Alright, where are we going in the scriptures this morning? Hosea 7. Yes, we're going to be looking at the fourth of the four metaphors that have been used regarding Israel. We're looking at the deceitful bow today. A false bow. A bow that looked like it was functioning, but yet was inoperative. Try that with modern day weaponry today. Try a gun with a crooked barrel. It would look like a Three Stooges movie or something. Same idea. We're going to open the scriptures, turn to Hosea chapter 7. We're going to be covering verses just 14, 15, and 16 this morning. But let's start at verse 11 and read to the end of the chapter in verse 16. Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart. They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them. I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven. I will chastise them as their congregation hath heard. Woe unto them that they have fled from me! Destruction unto them, because they have transgressed against me. Though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me, and they have not cried unto me with their hearts when they howled upon their beds. They assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me. They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a deceitful bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt." And Lord, we just pray that you would have your way with your words today, that we would learn and grow and be edified by what we see that you have told us. Amen. Verse number 14, we'll start there. And they have not cried unto me with their heart when they howled upon their beds. See, the people, they were going through this God-given judgment, this God-given chastisement, as it says, and that chastisement was there to bring them down so they could only have reliance upon Him. See, of course, we know that they had reliance on everyone else and everything else. It's important to remember back to verse 11 here. It says, they call to Egypt and they go to Assyria. They were foolish like that silly dove, wandering to and fro instead of taking a straight course to Jehovah God, their provider, their sustainer, their lover. The One who truly did give of Himself for them so that they could have life. The people going through judgment. I can only think of what happens when we go through pain. Phil, how does your knee feel in the middle of the night? It hurts. It's not painful at night. But when you're in utter pain, I like to share this testimony, I usually don't like to share testimonies of myself, but when I had excruciating back pain, I, at that time I was in the assembly of God, my only position where I could find comfort was when I was on my knees, leaning over the bed and there reading. I had a wonderful time reading 2 Corinthians 13. I went back to the church I was in. They were praying for my healing. My healing and being out of pain. And I read this in 2 Corinthians 13 where God said, my grace is sufficient for thee. I went and gave a negative testimony in the church. I said, you know what I've learned? He said, if God allows me to be put into a wheelchair, His grace is sufficient for me. See, what we do in this life really is not a reflection on the heaven. We are growing in grace and in knowledge. Our focus needs to be on what He has done and not what we can do. That's the sad state of both things. But they were on their beds, in pain, yet they were crying out about their pain and not crying to the One who could deliver them ultimately out of that pain. Instead of looking to God, they just decried how miserable they had it. Let's go back to the book, ahead to the book of Joel for a second. Joel chapter 1. Let's start with verse number one. The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Petuel. Hear this ye old men, and give ear all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmer worm hath left, hath the locusts eaten." See again, Joel is talking about God's judging of Israel with a plague, this plague of locusts. That which the palmy worm hath left hath the locust eaten, that which the locust hath left hath the canker worm eaten, and that which the canker worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. What a horrible circumstance. You think you had it bad at first with the palmy worm? You think you got it bad, now here comes the locust. Oh, it can't get any worse than this. God's judgment can't get any worse. Here comes the canker worm. And now the caterpillar. That means they go right around in full circles. That the locust is now breeding again. There is no end to what is happening to us. This was the cry of Israel there. Awake ye drunkards and weak. Now these drunkards, He wasn't dealing with specifically those that were consumed by alcohol, but they were drunk on their own lusts, their own will instead of God's will. And howl, all you drinkers of wine. So there's the people that were drinking. They howled. In other words, he's looking at, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth, for a nation has come upon my land, strong and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath cheap teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my vine waste and barked my fig tree, he hath made it clean bare and cast it away. The branches thereof are made white, lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests, the Lord's ministers mourn. The field is wasted, the land mourneth. For the corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up. The oil languishes." Hold on to that verse when we go back to verse number 15 of Hosea. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen! Howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished, the vine is dried up, and the fig tree languishes, the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree. Even all the trees of the field are withered, because joy is withered away from the sons of men. Gird yourselves in lament, ye priests. Howl, ye ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God. For the meat offering and the drink offering is withholding from the house of your God. Sanctify ye a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry, unto the Lord. Alas, for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as the destruction of the Almighty shall it come. