Lessons wasted on oblivious dodderers

We're told in Matthew 12:38 that “certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees” answered Jesus saying, “Master, we would see a sign from thee.”

“They’ve been watching Him heal people, cast out devils, giving them sign after sign after sign, and yet they’re saying these signs are not enough,” explains Jordan. “Of course, they had just tried earlier in the chapter to tell Him He cast out devils by the power of Beelzebub and He then lectured them, scolding them for saying such a thing.

“Jesus responds in Matthew 12:39-40, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas [40] For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’

“Isn’t that fascinating? What is the sign of the prophet Jonas? That he was resurrected. There’s going to be one who comes back from the dead and you know who that is? The Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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In Luke 16, the rich man who went to hell because he didn’t believe God’s Word to him tells Abraham about how he’s got five brothers on the way to hell.

The passage reads, [27] Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:
[28] For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
[29] Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
[30] And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
[31] And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

Jordan explains, “There’s some symbolism here with regard to the nation Israel. You remember that woman at the well in John 4 who had five husbands? Those things have to do with the apostasy of Israel back in II Kings 17.

“This rich guy represented the apostate leaders of the nation Israel and he’s worried about his brothers now. His character hasn’t changed, his mindset hasn’t changed; he’s still a willful rebel against God and has no confidence that the Word of God is enough. What he’s requesting there in verse 30 is, ‘but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.’

“Notice how he says that. When you talk about the resurrection, you have to deal in prepositions. There’s the resurrection OF the dead and the resurrection FROM the dead. A resurrection FROM the dead means there’s some people who come up from where the dead folks are.

“The resurrection OF the dead would be all the dead folks come up. See the difference in that? So when Christ talks about it, consistently He talks about the resurrection FROM the dead because everybody doesn’t come up at the same time.

"There will be a resurrection OF the dead, that is all people are going to be resurrected, but when He talks about specifics, it will be FROM.

“This guy says, ‘If one went unto them from the dead, then my brothers will believe.’ This has been the problem all along with these characters. They demand some special evidence; they’re not going to believe the evidence that was given to the ordinary man. They want something real special. We’ve run into these characters before.

“Does this guy’s brother believe Jesus when He comes back? No. What do his brethren do in the early Acts period? They reject Christ in His resurrection, just like this guy rejected Christ in His incarnation.

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Talking about the deeply corrupt state of Israel, Hosea 7 says, “They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneeded the dough, until it be leavened.
[5] In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.
[6] For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.
[7] They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.”

Jordan explains, “The baker can go to sleep because the die is cast. The leaven has leavened the lump. They are all hot as an oven. They’re just burning up. What are they burning up with? With the lust of depravity.

“They’re burning up with all these sinful things—the falsehoods, the thefts, the adulteries, the robbings. All of these things that have overtaken the nation. The swearing, the lying, the stealing, the killing, the committing fornication . . . They’re just FILLED up, burning with that lust and depravity.

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"Go to II Peter 2:12-13 and watch how the nation’s described: 'But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

[13] And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you.'

“If you want to see an illustration of what happened that day in Israel, think about our culture today. People sporting themselves, bragging about their wickedness, their sinfulness, and if you call it into question, what do they do? You’re the enemy, not them.

“Whether it’s stealing, lying or cheating, whatever it is, immorality in all kind of ways, they sport it. When a guy is out sporting, he’s out bragging about it, making money off of it.

“Who in the world in our culture makes more money by doing less than sports players and entertainers? They contribute absolutely no wealth to the community; they contribute entertainment, not wealth.

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“Here’s the whole thing in Verse 14: [14] Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

“When he talks about ‘having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin,’ you understand there’s a thing about sin that gets to be so controlling? The wages of sin is death. When sin brings forth its fruit, it’s death. Hebrews says that there’s ‘pleasure in sin for a season.’

“Brother Reynolds down at the mission used to say, ‘People talk about the ‘finest product of the Brewer’s Ark.’ You ought to come down here and see the finished product.’

“A brother asked me the other day if I’d ever heard the old Southern expression, ‘That dog won’t hunt.’ I said, 'Yeah, I use that expression a lot.' He just heard it so he was trying to put it into his vocabulary and I said, ‘Here’s another one I like: All the devil's apples have worms.’ Think about that. You know what’s worse than finding a worm in an apple? Finding half a worm.

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“Hosea continues, ‘Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.’

“He’s in the mirror going, ‘Here’s one, here’s one, here’s one.’ Now, what happens when you get salt-and-pepper hair? Usually you’re becoming an old man. His is like this old dude, yet he knoweth not.

