The Maggot, The Rot, & The Lion | Sunday, June 23, 2024

I also want to invite you to pray with me. We highlighted in our announcements Sharon Moody. Sharon, why don't you step up here? You can pray; you can clap for sure.

Second Corinthians chapter 1 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comforts, who comforts us in all of our tribulation, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted of God." God, by His Holy Spirit, comforts us. The Holy Spirit in the Scriptures is called the Comforter. He gives us, as Christians, His Comforter, the Holy Spirit within us, and He uses us to be able to comfort people who are going through difficulties, tribulation, and trouble.

Two of the areas of ministry that we have been involved in as a church for a very long time are in the areas of disaster relief and chaplaincy. As you saw, Sharon is involved with the chaplaincy program with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. We are blessed to be able to help her go, and we are sending her to Texas to serve with Billy Graham's ministry as a chaplain.

In saying this, I want to throw out to you that I think some of you are called by God to serve in disaster relief or in chaplaincy ministry. I have served in chaplaincy ministry for more than 20 years, first with the Red Cross and then for the last 15 years or so with the Escondido Fire Department. Pastor Mark serves with the San Marcos Fire Department, and Pastors Garrett and Nick work with the Escondido Police Department. There are huge opportunities to serve in chaplaincy and disaster relief. If you are interested in any of that, if you think, "Maybe I might be called to do that," come and talk with Sharon or talk with Pastor Nick. Raise your hand, Pastor Nick. If you don't know who Nick is, that's Nick. He will help you get plugged in with disaster relief or chaplaincy. We would love for you to be part of that.

But we want to pray today for Sharon as she goes out. I invite anyone who wants to come up to pray with us. You can come on up here, and we'll lift Sharon up to the Lord and ask Him to pour out upon her, fill her, and use her. I think God is going to use her in a great way.

So awesome! All right, let's pray for Sharon. God, we thank You that You have given us Your abiding Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, You are the Comforter, and Lord, You desire to use our lives and our ministry to be Your hands and heart, reaching out and bringing grace, mercy, peace, and comfort to those who are going through difficult, challenging tribulations. I pray for Sharon that You would fill her to...

Overflowing, Lord, give her strength as she's serving. Would you give her the right words to share at the right time? By your Holy Spirit, help her just to be your presence, ministering to those who are in need. Bless her, and I pray, Lord, I know there are some here today who you have given gifts, callings, talents, and abilities for this very specific ministry as well. We pray that you would draw them forward to be a part of it and to be used for your glory. So use Sharon, we pray. Bless her in Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay, with that, would you this morning take out your Bibles? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. We are in the Old Testament book of Hosea through the summer. To find that, just turn to about the middle of your Bible and begin turning to the right. You will eventually pass the prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and then Hosea. Hosea chapter 5 is where we are this week.

As I go through the service teaching here on Sunday mornings, or any of our other pastors are teaching, we are always recording the messages. We take those messages and put them up online for people to be able to watch. Every single week, lots of different people tune in and watch on YouTube and follow the message. In addition to the longer, 40 or so minute message that we put up there, Pastor Nick takes and cuts out some portions of those, normally about a minute long, and we put those up on all the different social media channels that the church has.

We have Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and of course, YouTube. We even have a TikTok account. It is fascinating to see because we are able to look at all the social media channels on the back end, the analytics, to see the engagement of these different clips. Some of them only get a few hundred views on YouTube shorts and stuff like that, but some of them will get, within a few hours, four, five, or six thousand views, shares, likes, and comments. We get some pretty interesting comments from time to time, and it is a trip to see what gets traction and what is moving forward.

This last week, Nick took a clip from the message from last Sunday and entitled it "Judgment Begins at the House of the Lord." That one, within a very short period of time, got thousands of views online, so obviously it had some traction. That statement in that title, "Judgment Begins at the House of the Lord," comes from a New Testament passage of Scripture from Peter in 1 Peter chapter 4.

The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, with the people of God. If it begins with us first, if God is willing to judge His own people, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel? If God will willingly judge His own people, then what does that say about how God will judge the world?

In a short video clip that Nick put up last week, I mentioned in my message that when I began teaching the Bible here at this church at 19 years old, I started in February of 1999. Shortly after starting, I began in the Book of Galatians, and by the summer, we were in the Book of James. I was teaching through James when I reached chapter 3, where we are given this sobering word from James: "Let not many of you become teachers, for we shall receive a stricter judgment."