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed is rotten under the clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down, for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan? The herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. O Lord, to Thee will I cry, for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field cry also unto Thee, for the rivers of waters are dried up. and the fire hath devoured the pastors of the wilderness." I'll save chapter 2 to go along with Hosea chapter 8. See, they had every reason to howl, to cry upon their beds, yet the direction was not to God. Yet later on in the book of Joel, God would say, call a solemn assembly. Seek Me through it all. Because I have brought this judgment to afflict you. There's no more crops, there's no more wine. All these were important, not necessarily for the indulgence of the people, but they were important for the sacrifices they were to make to the pagan gods that they worshipped. That's what we'll see here, the corn and the wine being taken away. See, back in Hosea chapter 2, God told in verse number 8, He says, You bring the corn and the wine and you sacrifice it unto Baal. Don't you know that it is Me that provided that? God was the One that provided for the welfare of Israel and they forsook Him. They turned to other gods. Back to our text in Hosea chapter 7. They were going through judgment. They cried and howled from the beds, yet they were crying over their temporal afflictions. Oh, what are we going to do without the corn? What are we going to do without the new wine? How are we going to survive? Isn't that the focus that we have today? How can we survive? If God brings His judgment, what will we do? The easy answer, the short end of it was they should have turned to God. But they didn't. They were in their personal pain, in their afflictions. They should have been turning to the Lord, yet they refused to do so. Remember back a couple chapters ago, the scripture tells us their heads were hard. They were hard-headed. They were thick. They desired to have their own way. The Word of God would not penetrate their pride. Same with us. You know that we are a prideful people. We're much in common with ancient Israel. We must build, must make America great again. It's a lofty thing, a noble thing, but America will not be great again until she recognizes how sinful she is. Desperation, as these people were, often causes more desperation. When you start getting low, you start feeling lower and lower and lower. When you think it can't get any worse, it does. That's how it was with Israel. That's why I looked at Joel. They thought they had the worst coming, and there was more judgment, more destruction on the way. Think of, I don't know how anybody can stand anything more than 80 degrees, but there are parts of the country that are 120 and 125 degrees. It can't get any worse than that, can it? Well, it can. I know there's other parts of the world that get warm like that regularly. But it can get worse. When we focus on the here and now as Israel did, believe it or not, it can and will get worse. Economically speaking, think of this. When the people lose everything, as Israel did, they lose it. People get desperate when they get things taken away from them. They resort not to God, but they resort to their own ways. Imagine, it's an awful word to use often times, but imagine if the people had only trusted in the Lord. Imagine all the problems we have that we look back and say, if only I had trusted the Lord and not made a bigger mess of things. That's how usually we are. Let's turn over to the book of Isaiah. You see these harsh people here. Isaiah chapter 29. We'll start with verse number 9 of Isaiah 29. Say yourselves and wonder, cry ye out, and cry. They are drunken, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered, and the vision of all has become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed. See, God with Judah was now turning away from them. We're just talking between, during the fellowship song, Romans chapter 1. God turning people away who turn against Him. God is a jealous God. God is the one who only can get the glory, nobody else. Verse number 11 again, "...and the vision of all has become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed." Can I say this? Praise the Lord that it's unsealed today. We have His Word in the 66 books of the Bible that have been opened to us. We don't have to go to a seer. We don't have to go to a prophet. We have full revelation. says, which men deliver to the one that is learned, saying, read this, I pray thee, and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed. See, if you're not a believer, this is nothing but a book. But to the believer, Paul told us in 1 Corinthians, or 2 Corinthians rather, that the words are spiritual words that can be discerned by spiritual people. So that seal has been taken away because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us that takes this Word and He puts His light upon us. See, that's what Israel and Judah were missing out on. And the book is delivered to him that has not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee. And he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore, because of this, the Lord said, forasmuch as this people draw near with me with their mouth and with their lips, do honor me." This is the whole history of Israel and mankind. I love you Lord, I love you Lord, I love you Lord. But inside, what was happening? But, have removed their heart from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precepts of men. Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder, for their wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." I was going to stop there, but let me go on. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?" You don't think the Lord can see the dark works and the dark counsel? You see the psychobabble that goes on where men actually claim they know something about the human condition and how if you can only change certain conditions you can change your life? But let me say this unpopular thing, the human condition is dark. The human condition is hard and there's only one thing that can pierce into that darkness. And it's not a Frank Peretti novel either. It's the Word of God. It's the only thing that can break up our hardened hearts and can reveal Christ to us. That's why the light of Christ shines into our hearts. It can only go through the Word and illuminated by the Spirit of God. