Hallway. You see, the worship in spirit.
You gotta be born again. The minister has to be born again. You think they're all born again in the pulpit? No. Thank you, GAS.
Do you know how God brought the celebrations? In Israel, the yearly festivals and the Saturdays to an end, in Israel, you ain't brought them to an end. In 722 BC, the Assyrian army marched near and destroyed Israel and carved the Israelites back to Assyria and all the four high hills, all the high places, all where all the altars were. They were all of a sudden, all living Israel, empty. and deathly quiet.
Have you noticed how many churches have become empty in America, particularly during COVID? During the list, I did a paper on this, my dissertation in Seminary. I look at all the mainline denominations which will go nameless. But you figure out which ones they are. Since the 1950s, the mainline denominations in America have lost easily.
More than 50% of their numbers And thousands, I'm talking about tens of thousands of churches are closing their doors. In America it does. Also they were deathly silent. And I would say that is a good thing. Seriously.
After play variability. I'm you better stay in and watch cartoons and go to some of these churches because you're just wasting your time. You see, the main problem in Israel was they forgot God. Have we not done the same thing here in America? Yes.
My wife, and I'm embarrassed to say this. We watched some of the Grammys last night. Did anybody watch the Grammys? I hope not. No, no.
Because we like music. And it started off pretty good. But then it took a decidedly downward turn where they really were practicing sexual debauchery on the stage and we had to turn it off. Couldn't even watch it. Music provides a picture of the soul of a nation.
What is our music and what we're doing and say about our nation? See, the problem with our nation is not just that we don't acknowledge God, but we know about our fear of Him. That's the problem. Romans 3.18 says, there is no fear of God before their eyes. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
another American poet that I didn't study, but I thought I'd like to go. But y'all be impressed with this quote that I've discovered today. He said that though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they cried exceedingly small. though with patience he stands waiting, Exactness. Where is he oil?
Think about the worst for one minute. In 722 BC, the mills of God's justice finally reached Israel. History reveals that God used the Assyrians to punish the Israelites. As I said, they attacked and destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, and those ten tribes were cut off to Assyria.
Well, over the course of time, their identity was just absorbed into the culture. You heard from them no more. They kind of appeared later in the Samaritans. In 586 BC, a similar judgment came upon the southern kingdom of Judah. This time God used the Babylonians.
as a total punishment, under King Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonian army destroyed Judah and carried those Israelites back to Babylon where they were enslaved for how many years? Seventy.
So here's the question I want to talk about for the balance of the money. Was God finished with Israel at that time? No. No. Is he finished with you and me?
Is he finished with America? Exactly. The underlying subtle theme that runs through the book of Isaiah is the relentless love of God. It's unbelievable if you think about it. God never stopped loving Israel in spite of their unfaithfulness.
And He has not stopped loving America in spite of our unfaithfulness. Thank goodness.
So here's the second thing I want to talk about. Even in judgment, God's desire was to bring Israel to a place of repentance.
So look at verses 14 through 23. Therefore, I am now going to allure her. Guys, here's where we start to see the mercy of God. I want to allure her I will lead her into the wilderness and speak. tenderly to her words of comfort.
There I will hear from back her fingers, and will make the valley of Acor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the days she came up out of Egypt. In that day, declares the Lord, in that day. You will call me. My touchdown.
You will no longer call me my master. I will remove the names of the vales from her lips. No longer will their names be convoked. In that day I will make a covenant for them. I will betroth you to me forever.
I betrothed you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I'll betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord. I will plant her for myself in the land. I will show my love to the one I call not my loved one. I will say to those called not my people, you are my people.
And they will say, You are mine. God. From about um 650 APC. Until the birth of Christ. God was pretty much solid.
With the Jews. They began to hear the voice of God once again when Jesus appeared on the scene, who was their long-awaited Messiah. Mm sadly. As you all know, the vast majority of the Jews were checked against. Come down for it in history for So elate Joseph of Ermathea.
What's one? And Nicodemus and other Pharisees actually believed, and other Jews believed. And they became part of the early church. They were the natural branches. They were grafted back into the olive tree, as Paul explains in Romans 11.
