Hosea 13:5-8

Tonight I’ll direct your attention to Hosea chapter 13 again, verses 5 through 8. Josea chapter 13 and verses 5 through 8. I did know thee in the wilderness in the land of great drought. According to their pasture, so were they filled, and they were filled. and their heart was exalted, and therefore have they forgotten me. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion, as a leopard by the way, will I observe them. I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her welts, and will rend the call of their heart. and there will be, there will I devire them like a lion, and the wild beast had, that shall tear them. May God bless to us his sacred and holy word this evening. A red fox squirrel eyed the ear of dried corn that cecil, the white, had attached to a tree trunk, it was irresistible. And the red squirrel chewed down every kernel of it and finished it off. And for many days and many cornclubs he kept eating away. He got very fat. One day, Cecil was found, Cecil found his a corn-fed rodent dead under the tree. He is surmised that he got so heavy that he slipped and fell to the ground from a high limb. It seemed that prosperity was his undoing. You know, our text leads me to speak on the topic this evening of the pearls of prosperity of prosperity. Losea speaks of Ephraim or Israel here, the northern kingdom, the ten tribes. And the best way to look at Israel is to see her as Christendom today. In other words, all professing Christians, regardless of their being genuine believers or not, just as not all Israel are Israel. So not all Christendom is true Christianity. And we’re dealing with those who call themselves the people of God, but there are many just professors among them. Now what I have to say certainly applies to both God’s regenerate people and to those who are just mere professors. Perhaps those who are just mere professors. prospering and worldly circumstances make up a very few among the true people of God. Yet those of you who are not flourishing may profit by being reminded here of what the Lord says in this passage. So you need to learn that God has spared you. many sorrows by keeping you poor. And so we should realize there are some benefits not to being rich. We first of all, we see in verse 5 here that God remind you of your days of adversity and hardship. God takes them back here. He wants them to think about their early days. He has provided for you your days of adversity of adversity hardship. The wilderness was a hard journey for Israel, as you remember, 40 long years marching through the desert. Not one grain of corn, wheat or barley grew in that desert. Often they were concerned concerned about even the basicness. Often they were concerned about even the basic necessities of life. Sometimes they lack meat. Sometimes they lacked meat. Sometimes they lacked drink. Sometimes they had fiery serpents to attack them. Sometimes plagues swept through them. And so Israel was constantly having to cry out to God for help. Because of the things that they encountered. And God sustained them through all of this. and their shoes didn’t even wear out. Their enemies did not overwhelm them. Manna magically appeared every morning on the dew so that they could have something to eat. Water gushed forth from the rock, you recall. Quails were sent sometimes for them to eat. They were healed of various diseases as well. These were the early diseases. years of Israel. Now circumstances have drastically changed. They’ve moved into the promised land. Things are much more comfortable. Things are much more prosperous. And it may be you can appreciate this. Perhaps you are one who is now enjoying good things. Receiving, you know, the earth. favor of God. But look back upon the early trials that you endured, and God gave you good gifts to sustain you. Because you’ve had your wilderness journey, no doubt, as well. Now the good point about those times is that you did think about God when you went through these days. him these times. You were dependent upon him. Is he would sustain you and provide for you. And so you earnestly turned to God in the moment of crisis and sought him out. What times of prayer you had then. During that time of sickness, didn’t you like Hezekiah, cry out to the Lord and plead with him to spare your life? and he did. So God provided for you in your days of adversity and hardship. And God revealed himself to you in a special way during those days. God says he knew you during these days. He was not ashamed to acknowledge you and have dealings with you. And so those, you know, poor prayers that you offered and which you would not have prayed, perhaps, at all, if you hadn’t been into difficulties, and it was absolutely necessary, were nevertheless answered by God. Somehow the hand of the Lord sustained you as you went through your troubles. you realize that, you know, God stoop down to work in your life. And maybe, like Nebuchadnezzar, after your trial, you looked up toward heaven and praised the God of heaven and earth. After he went through that time of being like a beast. It was not so much that you. you sought after God, but that he looked after you. Often in scripture, the Lord speaks of Israel’s early days, calls them to remember those days and how he took care of them, how we provided for them. I remember when you were