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us and who knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay. For shall the works say of him that made it, He made me not, or shall the thing frame say of him that framed it? He had no understanding." That points back to Romans chapter 1 as well. And also the Jeremiah of 18 about the potter and the clay. Think of us as one lump. And we have the Creator God that takes our lump, and He fashioned us. Yes, He fashioned you a man or woman. He didn't fashion us as transgenders who are male or female. And when we say that we feel different, We're just putting it right in the face of God and committing idolatry. Surely the turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay, for shall the works say of him that made it, he made me not, I don't have a Creator, I evolved from a simian. That's right in the face of our Creator. If we have that thinking, That means our foolish hearts are darkened and we don't understand who God is. Is it not yet a very little while and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off. See, we're talking Messiah talk here. Jesus Christ is going to be the one that's going to make all things new again. There was one time Lebanon was fruitful. That's where the cedars of Lebanon came from. It's not much fruit anymore, but there will be a day when it will be once again. When it will be part of the promised land. Verse 21. that make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of naught." This is what the priests were doing, turning in the righteous people and taking them captive and even slaughtering them so they could worship Baal. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, I like this, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob. Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine." This is what the Holy Spirit of God does for us. Remember, we go back. He redeemed Abraham. Abraham was chosen by God. He was redeemed. Why? Because he believed in the Lord. He believed and that was accounted unto Him as righteousness. Think of that. That could be a pattern for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the rest of the seed to follow. Believe in the Lord. Trust in the Lord and God will bless you. Again, there's a Flipside to that, because of Israel's falling away, salvation came to the Gentiles. So it's a paradox. We see unfaithful Israel rejecting God, but God sent His Son into the world so that not just the elect of Israel could be saved, but whosoever would call upon the name of the Lord would be saved. Speaking of Jeremiah, let's go over to Jeremiah chapter 3. Let's go over to verse number 6. The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. So, his Jeremiah prophesying to Judah, and righteous king Josiah is in power, and he's saying, learn the example. Now, Josiah was a righteous king. Learn the example of what your sister nation, Israel, has done. And don't do it. Don't do what she has done, verse number six. And I said, after she had done all these things, turn thou unto me. But she returned not, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass, through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but faintedly, saith the Lord. And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you. For I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger forever. only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you, and I will take you, one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. Anybody think of a song that we often sing? We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. But all it took, let me put the air quotes up, all it took was for Israel and Judah to turn or repent, admit their guilt before the Lord and He would deliver them. That sounds like a gospel message to me. The message goes out to the world today. Turn and repent. And you likewise, I will take you to Zion. That beautiful city of God. And I'm going to end there in Jeremiah 3 and get back to Hosea. In spite of everything, in spite of the adultery, the spiritual adultery and the idolatry that was going. Yet, God desired them, even at their worst, to turn unto Him. Let's go to verse number, still in verse 14. And they have not cried unto Me with their heart. They still had the externals. They still looked righteous. Their priests still looked the same, but yet they were phony. They were phony as a $3 Bill Clinton. Was that? No, that was a $3 Bill, right? They were phony. They were not offering appropriate sacrifices unto God, but yet they were making sacrifices unto them. attributing the corn and wine and oil unto Baal and not to the Lord who created all things. They assemble when they howl upon their beds, they assemble themselves for corn and wine and they rubble against me. Now this is an interesting passage here, because this takes a little bit of homework in it, this term assembled. There are two ways to look at it. There are two separate Hebrew words that are here to assemble. It's the word gore in the Hebrew, and it's also, there's another word called godad. And in Hebrew they look exactly the same except for one tiny tittle. They look the same. Both ways of interpreting, I believe, are fine. But let's look at both ways here. Let's look at how gore is used, that's the term assembled, or gathered together. The term gather means to cut themselves, or to gnash themselves. We have to do a little digging and we can see both ways are true. We look at this, they said, they assembled themselves for corn and wine. So that way of looking at it means they got together and they called themselves together in order to celebrate the corn and wine to bale. The other way of looking at it is this, they cut themselves for corn and wine. We need to We need to go into a common place in the Scriptures. Let's go to 1 Kings 18. 1 Kings 18, still one of my favorite places in the Scripture. I just love the irony of it. 1 Kings 18, I'm going to try not to read the whole thing. Let's start with verse number 17. And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? Wrong question, because Elijah was the one who had the right message for Israel. It was Ahab and Jezebel and all their cronies who were leading Israel down the wrong direction. And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Balaam. That's the plural of many of the different gods known as Baal. Now, therefore, send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal 450, and the prophets of the groves 400, which eat at Jezebel's table." Now, here's Elijah, this big, giant troublemaker here, he says, bring 850 of your best, of the prophets and those that serve in your house. So Ahab sent unto the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt you between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him, but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I, only remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under it, and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire on it." Now that right there where it says to cut in pieces, that's the same word that's used. of here for gnashing. God damn it. They cut the piece. They cut it right in pieces. Verse number 24. And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, it is well spoken. And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first, for ye are many, and call in the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called in the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they left upon the altar which was made. Here they were. Where are you God? You're our God. You're supposed to be here to deliver us. So they jumped on the altar. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them. I only tried to picture Elijah there mocking them. We don't really know what he did, but just think of it. Ha ha! You think you serve a mighty God? Well, let me show you something. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked him and said, cry aloud, for he is a god, either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or per adventure, he sleepeth and must be awakened. What a mighty god we serve. We have to wake this god up. And it came to pass, and they cried out, Look at this and think of Hosea chapter 7 verse 14. And they cried out and cut themselves after the manor with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied unto the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. And there was neither voice, nor any that answered, nor any that regarded. And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and and said, fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. And he said, do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran about the altar and filled the trench also with water. And it came to pass at that time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord left and consumed The fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, the Lord, He is the God. The Lord, He is the God, given exclusivity to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. And they took them, and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Tishon, and slew them there. What a story of victory. It was a victory for God. I'm not going to tell you we can be as Elijah today because we can't be. But we can trust in the God who did bring the fire. He is the God. Go back to our text in Hosea chapter 7. I think we'll see the point of that. They assembled, back here, they assembled themselves Remember the two different words here, they're easily confused. Think of this. They cut themselves for corn and wine. The sacrifice that was made in Hosea chapter 2 is they sacrificed corn and wine unto Baal for their deliverance. Now I'll tell you this as well, this same sacrifice goes on today. If you go to the cornerstone at the White House or the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., or many of the major buildings in our nation today, the cornerstone was laid by the Freemasons. Their God is not Jehovah. Their God is a deity known as Jabulon. He is a combination of Jehovah, Baal, and Osiris. This is the God of Freemasonry. When the cornerstones are laid, they have a corn and wine service where they put the corn and wine symbolically on that cornerstone and they pray for the blessing of their God to be in that building. It's still done today. It's actually more detailed than that, but that's the skinny on it. Who do these people attribute their blessings to? They attributed the blessings to Baal. And when they see that Baal cannot deliver, they cut themselves. Number one, cutting yourself is a sign of your total depravity and your reliance not on God. And number two, It's a sign of you sacrificing yourself, and perhaps your blood will appease the God of this world. In this case, Baal. Pretty serious stuff. But, they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and look it, they rumble against Me. They believed their sacrifice unto their God would profit them. That's why we have human sacrifice. Today we still have human sacrifice in the name of abortion. Babies being sacrificed unto the God of this age. The God of corn and wine. Let's make the nation great again. Let's bring it back. But without going back to the God of the Bible, it is futile. Though, verse number 15, though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against Me. It was God who alone bound them, He healed them, strengthened their arms as He trained them, as well He chastised them. He took them and literally healed their wounds, and yet they still imagined mischief or evil against Him. There must be another way. It was God who chastised and trained His people, and He did it through His commandments. He did it through His Word, whether through the prophets, they were responsible to minister His law to them, and they failed at it. The people, in spite of having the oracles of God, find that in Romans chapter 9, that the Jews are blessed in every way because they have the oracles of God, and they rejected it. that He provided for all of their substance, yet they thought evil of Him. How could God afflict them like this when they had brought it on themselves? There is nothing, nothing whatsoever that can dethrone God from His position of power. You can imagine all you want, You can imagine that you're the king of England. By the way, it's up for both right now. You can be the king of your world. You can have the highest achievement of success. But no matter what, you cannot dethrone God. He is God. I watched a movie a couple weeks ago about climbing Mount Everest. Now, only a few people have done that. That's a great human accomplishment. I'm waiting for somebody to swim without scuba gear down to the Marianas Trench. If they can do it, I'll say, you have done the impossible. But climbing Mount Rushmore, Mount Everest, is something that human beings can accomplish. But it's nothing with trying to climb up the mountain of righteousness. They were trying to form their own righteousness, but righteousness could only be given, imputed by Christ Jesus. Now we get to verse 16. They return, but not to the Most High. You can also look at it this way. They return, but not upward. Instead, they had a horizontal view of life in general. They were the what's in it for me crowd. They were in the what's my purpose crowd. They were in what's my dream and what's my destiny crowd. What can I do to be right with God? But God would have nothing to do with it. They are like a deceitful bow. Now, a couple ways to look at that is the crooked bow. Also, I enjoy Kretzmann's popular commentary, which has been out of print for about 60 years or so. Kretzmann says, they are like those without the string that is tight enough and can't get enough force to reach its target. Good analysis right there. But what happens with this bow? Let's turn to Psalm 37. We're going to be taking a look at a couple of Psalms here. Psalm 37, verse number 14. And this will kind of sum up the next couple of verses in Hosea here. The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow. Now I haven't handled a bow in many years, What it means to bend your bow, it means you have to do something deliberately to get that ready to fire. Now the ancient bows usually step on it and you have to really bend it in order to string it and it would have tension on it that would allow it to shoot. So just like today, the gun controversy, the guns kill people. Back then they would have been banning bows because bows kill people. But there had to be a deliberate attempt to bend the bow in order to use it. And look at here. Here's evil people. The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow. Here's what they were doing with it. To cast down the poor and needy and to slay such as be of upright conversation. That's a typical sign of the criminal intent or wicked people even today. But look at verse 15. Their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken." In other words, that's the judgment of God who will be upon them. Let's go over to Psalm 78. Psalm 78, start with verse 50. 