I remember reading that as a 19-year-old and thinking, how come nobody told me this before I started teaching? The reality of receiving a stricter judgment carries a weightiness, and there ought to be a weightiness to that. Let not many of you step forward into that place to speak and teach the exhortations of the Word of God, to call people to follow God. There is an accountability to you. Let not many of you become teachers; there will be a stricter judgment.

This reality brings a greater accountability, and there ought to be a greater accountability for those who will stand and give forth God's Word. I made this point because Hosea 4 is making the same point, and we will see it again in chapter 5 today. You do not get a pass because you are a priest. You do not get a pass when God's judgment comes just because you have the title of Minister or Pastor, or because you have the credentials of a Master of Divinity or whatever it may be. That does not give you a pass at all; you are not going to escape the judgment.

God was saying this to the priests in Hosea's day, some 2,800 years ago. They were not going to receive a pass when God's judgment came upon the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. I mentioned in my message last week that two weeks ago, there was a well-known Christian minister, a pastor, who has had a very long tenure serving his...

The church has a significant presence in the ministry, with a large national radio and television ministry. Recently, a well-known minister resigned in shame due to a press release from the church that cited "mystery sin." We all have an understanding of what is meant by "mystery sin."

Just last week, another prominent Christian pastor, who has been serving for a long time, resigned in shame from a large megachurch here in the United States. This resignation was announced due to sexual impropriety that occurred some four decades ago, involving a minor. I don't need to mention names; it's in the news, and you can look up who these individuals are.

When we see events like this, which are sadly and unfortunately far too common, it rightfully makes people angry. Not only does it provoke anger, but it also stumbles the faith of some individuals. For those who looked up to these ministers, who followed their ministry on television or radio, or who were part of that church, it can derail their confidence. It undermines their trust in Christian ministers, in churches, and in the ability of God to transform, change, and sanctify individuals.

Over the last seven years or so, it has become somewhat of a trend for people to post their deconstruction stories online, especially on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. These stories often reflect a similar experience. Many people who have been around the church for a long time may remember being taught to share their testimonies. They would talk about who they were before becoming Christians, how God brought them into Christ, and what God has done in their lives since then.

Now, however, we are seeing deconstruction testimonies, where individuals share how they have deconstructed their faith in Christ or, more accurately, the faith they grew up with in the church they were part of. Many times, their stories are connected to the indiscretions or sinful improprieties of ministers whom they or their parents admired.

These kinds of headlines, like those we have seen in the last couple of weeks, make me angry and lead me to question many things.

Sometimes the culture that we've allowed in many American churches is a heavy thing. However, when I see these things come to light, I am also encouraged. You might think, "Why would you be encouraged?" I'm encouraged because it proves James and Peter right. Let not many of you become teachers, because we shall receive a stricter judgment. It proves that word of James right; there is an accountability, and there ought to be an accountability.

It proves Peter right when he says the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. That is true. It proves the Scriptures right when Paul said in Galatians, "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." If he sows to the flesh, he will of the flesh reap destruction; if he sows to the Spirit, on the flip side of that, he will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

It proves Jesus right in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 4, when he said, "There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, nor anything kept secret that shall not come to light." It proves King Solomon right when he wrote in Ecclesiastes 12, "God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil." The Scriptures are true, and don't miss this point because it's important.

Point number one this morning: sin will be judged without partiality. There was no exemption given to the class of people in Israel who were called priests. Sin will be judged without partiality; that is absolutely clear when you open the pages of Scripture. Paul, in the New Testament book of Romans, says the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. God will by no means clear the guilty. That is the heavy reality of the nature of God as it is pictured and revealed in Exodus 34:7. God will not overlook sin; he will judge sin without partiality.

Now, the good news is that, while this is sobering and ought to be sobering, God is merciful, gracious, and slow to anger. I am so grateful that God is patient and slow to anger, but I also have the clarity of thought when I come to sobering passages like that: he will by no means clear the guilty.

The same kind of truths that the prophet Hosea was speaking to his people some 2,700 to 2,800 years ago are still relevant today. At that time, the nation of Israel had been split by a civil war a couple of hundred years prior. The northern kingdom, referred to in the Scriptures as Israel, Ephraim, or Samaria, had its capital city there, while the southern kingdom was called Judah. Hosea primarily addressed the northern tribes, which had continued in persistent idolatry and spiritual adultery for over 500 years.