If you hear that study, in 70 AD, Mm. God chose the Israelites again. Because they had rejected him in their unbelief. Roman soldiers led by General Titus marched into Jerusalem to squash a Jewish rebellion. And that was in your notes this week.
They massacred thousands of Jews. I mean, they crucified like 10,000. Lined up the streets, getting out of Jerusalem on crosses. They destroyed Jerusalem. They tore down the temple so that not one stone was left standing upon another.
Just as Jesus had prophesied in Matthew chapter 24. I've said anything for almost 1900 years. The choose were without a home lamp. They were without a king or prince. But then on May 14th, 1948, a miracle occurred.
From Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, proclaimed the establishment of the nation of Israel at a ceremony in Tel Aviv. It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon because he wanted to do it before Sunday. It fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 66:8, which says, Can a country be born in a day? What's the answer? Yes, one was.
Named Israel. Immediately Israel was attacked by five Arab nations. Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt. with only about 10,000 rifles. and a tank or two that they stole from the British.
and some artillery. They destroyed five armies. They were off to the tea. How did they do that? The same way they defeated the Canaanites, God did it.
All you have to do is read about the wars that are taking place in Israel, and you can see the hand of God. From nineteen forty-eight.
Okay. Until now. Millions of Jews have returned to their homeland. Why? It may not be because of the covenant of promises.
That's a big debate about whether the church, I don't want to get in all that. I'll tell you why they're there. because of the sovereignty and providential will of God. That's why they're there. Yeah.
And for the past 76 years, they have turned a desert into lush green pastures full of herds of sheep and goats. beautiful olive trees and vineyards. Just as Hosea prophesied in what we just read, I will lead her into the wilderness. And speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and I will make the valley of echo a door of hope.
So, what's going on now as you pick up and look at the news? Let's see what's happening. It is. What does God have in store for Israel? I believe I was there provides the answer.
Look at chapter 3. Thank you. The Lord said to me, Go show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites.
Now they turned to other gods and bought the sacred raising cakes.
So I bought her fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethic, whatever that is, of barley. Then I told her about it. You're to live with me many days. You must not be a prostitute or be Intimate with any man, and I will live with you. His work is interesting.
For the Israelites lived many days without king or prince, without sacrifice of sacred stones, without or household gods. Afterward, verse 5, the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings. in the last studies.
Okay. We did a last Asia. When Jesus rose again from the dead and ascended to the Father. Exactly right. When Jesus ascended into heaven, that began the last days.
We've been the last days for the last 2,000 years. I guess you didn't know that. God is not finished with Israel. His love endures forever. And his love will bring Israel to a place of repentance and reconciliation.
Long ago, Jeremiah prophesied a coming new covenant. In Jeremiah chapter 31, Verses 31 through 34. He prophesies, the time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people. Because they will all know me. from the least of them to the greatest. declares the Lord. for I will forgive their wickedness.
and will remember your sins. No more. I could just set up. That's the same thing he can do for you and they. By the way, that new covenant was inaugurated when Jesus shed his blood on the cross, was buried, and three days later rose from the dead.
Get it pinnacles. This new covenant was consummated with the coming of the Holy Spirit to live in the hearts of men. Just as Hosea had to go back and buy his wife from her lover, so God had to buy us back. He did not bow us back, by the way, with gold or silver, but with what? The precious blood of Christ.
Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect. The only hope for Israel in the world today. is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not what no one. Not Georgia.
Can become a god. Except for your son. John 14, 6, Jesus says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father. Except through me.
Have you ever noticed any funerals that did that leave that part out?
So That's about the most important part of John 14, 1 through 6. Today in this role. The vast majority of Jews are still blind to the gospel.
However, as you didn't know this, The chaos is slowly making headway. among Jews around the world and even in Israel.
So the measure is like Um Chosen people ministries and there are other Jewish ministries where Jews themselves who've accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, they become Messianic Jews and they go back to Israel where they spread the gospel. My next door neighborly Bethel, who grew up beside me. Her mother was my Sunday school teacher. She moved to Israel Here's a guy, Phil Colby got an issue. And she married a Jewish man.