“Israel has become like some oblivious old man who’s wasted his life and is just doddering around and doesn’t know what’s happened. And the thieves are pickpocketing him, taking his stuff. When it says 'he knoweth it not,' it’s not like he's got Alzheimer’s. He’s just oblivious to what’s happening.

“Well, verse 10 is the problem: ‘And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.’

“The pride of Israel testified to his face. In spite of all the problems, though, their pride kept them from hearkening to the Lord. You know what the middle letter of the word ‘sin’ is? It’s the same middle letter in the word ‘pride.’

“God says in Psalm 81, [11] But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.
[12] So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels. He says, ‘I would but you would not.’ Why not? Pride. Trusting yourself, making yourself the son of Satan.

“Paul writes in I Timothy 3:6: [6] Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

“What was it? Pride. The pride of Israel testifies. Right in their face you can see, they won’t turn to the Lord because of their pride. That’s what did that to Israel. God’s seen that before.

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Hosea continues in verse 11: 'Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.' Like a silly dove without heart. I love that. They light here, light there, go to Egypt, go to Syria. By the way, you can take that verse in I Timothy where it talks about ‘silly women’ and kind of get a definition right here.

“Verse 12 says, [12] 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.

“Notice how it says ‘as their congregation hath heard.’ They had heard from God what He was going to do to them if they did this and He said, ‘I’m going to chasten them.’ Now, where did they hear that? That’s what Leviticus 26 was all about; those five courses of chastisement God said He’d put them through.

“That fifth one was there and that’s what is fixing to come on them. He said, ‘I’m going to spread the net out on them; I’m going to bring them down and I’m going to do exactly to them what I promised them I’d do.’

“Watch how it ends for them in verse 13: [13] Woe unto them! for 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.

“How ungrateful, how stupid can you be? God redeemed them, brought them out of Egypt, bought them for His own and they lie about it. I mean, that’s like being brain dead, but that’s what they were spiritually.

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“Verse 14 says, [14] And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.

“They’re screaming, ‘Lord, it hurts! We’re having problems, there’s inflation, there’s difficulty in the streets, people robbing us, there’s all these derelicts! Help!’

“It says ‘they assemble themselves for corn and wine.’ You remember Gomer in chapter 2 when she got all those blessings from Hosea but said her lovers gave them to her?

“God’s saying, ‘They came together to get provisions and they rebelled against me. They’d say, Lord, help!, and I’d come help them and what happened? They'd turn on me again. They have not cried unto me with their heart. It wasn’t faith; it was pride.’

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“So, verse 15 says, [15] Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me.

“God says, ‘I’ve come in and bound them up, tried to heal them and restore them, yet they imagined mischief against me. Every time I try to help them, it just makes things worse and worse.’

“The chapter ends in verse 16 with, [16] 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.

“That’s a metaphor used back in Psalm 78 about Israel. A ‘deceitful bow’ is a bow that the guy who’s going to shoot it pulls out and thinks is going to work but it deceives him. It lets him down. It just becomes useless. He thought it was going to work but it disappoints him.

“Look at Psalm 78: [57] But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

[58] For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
[59] When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel.

“When Hosea says ‘their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue,’ that’s Psalm 73. ‘This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.’

“You remember back in verse 11 how they called to Egypt? Egypt is down south, king of the south, and Syria is king of the north. They’re going to be carried away among the nations, among the Gentiles, and it’s going to be a derision to them.

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“The Gentiles are going to mock them for their stupidity; the greatness that they had and how they fell. The whole problem was their heart. Jesus said, ‘Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.’

“David was a man after God’s own heart. While his flesh would get the best of him, his heart was aimed at the Lord and never went after idols. Now, Solomon came along and his heart went after the ‘strange gods.’ That’s why his kingdom was taken from him, destroyed. It’s a heart issue with Israel and all those verses in Ezekiel and Isaiah say the problem is the heart.

“What Hosea is doing is saying, ‘Look at all this terrible stuff that’s coming; all this social calamity that’s coming. The destruction and fall of the nations. The reason for that is the depravity of the culture and when you return, you don’t return to the Lord, you return to this false stuff that won’t help you.’

“Now, that’s a lesson. Israel is God’s nation and America’s not God’s nation. Our Founding Fathers were not Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or anything close to the caliber of that.

"The old Calvinist notion of ‘divine right of kings’ and ‘manifest destiny’ is just a bunch of Calvinistic hooey, but ‘righteousness does exalt a nation and sin is a reproach,’ and if you want to see the reproach it brings, a chapter like that in Hosea will help you.”