The sad reality was that God's patience and longsuffering were wearing thin, and it was now time for judgment to begin at the house of God among His people. Hosea writes in Hosea 5:1, "Hear this, O priests." He is addressing the religious leaders, but not just them; he continues, "Take heed, O House of Israel." This message is for the priests, the royal palace, and the regular people, calling them to account for their sin. The judgment is theirs because they have been a snare to Mispa and have spread a net at Tabor.

Mispa and Tabor are two locations that the children of Israel knew well. Mispa was a valley region, while Tabor was the most prominent hill in the valley of Jezreel. In the 8th century BC, the children of Israel were worshiping Canaanite deities on the high hills and in the valleys. They were engaged in the worship of Baal, the god of the mountain tops, and Asherah, the goddess of the valleys. Additionally, they were serving and worshiping another Canaanite god called Moloch, bowing down to these deities.

As a result, the valleys and hills had become a snare and a trap. The people were ensnared and trapped in sin, defiling themselves and the land in a very flagrant and open way. They had not sought to hide their sin; it was out in the open for everyone to see.

Openly engaged for centuries in immoral idolatry, the author of Kings puts it like this in Second Kings 17:10: "They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree." On the hills and in the valleys, the people were worshiping. They burned incense in all the high places to all of the gods of the nations round about them, and they were carried away into wickedness. The children of Israel were engaged in what the Bible refers to as presumptuous sin.

What is presumptuous sin? The King James Version renders it as "sin with a high hand." It is brazen, bold, cavalier, arrogant, audacious, and rebellious defiance. It is out in the open for everyone to see. God spoke some very hard words to His people about presumptuous sin through Moses in Deuteronomy 17. The man who acts presumptuously in arrogant sin and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge who calls that person to repent, that man shall die. These are heavy words, and so you shall put away the evil from Israel.

What is this high-handed presumptuous sin? Charles Spurgeon, the great Prince of Preachers, spoke about this with a mastery of words. He said, "All sins are great sins, but some sins are greater than others." Every sin has in it the very venom of rebellion and is full of the essential marrow of traitorous rejection of God. However, there are some sins that have a greater development and essential mischief of rebellion, which wear upon their faces the brazen pride that defies the Most High.

It is wrong to suppose that because all sins will condemn us, one sin is not greater than another. The fact is that while all transgression is grievous and sinful before God, there are some transgressions that have a deeper shade of blackness and a more double scarlet-dyed hue of criminality than others. It is remarkable that though an atonement was provided under the Jewish law for every kind of sin, there was one exception: the soul that sins.

Presumptuously, those who defy God shall have no atonement; they shall be cut off from the midst of His people. It is very clear.

Point number two: God will punish presumptuous defiance. It is fascinating that there are a couple of cities in Scripture known for this kind of presumptuous defiance. They were destroyed by God. In Genesis chapter 19, we know of them: Sodom and Gomorrah. The name Sodom is connected to a certain kind of presumptuous sin in our day. If you ask anyone, most of the time, they have certain opinions about what the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were. But what do the Scriptures say was the sin of Sodom? God answers that question for us in Ezekiel 16:49, where it says, "Look, this was your iniquity, Sodom." What was it? She and her daughters had pride.

It is fascinating that we have a whole month dedicated to the celebration of presumptuous sins. Should we suppose that we shall escape judgment? I think it was Ruth Graham who is known for saying, and Billy began to say it afterward, but he always said it was from his wife: if God does not judge the United States of America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. That is a heavy thing to consider as we sit here in the month of June.

God's people, from the king to the priests to the commoners, were wholeheartedly given to sin with a high hand—presumptuous sin, brazen, bold sin on every high hill and under every green tree. Everywhere you look, the nation was fully given over to idolatry, adultery, and spiritual harlotry. God says, "Your judgment is decreed. I have written it; it is stated, and it is certain."

What have we seen in our day among our religious leaders and our political leaders? We just had news this last week about well-known religious leaders in our culture. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked. God will punish presumptuous defiance. Hosea says in verse four, "They, the children of Israel, do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God." Why? Because the spirit of harlotry is in their midst. They are overtaken with the spirit of harlotry, and they do not know.