And they've got a messianic church in Haifa right now. It's active. Joseph Joel Rosenberg, who's a messenger who now lives in Jerusalem, he estimates that there are one million Jewish believers in the world today. One million. There are only about 19 or 20 million choosing award, did you know that?
That's a pretty good percentage. I wonder what the percentage of Gentiles is. Yeah. When somebody comes to me and says, Rush, how come the Jews don't believe it? And they say, Kind of what they do: derogatory.
Follow. I look at him and said, well, how come the Gentiles don't believe? We gotta sing how they do. That's right. Many theologians believe that's coming in the near future, which is what I believe.
In this room. And many Israelites will come trumping to the Lord. And to his blessings in these last days. And the Lord will say to them, You are my people. And they will cry out, The Lord Jesus is our God.
I pray for Netanyahu almost every morning. that he will come to the Lord. I've read also the same thing for Trump. I'm not sure exactly what Trump is. You're getting close to that section who's not there yet.
Do you know the two of them met today in the White House? And I I saw a video of um At the beginning of the overall office with our new cabinet and Trump and that guy who And I stole it.
So I went to politics. That is a great picture. Our country used to stand with Israel. Amen. We do?
I also saw this this morning, which I'm not going to share the details of. But there's this lady on X that I follow, she's from Israel. She's in her 30s. She has, I follow about 50 Israelis on X. I'm in the X.
I found the Wasan, I found the IDF. you'd be surprised at what you can follow on the X and what they will actually post. It gives, you know, the Messaging post and even the IDF. But she is in authority, she has two children, and her husband is in the IDF, and she shares it with a broken heart about when he comes home and he has to say goodbye and go back to the battlefront. But um she told about um The video, the you know, I don't know if y'all know this, but when Hamas Attacked Israel, Elijah VII.
They brought with them a GoPros. They said, What do you got? GoPros? Yeah. Good process.
And they videoed as they tortured. The Jeeves. And apparently, one of our ambassadors to Israel, one of our officials, was in. Jerusalem last week and he met with Net Yahoo and they watched The video is an hour long. It's never been on the news 'cause it's so horrific.
Well this girl this morning, this Jewish Play their father. She posted 21 minutes of it. And she said, everyone needs to watch this, but it's very difficult.
So now Uh Open it up. I watched five seconds and had to turn it off. And I'll tell you what I witnessed. If the world witnessed it. It'd be a lot more silly for Israel.
What I saw was demonic. It actually affected me. I could get to my office and ask the Lord to take that image out of my mind. It's dramatic. And that's what Israel is dealing with it.
demonic forces that want to wipe them off the planet. That's true. That's my opinion. And I'm sticking with it. Let's go in prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this today. Thank you for your word. Thank you, Lord, who's made common authority to hear from you, not me, but from you, Lord. We need your warranty, God, because it is the source. of life.
In truth, because it leads us to you, Lord. You're the word. We can't separate the written word from you, the living word. Because it's your voice that we hear when we read the Bible, and you speak to us. All we have to do is open up your word and read it, and you tell us that you will speak to us.
I think about that verse I got from a friend Hurt Bells today after I was really down about that video I saw. And he taught the diversity he shared with me was Um Do not be troubled. The Lord is your peace. And as soon as I heard you speak to me through that verse, it's like the worry, the dread, the depression that I felt over that video just dissipated. And his special word is living and active and it penetrates.
into our souls and it gives us life. Thank you for your work, Lord. Celbish men don't love it. and to really dig deep into Jose and learn the Israel's history and how you Um Love them and want to save them, just like you love America and want to save us. And may we go out from here tonight and for the rest of this week and be looking for opportunities to tell someone about you.
She doing it and I pray. Amen. See you next week, guys. You've been listening to Finding Purpose with Russ Andrews. This broadcast is made possible because of the prayers and financial gifts of listeners like you.
If you want to learn more about our ministry or support us as we reach others with God-centered Bible teaching, please visit us at findingpurpose.net.