5. So he cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them in inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and provoked the Most High God, and kept not His testimonies. So did you catch that? He provided for them, He delivered them, He brought them into their land, and what happened? They tempted and provoked the Most High God and kept not His testimonies, but turned back and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow." See, the people of Israel, they turned away from God. Let's look at the next couple of verses. for they provoked him to anger with their high places and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. When God heard this, he was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel, so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men, and delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemy's hand. He gave his people over also unto the sword, and was wrought with his inheritance. The fire consumed their young men and their maidens were not given to marriage. Their priests fell by the sword and their widows made no lamentation Then the Lord awakened it as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man, that shewed it by reason of wine. And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts, he put them to perpetual reproach. Moreover, he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion, which he loved. And He built His sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which He hath established forever. He chose David, also His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds. Them from following the ewes great with young He brought Him, to feed Jacob, His people, and Israel, His inheritance. So He fed them according to the integrity of His heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of His hands. So Israel, he's rejected, but Judah, he continues to guide here. This bow, it took a lot of work for the ancient bowman to bend that bow. He needed to be deliberate about it. When the bow was at rest, it would have the tendency to resist any pressure. that was put on the strings. This is a picture of the people. It was heading backwards. An improper bow that's not correct, when you see the term they've gone backwards, think of it this way, they fire from that bow, and instead of the strings springing back to where it was taught, the bow, if it was incorrectly made, would bend the wrong way. causing harm to the person that was using it. This is a picture of Israel being deceitful. Instead of being strong and properly brought up, they were deceitful and they went against God and they caused harm to themselves. Somebody who was an expert, Bauman, would understand how to overcome it. Just as on modern firearms you have ways of dealing with a jam and different things. An ancient bowman would be able to take care of it. But a weak or unskilled bowman risks that bow springing back and doing this, harming himself. And an arrow could fly inherently as well. So a good bow, not a deceitful bow, was one that doesn't turn back. One that is straight and one that hits the target that it was after. And that's the kind of bow I'm looking for. I can only think of one bow like that. I can only think of one. It's the Word of God. This deceitful bow The nations would, let me get back to the text here so I can remember what I'm doing to close up here. Their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. Remember in Psalm 37, those that were wicked and used that sword and that bow, that sword would come against them and the bow would be broken. Here, it's the princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue, or the pride of their mouths which would bring the wrath of God from them. They would live by the sword, they would die by the sword. Then we close here. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt. Verse 11, they sought to go to Egypt for counsel instead of going to God. They would be the scorn, the laughing stock of all Egypt for that. Because Egypt was the one who God delivered them out of. How dare they go back to their archenemy for deliverance. The closing of the closing of 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4. I think we're on familiar ground here. Verse number 1. It says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom. That's the answer. Preach the Word. Be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they leap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and at the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing. Yes, that is the solution. That is our undeceitful bow, our straight bow is the Word of God. And it has a message that shoots straight. The message is right here. But unto all them that also love His appearing. His coming is what should keep us motivated to keep looking to Him. Amen. We have a great bow. And when we open this and wield it as our defensive and offensive weapon, the arrows that come out of it are truth. They are justice. They are mercy. The words that Christ speaks. They are spirit. And they are life. To stick with the Bible is to stick with God's Word and to stick with what He desires us all to be. And that is believers looking for His coming. Do you love His coming? Are you just interested in the here and now, what you're going to do tomorrow? Or are you looking for a kingdom? It's in Hebrews chapter 11. A kingdom. Whose builder and maker is God. We're not looking to build a kingdom here on earth. We'll leave that to the masons and the dominionists. And they're all the same actually if you look at history. We'll leave that to the reconstruction movement. They can build the kingdom all they want here on earth, but it's not going to go anywhere. We have a kingdom in heaven. And his word declares it to us. So wield that true bow. Stay straight. Stay sharp. And only God can do the work in you. Amen?