The Lord, the pride of Israel, testifies to His face. Therefore, Israel and Ephraim, the northern ten tribes, stumble in their iniquity, but also Judah and the southern tribes stumble with them. At this point during Hosea's ministry, he probably lived in or around the city of Samaria, the capital of the region. Israel was proud and bold in their sin, and their boldness over many centuries made it virtually impossible for them to turn to God. It was as if they had crossed some sort of threshold, some sort of line, that now hindered them from coming back to the Lord. The spirit of immoral, sinful harlotry had taken hold of them, and they had forgotten God.

This brings to the forefront a very concerning truth: there seems to be a point at which a line is crossed, and the conscience of an individual is seared. What is the conscience? Paul, in Romans, says the conscience is that internal part of you that does two things: it accuses or excuses you. It's kind of like an umpire that says, "This is safe" and "This is out." It lets you know what is right and what is wrong. God has given this to you, hardwired into you. Yet, there is a point, and the Bible alludes to this, at which a line is crossed, and now that conscience has been scarred, seared, or calloused. As the book of Ephesians says in chapter 4, you become past feeling. There is a dullness to the sense of what is right and wrong.

Maybe you have seen this before; I certainly have. You watch a 20/20 special or a 60 Minutes special where the interviewer is talking with some reprehensible murderer. You hear them speak and realize there is something—a blackness, a deadness to their eyes and their heart. You go, "They just don't have any sense of right and wrong." We look at that and think there is a psychopathy there, and it is very concerning when you see it. What is that? There is a dullness, a deadness to that conscience; it's gone. They have crossed the line.

Now, is it impossible for them to return to God in repentance? With God, nothing is impossible, but it certainly is hard. Our hearts have been hardened, and it is a frightful thing. Isaiah speaks to this.

During the same period of time as Hosea, they lived as contemporaries. He says, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil." That word "woe" is the Hebrew word "ho," like you've heard before. It's kind of like a shocking term, "whoa," but there's more to it. If you really do an in-depth study of this word, you start to realize that there is a sense in which judgment is coming. It's a sorrowful reality that judgment is coming.

"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." Paul spoke about this in the New Testament in First Timothy. He talks about a time coming in the future when people's conscience is seared as with a hot iron, and that's what happened to Ephraim.

It is so important for us to recognize that these heavy, sobering words are for God's people—those who are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is not God speaking to an ignorant pagan people who had no sense of God or knowledge of God. He is talking to His own people, who had the Word of God and the law of God. Yet, He says, "You have turned from God, and you've been engaged in gross sexual immorality and idolatry for so long with Baal, Asherah, and Molech that you have come to a point where you are beyond feeling and cannot return."

In the midst of this, while they are worshiping Baal, Molech, and Asherah, they are also trying to keep up the pretense of worshiping God. It's like, "Well, you know, on Sabbath we still need to go and offer a sacrifice." We see this in the very next verse. Look at Hosea 5:6: "With their flocks and their herds, they go to seek the Lord." They go to the flock and grab a sheep from the flock; they go to their herds and grab a young bull.

With their flocks and herds, they shall go to seek the Lord. They think, "Yes, we're engaged in gross pagan sexual immorality. Yes, we're caught up in sensual drunkenness and all kinds of debauchery, but we still need to make sure we bring an offering to the Lord." However, they will not find Him.

Why will they not find Him? We saw last week in Hosea 4:17 that "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone." God has removed His presence. They will not find Him because He has withdrawn Himself from them. They have dealt treacherously with the Lord.

They have begotten pagan children. Now, a new moon shall devour them and their heritage.

Point number three this morning is that one of God's punishments is to remove His presence from His presumptuous people. We are not Israel, and I do believe that God has future plans for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. People can disagree on what those future plans are exactly; there are a lot of different ideas and opinions about that. However, I do think that God has some future plan for His people, the children of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The church, however, is also in Christ, the people of God.

While this is a message to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there is something in this for us to learn. Paul makes that very clear in his letter to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 10:11, he says, "Now all these things happened to them, the children of Israel, as examples—examples to who? Instructive examples to me and to you. All these things happened to Israel as examples, and they were written for our admonition, our instruction, upon whom the ends of the age have come. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."

We ought to learn from Israel during the time of Hosea and from how God dealt with Israel during that period. They, with a high hand and with boldness, continued in pride in their sin for centuries, thinking, "Well, we're God's people." The priests were even worse down the road, because they thought, "Well, we're God's priests."

There is a way in which we Christians and Americans can look at ourselves and say, "Well, look at us; we're a Christian nation," which is, at this point, laughable. Yet we look at ourselves and think, "We're so great; we're so awesome. God would never judge us." Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall.