poor, when you lived in, you know, desperate circumstances, and you daily praised me. and sought my provisions. He remembers that. David, you remember when he was hunted like a partridge on the mountains by Saul, we find that he glorified God when he abode in the palace, is when he sinned. So you read the Psalms carefully and notice the prefaceus, and you’ll see this is true. His days of hardship were his rich, more richly spiritually spiritual, days were you not the same way in a sense isn’t it true that God do you close to him during those days of adversity in your life so God remind you of your days of adversity and hardship here secondly God reminds you of the dangers of prosperity in verse six you become earthly-minded. He speaks here about according to their pastures, so were they filled. The more pastures they had, the more abundance they possessed. So we see what he’s saying here. They lived upon their possessions, and they made, in a sense, a God, out of their goods. They filled their desires and affections with the good things of this life and knew nothing about what they should have been working on, the things of God. They entered into Canaan, where they ate to, you know, of the fatness, drank the sweetness, drank the land of promise. They did not see their need of God any longer. They were content without the blessings of grace resting upon. And this is an evil, and many fall into it. When you increase in your riches, you’re not careful, you leave your first love, Jesus Christ. There are two men. not too many Josephs of Arimathea that are rich and yet have a humble and godly spirit about them. So do not set your heart upon what God lightly esteems because the quality of earthly things is vastly inferior is what he tells us here. You know, large land holdings, stocks, bonds, job positions, great ones. wealth will never end up satisfying your soul. But the tendency is to think too much of these things. They occupy a place in your life which belongs to Christ. The motto of the Christian has to be this. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire. beside me. So beware that you don’t pursue money and status and position and so forth and then lose your affection and love toward the Lord. There was a young tennis star that once said, all I’ve ever wanted is to be number one in the world. It’s all I’ve lived for. It’s all I’ve lived for. Nothing else matters in my life. And I won’t stop until I get it. Is that really all that matters in life? Yet some people think so. You become self-indulgent. Notice the word filled is used twice. It’s not that they were filled once. They had to be filled more than once. So there’s sort of an overabundance here. There are many people who went in, you know, poor state, thought that they could be happy. If only they made a few dollars more. But when you reach that point and you make the few dollars more, you’re still not happy. It’s sort of like drinking sea water. the more you drink the thirsty or yet. And that’s the way it is. I read a story about a maid. You know, coming downstairs one morning, a wealthy man heard his cook claim, oh, if I had only $5, wouldn’t I be happy? Thinking about it and thinking, well, if it makes her happy, I’ll give her five bucks. So he went and took out $5 and handed it to her. And she thanked him very much. But as soon as he left, and she thought he was out of earshot. He heard her muttered in disgust. Oh, why didn’t I ask for $10? The danger of worldly wealth is lies in this. That you become a slave to seeking and protecting it. There are those who can be filled with this poor world’s offerings and be satisfied that they will have no portion in the world to come. You become proud and arrogant. Their heart was exalted. We read in Deuteronomy 8 how when they were exalted, all a sudden they forgot God several times the phrase is used that they forgot God. Problem with Israel was that she became rich and wealthy and considered herself to be somewhat important and special. When they were in the wilderness in the land of drought, God was everything to them. But now that they’re filled and therefore puffed up with their money bags are full their barns are bursting the land holdings are vast they don’t want to be involved with the Lord 1 Timothy 612 says this charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded be not proud be not arrogant be not contentious of others or trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. Don’t be high-minded, and that often is the case when people get money. The people of God, whom you once were pleased to associate with, are now not looked on as important. In fact, you would rather rather. perhaps go to another church, even a liberal church, where there are more people that are interested in finances and the things that you’re interested in, and so you lose interest in the interest in the company of the true people, God. True worship is shunned because it makes you feel uncomfortable. Besides, you’re, you know, better business connections. with those in a social, this church, a liberal church. You become forgetful of God. Israel forgot God. Therefore, have they forgotten me, he says. The one, to whom they owed everything, they forgot. They forgot. They turned away from him. There was a pastor years ago who was painting his fence. and he noticed the man coming