What should we learn from God's judgment upon Israel during Hosea's day? Well, I think at least in part we should learn to take heed to what Paul counseled the Ephesians to do in Ephesians 4. He says, "This I say therefore, and I testify in the Lord, that you Christians should no longer walk as the rest of the world, the rest of the Gentiles, walk in the futility of their mind."

Something has happened; they no longer have a sense of the rightness of the way. You should no longer walk in the futility of your mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.

Feeling there's a deadness, a callousness, they are past feeling and therefore they've given themselves over to lewdness, to work uncleanness with greediness. We can point the finger of judgment at lost people in our culture who have no knowledge of God and say, "How could they do such atrocious, immoral, wicked things?" Yet, they have a deadness of soul and heart that they don't even recognize, a knowledge that these things are wrong necessarily, because their conscience is so callous.

On the other hand, we ought to know. Therefore, we ought not to walk as the rest of the world does, who are past feeling and have given themselves over to lewdness, to work uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ. If indeed you've heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, you are to put off concerning your former conduct. Some of you remember your previous life, what I would call BC—before Christ. Maybe you don't want to dwell on it, and probably you shouldn't dwell on your former life before Christ, but you remember it. God has rescued and redeemed you from that; you are no longer that person.

He says to put off, like a garment, the old man concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lust. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and true holiness. This is my responsibility in Christ, by God's enabling power, by His Holy Spirit.

God has given us three very important things to aid us in this putting off and putting on action. First, the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who guides us in all truth and gives us empowerment. We, as Christians, if you are a Christian today, have the Spirit of God indwelling you to empower you to walk in righteousness.

Not only that, we have the Word of Christ, the Word of God, which sanctifies us. Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them by Your truth; Your Word is truth" (John 17:17). Ephesians 5:25 says God sanctifies and cleanses His church by His Word. He renews us; He renews our minds so that we would be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

So, we have the Spirit of God empowering us, we have the Word of God cleansing, sanctifying, and purifying our minds and hearts, and we have the body of Christ, the people of God, to challenge and encourage us and stir us up to love and good deeds.

What does that look like? Hopefully, you begin to develop relationships, closeness, and friendships with other individuals who are Christians—guys with guys, especially ladies with some of the ladies. Hopefully, you have a Christian friend in your life who will call you on the carpet when you are a jerk and say, "You know, you were kind."

Of a jerk just a minute ago, or the way you just spoke to your spouse, that is not befitting a Christian. You might get angry at that person and think, "How dare you? Who do you think you are?" But God is speaking. When that person says, "Listen, I've kind of watched your life, and you're not the most honest person in your business practices," you might get angry and decide, "I'm not going to spend time with that person anymore. I'm not going to sit next to them in church. How dare they?"

It's like God is saying, "Hey, McFly, we've got a little problem here. Let's wake up. I'm trying to get your attention because I don't want to have to pour out some judgment or remove my presence from you. I will withdraw from your sinfulness. Would you like God to remove His presence from your business practices? Probably not. All the success you've experienced up to this point has been His blessing. Acknowledge it."

We're called to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing this: God is working in us to will and to do His good pleasure. God is working, and He calls us to work as well.

In Hosea 5:8, Hosea says, "Blow the ram's horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; cry aloud in Beth-aven. Look behind you, O Benjamin!" What's happening here? Now, Hosea is a prophet believed to be addressing the northern tribes in Samaria, and he has a message for his cousins in the South. He says, "Blow the ram's horn, blow the trumpet, cry aloud!"

He is saying, "Hey, listen, cousins down there in the South, God has a message for you. God is judging your cousins in the northern ten tribes. Look behind you, O Benjamin. Look at what God is doing up here in the North. Ephraim shall be desolate; your cousins in the day of rebuke are going to be destroyed among the tribes of Israel. I make known what is sure."

So God says, "I am surely going to destroy your cousins, and I want to get your attention." But what was the response of the people in Judah? Here’s the amazing thing: God sounds the alarm to the people in the southern kingdom, Judah, and says, "Listen, your cousins, your brothers in the North are about to be destroyed, and you should take note. I want you to repent; you're doing the same thing they're doing. I'm giving you a little bit more time and some advanced notice. I want you to repent."

What was their response? This is phenomenal. Verse 10 states that the princes of Judah, the leaders of the southern tribe, are...

Those who remove a landmark, I will pour out my wrath on them like water. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked by human precept after the dictates of his own heart. Therefore, I will be to Ephraim like a moth and to the house of Judah like rottenness.

So God says to Judah, "I'm trying to get your attention. I'm going to judge your sister in the north. I will judge you unless you repent." What is Judah's response? The picture is phenomenal. They are looking at the judgment of Ephraim and thinking, "Huh, when it talks about them moving the landmarks, this might be good for us. If our brothers and sisters in Ephraim get destroyed, it might be really good for us. We might get some new land in the whole deal. If they're gone, we're going to inherit some more."

It would be like watching your neighbor's house burn down and thinking, "I bet I could get that property for a steal." Where does your heart have to be at this point to have drifted that far?

God says a judgment is coming on Ephraim, and the judgment is going to come upon Judah in the south as well. He gives three different similes here. Going back to grammar school, what is a simile? It is a comparison of two things using "like" or "as." He gives three different similes about what he is going to bring upon them.

We read the first two in verse 12: "I will be to Ephraim, the northern ten tribes, like a moth." There's the simile. "And to the house of Judah in the south, like rottenness." What is this? The word "moth" is probably not the best translation. A better translation would probably be something like "like pus" or "like a maggot."

So God says, "I am bringing a judgment upon the northern ten tribes." What is it like? It is like a festering, gangrenous, putrefying sore that is destroying them by infection. That's what's happening among them. Oh, that is a solid picture, isn't it?

Now, I will be to Judah like rottenness. The same idea applies: like decay that is going to come upon them. Finally, he says they haven't gotten the picture, so now I will be like a lion. The decay, the rottenness, the maggot, the pus—it didn't get through to them.

I will be like a lion. In verse 13, when Ephraim saw his sickness, he was dying of this rot, and Judah saw his wound, this festering wound. Then Ephraim said to Assyria and sent to the king Jerub, this great king. Yet he cannot cure you, nor can he heal you of your wound. For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and to the house of Judah like a young lion. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue.

Ephraim's response came early when their decay started to happen before this period of time in the 8th century BC. They tried to get help because their nation was failing. There was decay setting in, and instead of turning to God for help and cure, they thought, "Maybe we'll reach out to another nation that might be able to help us." Early in their history, they reached out to the Assyrians, and that went badly for them because now the Assyrians were coming to destroy them like a lion.

So, early in their decay, they decided not to turn to God. They didn't want to do that because then they would have to stop their sinful ways. Instead, they turned to the Assyrians, thinking they could help. However, Assyria was not going to be able to cure them; they were also sick with sin and wounds all around them. But they wouldn't turn to the Lord.

Now, God says, "Because you refuse to turn to me, I will come to you like a lion." What is the lion going to do to both Ephraim and later to Judah? First through the Assyrians and then through the Babylonians for the people of Judah, He will tear them and go away, taking them away. God is going to exile them from the land, removing and expelling them. He tried to get their attention with the internal rot, and that didn't work. Now, He will come with an external force that is frightening.

I think we are at the point of internal rot. What comes next? When the internal rot weakens a nation, what can you expect? Just use your imagination; you don't have to play this out very far. We are not Israel, but God has not changed.

Point number four: God's wrath is relentless when there is no repentance. God would use the Assyrians in about 722 BC through King Sargon.

To be a rod of correction, destroying the people of Israel in the North, twenty years later, God would use Sarib, the next king of Assyria, to almost completely destroy the nation of Israel. If not for God's grace and His mercy, the entire nation of Judah would have been destroyed as well, around 701 BC, by the Assyrian King Sennacherib. Only one city was not destroyed: Jerusalem, and only because of God's miraculous grace.

God would judge to what end? Why would God enact such a punishment? Well, first, because this is exactly what He said He would do. Through Moses, God said to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy, which we studied a couple of years ago, "Listen, if you go down the path of following the gods of the people round about you, then you will be judged. It will begin internally, and then it will come from the outside like a lion and destroy you." So, God is only fulfilling His word.

Second, one of the other reasons that God is doing this is because He is seeking, through the punishment, to bring about a purification. It is always important for us to remember that God's punishment is ultimately for the purpose of purification. He will destroy the cancer, if you will, so that He might redeem what remains. The purpose of His punishment is for purification; that is His intended outcome.