along riding a horse or pulling along a horse on the road. And the pastor looked at him and said, well, where are you going with that horse? He said, well, I’m going to go to town and sell it. And the pastor said, well, you ought to say, you’re going to sell it if it be the Lord’s well. he said it doesn’t have to be the Lord’s will. I already have a buyer for it. All I got to do is get there and show up and he’s going to buy it. Past is, I’m telling you, life is short. You don’t know what’s going to happen. The man said, I’m telling you that I don’t need God’s will here. I raise the horse. I’m going to sell it. I have a potential buyer. Lord’s will doesn’t have anything to do with it. So the pastor went back to painting the fence. The man went on with his horse toward town. About an hour and a half later, the man showed up. His clothes were torn. He was cut. He didn’t have a horse. The pastor wanted to know what happened. His pants were gone. His boots. were gone. And the man said, well, I was so late, you know, I talked to you too long. So I tried to take a shortcut to get the town on time. And I went through somebody’s field. Well, he must not have saw me. He shot at the horse. And he hit the horse. And the horse fell on top of me. And I was crushed under it. And I couldn’t get out from under it. And I had to take my shoes and pants off to get out to get out. And he said, and then the farmer started shooting in me. And I had to take off and run through the woods. And then the pastor said, well, where are you going now? The man said, well, I’m going home. And he looked at the pastor and said, if it be God’s will. And while the prosperous man is looking over his accounts and, storing up his wealth, he dare not forget the Lord. It’s sad that those favors which ought to make you mindful of God and careful to be thankful, to cause you to be forgetful. So God reminds you here of the dangers of prosperity. Thirdly, God promises you a visit. visitation of judgment if you ever forget him in verses seven and eight. Fierce trials will come your way, he says. If you’re in ingratitude, then some heavy blows may come upon you. When you have a lot of you. When you have prospered in this world and you turn away from the Lord, he often sends fierce trials upon you. And here we have the the lion and the other animals that are mentioned. Now, if you read this carefully and you read Daniel 7, you notice that the animals are basically the same. You know, the lion and the bear and so forth. And the difference is that the, well, the lion is Babylon is Babylon and the, the, the, the difference is, you The bear is Medo-Persia and the leopard is Greece, and the wild beast is the Roman Empire. The only difference seems to be the bear and the leopard is reversed in this. But it seems to indicate the captivity that Israel is going to go through. It’s a great mercy for God to send heavy trials upon you if, and this is this is a big if, if they are used to bring you back to him. You turn to the Word of God and you find nothing but God’s threats. You get on your knees, but you can’t seem to pray as you ought. Your past sins are haunting you. And you have no peace with God, no rest day or night. God lets loose all the wild beast here upon you, and you cannot escape. them. Then God will rend what encloses and shuts up your heart. The call of their heart, he says here. The call is a covering for that which is encloses your heart. We would probably call it the chest cap. He said God’s going to change that for you. Open that up. When you love the world, it shuts up your heart. It blocks all around it. Leads no room for God. So it is a great blessing if God would rend the call of your heart and open it up for the entrance of truth. Remember how Lydia’s heart was open so that she responded to the teaching of Paul. therefore the Lord sends you these lions and leopards and bears and wild beasts. They may rend you until last they tear open your heart. Then you will undergo a death of despair. But what a mercy it is that the Lord raises you up again from that and spares you. So the Lord is capable of certainly separating you from what alienates your affections from him. So here’s a danger. The danger is to be prosperous and forget about the Lord God. To let the prosperity of this world become the big and important thing in your life. God calls you to think back to the days of adversity, the days of hardship you had, how he provided for you, and don’t forget that. Because if you do, he is going to send judgment. Chase and you, if you’re a true child of God, bring severe judgment if you are not. And so he would have us think about these things now and not let these things affect us in a negative way. It’s very important as we go through this life that we hold things lightly. Don’t count the heavy things, the prosperity of this life, to be the most important thing lightly. Well, let’s close with the word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would bless us as your people, watch over us, meet our needs, guard us, keep us out of trouble. And we pray, Lord, that we may appreciate all the good things you provided. Remember the years where we had nothing. Remember how you’ve taken care of us. And let us not forget you. stand for the benediction tonight. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.