We see it so clearly in verse 15, the last verse of chapter 5: "I will return again to my place." God says in chapter 4:17, "Israel is given to idols; let him alone." God has backed away; He is no longer there to protect them or bless them. He says, "I'm going to return to my place till they, the people of Israel, acknowledge their offense. Till they will seek my face in their affliction, they will earnestly seek me."

God is patient, and He is patient enough to wait out our rebellion. He will stand on the sidelines, if you will, saying, "You got this. Okay, I'll let you figure this out." That is hard to do. If you're a parent, you know how hard that is. But God is patient enough to wait out His people's sin, to allow them to reap the consequences of their sin so that they might return to Him.

Point number five: Because of His abundant mercy and grace, God will relent when He sees repentance. He will withhold His judgment.

When he sees repentance, he is waiting to see repentance. Maybe the greatest illustration of this is the story that Jesus told. Even if you don't know the Bible, you probably know this story in Luke chapter 15. We call it the parable of the Prodigal Son.

A man had two sons, and one of his sons came to him and said to his father, "I want you to give me my inheritance now." He knew his request was dishonoring, as it implied, "I know you're not dead, but I want my inheritance now." After his father gave him his inheritance, the son left. The King James Version says he went and lived according to riotous living, squandering his inheritance. Ultimately, all the money was gone, and his life fell apart.

He found himself in a desperate situation, realizing that everything had come to nothing. At the end of himself, he came to his senses and said, "The servants in my father's house have it better than I do. I'll just go back to my father's house." He thought, "You don't need to take me back as a son; you can just take me as a servant. That's all I want. I just want to be a servant in your house, because this is horrible."

He returned to his father, and what did he find? He found his father waiting for him to return with open arms. The father did not only receive him as a servant but restored him to his rightful place. He poured out a blessing and rejoiced.

This is the amazing thing about God the Father in the story: He allowed the son to dishonor him and to run after all these things. The father waited, and I can't even imagine how hard that would be to be in that place of waiting. This is what God does in His grace; He patiently waits. Isaiah says He waits to be gracious, but He will only relent when there is repentance. When a person returns to Him, the father restores the son and rejoices with everyone after his son returns.

We need to hold in our hearts this reality: sin will be judged without partiality. We do not occupy some special place in world history that exempts us from the judgment of God upon sin. He will judge sin without partiality and punish presumptuous sins. Sin that continues for a long period of time has a tendency to turn into presumptuous sin because it fosters the thought, "Well, I haven't been judged yet; I guess it's okay." Presumptuous sin will be punished.

God will be relentless in His punishment when there is no repentance. Now, here's the good news: that's bad news. God's wrath was relentless upon another. For you, Christ died for you. In our place, He bore my sin, my shame, and the punishment for my sin upon Himself so that in Christ I might know mercy and grace. That's the good news; that's the awesome gospel. In Christ Jesus, I can be reconciled back to God because Jesus bore my shame and my sin on the cross.

That is such good news! There are people in our lives—individuals that we know, friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors—who need to hear that today. Maybe they have been living in presumptuous, high-handed sin, and the heavy reality is that God will judge that. Don't think you will get away from that; God will judge that.

That's a hard thing to say to someone. It is so hard to say to someone that we find ourselves very reserved, feeling like we can't say that to them because maybe they'll get upset with us. God needs them to hear that, and you're the conduit through which they will hear that because they're probably not going to tune in to my message.

So, I am here challenging and equipping you, and I'm asking you, by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, to be presumptuous in your sharing of the Gospel. Be bold to the point that your friend, after you call them on the carpet because of their sin and say, "You need to repent," responds, "Wasn't that presumptuous of you?" You can say, "Yes, it is, and I will be all the more bold to tell you that you need to repent." Why? Because only in Christ is there redemption. Without Him, the wound will fester, and the lion will come. There is no hope apart from Christ for our nation or any nation.

God help us. Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Father God, I do pray that You, by Your Spirit, Holy Spirit, as the Scriptures make very clear, enabled the early church with boldness. I pray that You enable this church, the late church, with boldness because our culture needs to hear the good news of the Gospel.

Gospel and they need to see the reality and the truth that sin brings judgment. God, would you enable your people? Empower us, pour out your Holy Spirit upon your church. Give us opportunities this week and do not allow us to shrink back from them.

Give us the words in that moment to be presumptuous in the sharing of the good news of the Gospel. Pour out your Spirit upon your church, we pray. We ask this today in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen."