Open your Bibles this morning to Hosea chapter 12. And our desire should be that our love would be warm and zealous for the Lord and that we would love him with all our heart, soul, mind. and strength. To love the Lord with our mind means that we are willing to submit our mind to the scriptures and to be able to think and think hard thoughts even that come from the word of God. So we're making our way line by line through the book of Hosea and we're on the final stretch, chapter 12 and then 13 and 14 And this is the sixth, or some say the fifth, cycle of judgment and deliverance that is in the book of Hosea. And so we come to a new section today, but we'll review a little bit of the beginning of the chapter first. But let's pray and ask God to minimize the distraction. Somebody's car is going off, I think. Thank you, Father. for your presence with us. Thank you for your love and mercy. Thank you that your word is inspired, it's God-breathed, and your word gives us nourishment. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. So we pray, Lord, that we will be nourished today We pray we'll be strengthened. We pray we'll be convicted. We pray, Lord, that we'll be motivated to dig deeper into your truth. In Jesus' wonderful name, we pray. Amen. So in chapter 12, which begins in the Hebrew Bible, in chapter 11, verse 12, we see that the Lord, Yahweh, contrasts sin Israel, the northern ten tribes, with Judah to the south. And he says, Ephraim has encircled me with lies. And then in verse 1 of chapter 12, Israel and Ephraim's foolishness is exposed. pasturing, feeding on wind, pursuing the east wind, increasing in lives, being deceived, making covenants with enemies. Makes no sense. And how many times we hear things and we say, makes no sense. For example, one of the problems in California is their management of forestry, where they won't burn in controlled ways. And so then these fires take over and have so much to burn. Another thing is environmentalists wanting to protect some little fish. And so I'm thinking, does it make sense to have 27 people die if you saved a million fish? Does that make sense? And it wasn't a million. Where's the thinking? Isn't one person more important than any number of fish? And then why, when all the rains were present, did we dump all the rainwater out in the ocean instead of storing it up? You have these things and they just don't make sense. It's because people today in our world feed on wind. And they covenant with enemies. It makes no sense. Ephraim did this 700 years before Jesus. And then Judah's problems are explained. They're not without problems. The Lord brings a case against them, verses 2 through 4. The Lord also brings a charge against Judah, will punish Jacob. So sin will have its consequences even in Judah. And then verses 4 and 5, we see the Lord's revelation to Jacob is reviewed. He took his brother by the heel, verse three. Verse four, yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought favor from him. He found him in Bethel and there he spoke to us. So Hosea is getting a ray of hope, going back, reminiscing about Jacob hundreds and hundreds of years before. and saying God spoke to him. He spoke to us, the nation, as through him when Jacob called Bethel, house of God, because there he met God. Hosea identifies whom he's speaking about. That is the Lord God of hosts. The Lord is his memorable name. He is Yahweh. He's the one who exists in and of himself. And then here is grace, here is mercy multiplied in the midst of the chaos that was in Israel. Verse six, so you, by the help of your God, return. Return. Hosea's application to Judah and Israel. Repent, return, observe mercy, chesed, loyal love, and justice. and wait on your God continually. So here in the midst of this chapter pointing out the sins in Ephraim, we have these sunbursts of mercy, of grace, of God's revelation, and that we have in verses five and six. It's the Lord of hosts. He has dealt faithfully with us. So return to him, turn back, observe his loyal love, and walk and wait on him. And then he picks up and he again shows the fault of Ephraim. So we come to verse 7, a new section for today. A cunning Canaanite. What an interesting term here. Verse 7, a cunning Canaanite. Deceitful scales are in his hand. He loves to oppress. And Ephraim said, surely I've become rich. I've found wealth for myself and all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that is sin. Can't find anything wrong in me. So Ephraim is compared to a merchant of Canaan. Canaan can mean a tradesman or a merchant. And so Hosea is calling Ephraim, calling Israel, a cunning Canaanite. It's not a compliment. Remember, when Israel came out of Egypt, they went into the land of Canaan through General Joshua and his warring and his divine direction, and they destroyed the Canaanites because of their absolute gross idolatry and polytheism and immorality. And so to be called a Canaanite is not a compliment. One translation, the American Standard Version of 1901 translated this, he is a trafficker. The balances of deceit are in his hand. He loveth to oppress a trafficker." And then another says, the businessmen love to cheat. They use dishonest scales. So what a condemnation here about Ephraim that in their business dealings, they're like Canaanites and they have dishonest scales. I remember a teacher that I had in junior high who told this story about a man that he knew, I think he had a meat market or some kind of market, where they would use scales. They would weigh things out for people. And this fellow had developed a very cunning way of cheating his customers. And so he would put the product, the meat or whatever it was, on that scale, and then he would put his hand on the scale. And while his hand is on the scale, he would engage the people and talk to them, say, well, that'll be, you know, $1.59 a pound. You have, what's the year? A pound and a half. And all the while, his hand is on the scale. And it was so slick, the way he did it. He's talking to them. And so he cheated with his scale. Well, God sees all of that. And so the scales that the ancient world had, sometimes they would have little pebbles on them. and they would be true weights or they could be false weights. And so here's supposed to be a pound of something, grain, let's say, and the stones weigh heavy. And so it's dishonest. And they say, oh, you got a whole pound there. And the stones weigh more than the grain does and the buyer is cheated. Well, this is what was going on with Ephraim. In his business dealings, in his economics, there was falsehood. It's amazing how everything hangs together based on one's worldview, one's view of God, one's view of the Bible. It's true today. Economics and our security, everything all goes together based on our presuppositions and how we view God and how we view absolute truth. And if there's no absolute truth, then what's wrong with a dishonest scale? What's wrong with cheating someone? What's wrong with defrauding another? Nothing wrong with it if you have the presupposition that there's no absolute truth, but that is false. There is absolute truth, and we have a God who deals in absolutes. I've shared this story before, but when we lived in Georgia, there was a very prominent car dealership right on an expressway. We actually had purchased a vehicle from that place and I hear that the man, the big name that's on the marquee, you know, it's his place, that he went to jail. What happened to him? Well, he found a way or his company found a way to falsify the invoices from Ford Motor Company about a device. I think it was the radios or something. And so they would install a cheaper device and falsify the invoice and gain money over time from that, falsifying it, and eventually caught up to him. They didn't have Ford cars in Ephraim's day, but they had false scales and false business dealings. Isn't it refreshing when you find someone that you deal with in business who is honest? You can trust them, and they don't cheat you. and they show up when they say they're gonna show up. And they do what they say they'll do. It's such a blessing. And it should be an example for us as believers. But Ephraim loves to take advantage of people, customers. Verse 7c, he loves to oppress. Something strikes me about this, loves. loves to do what? To oppress, to take advantage of people, take advantage of the customers, to beat the people down with unfair dealings. How could you love that? That comes from a depraved heart that loves to do evil to someone else. Well, then Ephraim gains from all of this. And look at what he says in verse 8. And Ephraim said, surely I have become rich. I've become rich. Now understand, there is nothing wrong about being rich in itself. There's nothing wrong about that. And probably every single one of us could go somewhere in the world and we would be considered rich. You say, I'm not rich. Compared to some people in the world, you're rich. I'm rich. There's nothing wrong with being rich, having riches. There's something very wrong with putting your hope and your trust in riches. There's something very wrong with getting your riches through abusing people. Something very wrong about that. I have become rich, he boasts, and I have found wealth for myself. See any problem with that? For myself, I've found wealth. and all my labors, they shall find in me no iniquity that is sin. In all my efforts and all my products, you're not gonna find anything wrong with me. No, everything's good here. Everything's good. I didn't cheat anybody. I didn't get my wealth by any deception. No sin was involved in my gaining of wealth. Now, I want you to notice a New Testament passage that is so amazingly parallel with this. Go to James chapter 4, verse 13. There was a problem shortly after the days of Jesus. Well, in the days of Jesus, I'm sure, as well. But James, who was a half-brother to Jesus, he said this. James chapter 4, verse 13. He said, come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city. Spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. That's business, that's economics. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It's even a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, We shall live and do this or that. James is not telling us that it's wrong to plan, that it's wrong to be organized. He's saying it's wrong to plan to be organized and leave God out. That's the problem. And not saying if the Lord will. Verse 16, but now you boast in your arrogance. You boast about what you're going to do and how you're going to make money, but you left God out. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. That's the context of that verse. Now let's go on to chapter five, verse one. Come now, you rich, Weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. These would be riches of the ancient world even today in our world. riches corrupted, garments moth-eaten, your gold and silver are corroded and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields which you kept back by fraud. Cry out, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. You fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just. He does not resist you. You haven't paid your workers. You haven't paid your reapers, and you've aggrandized yourself at the expense of others. But judgment is coming. Misery is coming. This is so parallel to Hosea. In his day, people being abused, and advantages taken of people, and others getting rich off of that. Isn't that amazing? And God condemns it all. Well now go back to Hosea chapter 12 and let's see something that is very positive and yet condemnatory to Ephraim. He's guilty of all of this, becoming rich at the expense of other people, not treating them the way they should be treated. In verse 9 he says, but I am the Lord your God. Ever since the land of Egypt, I will again make you dwell in tents as in the days of the appointed feast. I have also spoken by the prophets and have multiplied visions. I have given symbols or parables through the witness of the prophets. The Lord rehearses Ephraim's advantages. And what are they? First of all, Yahweh was Ephraim's God. I am the Lord your God. You have been disobedient people, he's saying. You have gone to idolatry. But I want you to know that I'm the one who birthed you, we could say. I became your God. I appeared to Abraham, your father. I brought him out of paganism. I made promises to him. I blessed him. You became a great nation. You multiplied in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God. And don't forget my command, you shall have no other gods before me. They had forgotten that. The Lord reminds them. This is again one of the places where light shines in the darkness. In this negativity of condemnation, God in his grace shines his light. I was telling the men yesterday, I noticed on my phone, I love my little weather app. I like to look at that and it has some great information there. And what I noticed the other night was the time of moon rise, full moon, moon rise. And it was like 4.36 in the afternoon. So I'm sitting at my desk and I'm looking out the window and I see no moon. Should be in the eastern sky there. I see no moon. Pretty soon, it looks like someone had a big sugar cookie in their shirt pocket, but most of it's covered up by a cloud. And here's this big, bright moon, most of it covered up by the clouds. And then it began to rise, and there's this beautiful moon. Came through those clouds. God made that moon. He made that creation. I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt. I have a purpose for you. I give revelation to you. And so I just begin to watch that moon as it began to rise and the light that it gives is just glorious, penetrating the skies. And this is in the afternoon, but it gets dark about 4.30. What a beautiful sight. Hosea has these beautiful moonrises and these sunrises, places where light bursts in on the darkness, where light bursts through the shadows and through the clouds. And this is one of them. I'm the Lord, your God, ever since the land of Egypt. Yahweh reminds them, I was yours since those days when you were in bondage, and then I brought you out. I delivered you from that. Could I just say that we need continually to remember who our God is. It's easy to forget when trials come. If any of you men or women have ever dealt with hanging drywall, the stuff that's on our houses inside, and you haven't had any of the modern conveniences, just old days, hammer, ladder. And you got this four by eight sheet, and we call it sheet rock because it's like rock inside, and it's heavy. And if you're trying to get a piece nailed to a ceiling and you're by yourself, it's almost impossible, unless you're really good. But even with some help, and I remember helping this man once hang this sheet of drywall overhead It was before drills and screws. It was nails. So, tap in the nail there. And then go over here real fast and tap one there. Oh, and that one pulls out. And then this guy in frustration said, nobody cares. And he's a Christian. And I wasn't trying to be pious, but I said, no, the Lord cares. The Lord cares about your sheetrock that you can't hang over your head. He cares about everything. We forget who our God is. And then when the weight of something is coming on us, we may think God doesn't care. He doesn't care about this. Nobody cares. No, who is our God? Ever since you came out of Egypt, I am the Lord your God. We need to remember who our God is in 2025 and never forget and praise him and rejoice in him and that he's in control. There's something very interesting that also happens here where God says, I will again make you dwell in tents. Now there's some that may view this negatively. because a tent is something temporary, but I'm seeing this in a positive sense. He says, as in the days of the appointed feast. I believe he's talking about the Feast of Tabernacles, and Jewish people today, Orthodox, Hasidic Jews, still practice this, where they build a little framework on their porch or in their yard, and maybe put garments over it and it's to remind them of this festival, this feast. And festivals were joyous times. Go back to the book of Leviticus chapter 23 and notice verse 42. Leviticus 23 and verse 42. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths. Okay, you back up to verse 39. On the 15th day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days. And on the first day, there shall be a Sabbath rest, and on the eighth day, a Sabbath rest. And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statue forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths that you've made out of these leafy branches. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths. Why? That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. So Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord. I believe there's hope, there's grace in this, where God is saying through Hosea, you're gonna have some good days again. You're going to observe some festivals again. There's going to be joy and rejoicing again when you remember who I am and what I have done for you. Former times, the good times, I'm going to remind you. I'm going to bring you back to that. Now, verse 10, we see an advantage here. Yahweh communicated to Ephraim via his prophets. Verse 10 is so amazing. The doctrine of the inspiration of scripture, 2 Timothy 3.16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's not just in one verse. There is evidence for it throughout the Bible, and here's one of them. I have also spoken. God is saying that. by the prophets. I've spoken by the prophets. The prophetic ministry and the school of the prophets was a tremendous blessing to Israel. They spoke the truth. They gave the mind of God to the people of God. They explained God. They explained what he has done to the people of God. Prophetic messages convicted kings and rulers and people as well. We have the prophetic word made more sure in that we have the written word of God. We have what God has said in his word recorded. What a blessing is the word of God that God has spoken to us through the prophets, through his son. And we have the written inspired word of God showing God's love and mercy to us. And someone as well said, the Bible is God's love letter to Christians. When I was a teenager, I heard this story. I've probably repeated it here before, but this college freshman was in a class that was antagonistic to the Bible, to the gospel, and the professor said, It is my mission here to cause you to disbelieve the Bible. How many of you are Christians? A few hands went up. How many of you believe the Bible? A few hands went up. After he said that, he said, how many of you still believe the Bible? One hand went up. He said, young man, you understand what I said? He said, yes, sir, I do. He said, the Bible is God's love letter to Christians, and you've been reading someone else's mail. Great answer, great response, and the truth. This is God's love letter to us. I've spoken to you by the prophets. And before the completion of scripture, notice this. He says, I've multiplied visions. He gave visions. Remember Jacob's vision, the ladder to heaven? I have given symbols or parables through the witness of the prophets and even Jesus spoken parables. So Yahweh communicated to Ephraim via his prophets what an advantage they had that they had the word of God. I've multiplied visions and used similitudes and I love this translation by the ministry of the prophets. It's literally by the hand of the prophets. by the hand of the prophets. Now, I don't know if you noticed this, but in our scripture reading today, in the providence of God, did you catch this in the book of Romans, where Paul says, what advantage is it to being a Jew? How this fits with the book of Hosea. He says here, Romans chapter three, what advantage then has the Jew or what is the profit of circumcision? much in every way, chiefly because to them were committed the articles of God. They had the word of God. The prophet spoke to them. So they have an advantage. Our Bible in entirety, with maybe one exception, the book of Luke, was written from the Holy Spirit through Jewish men. God gave us his word, he carried them along, he superintended the writing so that what ended up on the papyrus or the vellum, the animal skin, was indeed the very words of God. How blessed we are today to have the scriptures. How advantaged Ephraim was. You have the word of God, the prophets have spoken to you the word of God. And Hosea is a prophet himself. He's speaking perhaps even of himself included here. God says, I've spoken to you by the prophets and to Hosea. They weren't listening. They weren't listening. We need today to hear, to listen to what God has spoken through the prophets. Now, something else. Do we have prophets today? You say, well, yes, we do. We have prophet as a pastor. Prophet is not a prophet. Prophet is a servant pastor. Notice Hebrews chapter 1. And this will help us because you have people today. This is prophet so-and-so. This is prophet so-and-so. They said this. They prophesied that. And we say, oh, let me pay attention to all that. No, don't pay attention to that. Pay attention to this. Hebrews chapter 1. Verse 1, God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his son. whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds. So we have the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's recorded. We have the gospels. It's explained in the epistles. God has spoken to us in his son. We need to seek no other prophetic voice other than what's already been said. except for this, and that's the prophetic voice that is not foretelling, telling the future, but it's simply proclaiming what God has said, foretelling. And that we need today because God speaks to us through his written word. So Ephraim had a great advantage here. Now let's go back to Hosea 12 and verse 11. and two representative towns are exposed as vanity. One is Gilead. Though Gilead has idols, they're part of Ephraim, part of Israel. Surely they are vanity. This is a lesson through the whole book of Hosea that idolatry is vain. So Gilead is full of iniquity and idols. You see the word idols there? It can mean trouble, sorrow, wickedness, but it can also mean idolatry. And the trouble of iniquity and wickedness. Idolatry indeed leads to sorrow, into wickedness. Gilead has idols. Surely they are vanity, just like feeding on the wind in verse one, vain. Think about this for a minute. And this is absolutely tragic. We may know someone, Sister Linda's brother lost his house in California, absolutely tragic. And I don't want to minimize that at all. But just think, let's just suppose that there was someone who could say with Ephraim, I'm rich, I've found wealth for myself, and maybe even they got there through ungodly means, and they were so secure in their setting, and in just a day or two, it all went to ashes. Vanity. That's why we are not to trust in the gifts that God gives us. We put our trust in the giver of the gifts and don't rely on our houses, our cars, our bank accounts, but in the Lord who gave them to us. Gilead has idols. The modern world has all kinds of idols. They can be brought to nothing in a moment of time. And then there's another city, town, Gilgal. And he says, though they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal, false worship, indeed their altars shall be heaps in the furrows of the field. Their altars are stone heaps, but they're misplaced. And the furrows of the field mean they would have to be moved in order to plow the field. So they're in the wrong place. and they bring disappointment, they also are vain, even though they sacrifice bulls on them. Look back at chapter 9 verse 15. Chapter 9 verse 15. All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them. So Gilgal is known for its wickedness, its debauchery, and Gilead known for its vanity. Chapter 12 verse 11 as we saw. There's vanity there and their altars are misplaced. Well, then let's see this truth. Gilead and Gilgal are two towns exposed as vanity. But in verses 12 and 13, two key incidents of Yahweh's protection are given. Here's the moon rising, a full moon showing light. Here's the sun rising showing light as Hosea takes us back to Jacob and his journey. It says, Jacob fled to the country of Syria. Israel served for a spouse and for a wife he tended sheep. By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt and by a prophet he was preserved. So here we have these two key incidents of Yahweh's protection. One was when Jacob traveled to Haran escaping Esau, his brother whom he had cheated and defiled. Just go for a minute back to Genesis 29. And Jacob's on the run. He fled to Syria, to Aram. Genesis chapter 29, notice a few verses here. But God protected him. And there he meets Uncle Laban. But first he had met Laban's beautiful daughter, Rachel. Genesis 29 verse 18, it says, Now Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, I will serve you seven years. That's to her father. I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your youngest daughter. That's commitment. And Laban said, it's better that I give her to you than I should give her to another man. Stay with me. So everything was arranged. Jacob performed seven years of duty, got Rachel as his wife. And in their wedding tent, he discovered the next morning that he had Rachel's sister, Leah. Jacob the trickster has been tricked. Uncle Laban is a trickster as well. He's a cheater as well. And then he makes up this silly thing, oh, that's not the way we do it here. You know, you gotta have the oldest before you can have the younger. Well, why didn't you tell me that seven years ago? Because he was a cheater. So Jacob worked again, and then he received Rachel as his wife. So God protected him. He fled there, he served, he kept sheep for both wives. And then notice Moses' leadership in the Exodus. God used a prophet, back to Hosea chapter 12, God used Moses the prophet to bring them out, to deliver them from the land of Egypt. So Moses was a great man, a great man of God, a man of strength. And it says, by a prophet. Who is that? It's Moses. The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt. And by a prophet, he was preserved. That is, Israel was preserved. God used Moses to do those amazing miracles to Pharaoh. And then God gave to Moses the Passover and he says, you take this animal and then you kill it and you put the blood in a basin and then you take the leafy hyssop plant and dip it into that basin and put the blood on the lentil of your house and on the doorpost of your house. And when the death angel comes through, I will pass over you. And that feast was to be celebrated, that Passover. They would remember God's deliverance of them from slavery in Egypt. And he used Moses to do that. He used Moses to preserve them, to bring them out. And Pharaoh's army was drowned in the Red Sea. And Israel was victorious. So two key incidents of Yahweh's protection are given. In the midst of this gloom, we see the moon rise. In the midst of the clouds, we see the moon rise. And then there's a conclusion here in verse 14. Ephraim will suffer consequences for making Yahweh angry. Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly. What is it to be provoked? to be so irritated to a point of action in here to anger. And that's what they did to the one who said, I'm the Lord your God. They made him angry. And it says, most bitterly, his bitter action was provocation of the Lord and the consequences Therefore, his Lord will leave the guilt of his bloodshed upon him. If he's been guilty of bloodshed, that guilt is going to stay on him. And return his reproach upon him. He's going to become a disgrace, a shame, a reproach. I want you to notice something. You see in verse 14, the last line of the verse where it says, and return his reproach upon him. You see that? You see in chapter 12, in verse 6, so you, by the help of your God, return. See that? It's the same Hebrew word, shuv. And in verse 6, it means repent, return, turn back, turn from your evil and turn to God. In verse 14, If you refuse to repent, God is going to return. He's going to turn back, bring back on you the judgment you deserve. And that's what happened in 722 BC. They were blind to Hosea's message. They were deaf to his prophetic calls. And the enemy came in and carried them off captive. They wouldn't return. And so God made reproach and shame return. Great lessons for us. Because they did not repent or return to the Lord, shame and reproach would return to them. Let me close with these applications. There are consequences for sin. First, for the unbeliever. Many people think, I'm not worried about the afterlife. I'm not worried about those Christians pie in the sky that they talk about. I'm not into any of that. As one man told me once, when I die, I'm just like a dog. I just go into the ground and that's it. No, that's not it. There are consequences for sin. And if we have not trusted Christ, that's where we have to start. Come to the cross and our sin problem can be dealt with, praise God, by his mercy, his grace, and I won't face the consequences of my sin. Eternal judgment away from God. That's why we need salvation, praise the Lord. And as believers, though, let us never think there are no consequences to sin. Yes, there are. There are consequences. Back to the book of James. I wonder if James had been reading Hosea. James chapter one. Verse 14, James tells us, but each one of us is tempted when he's drawn away by his own lust or desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fulfilled, full grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. I must not be deceived about sowing sin and then it grows and gives birth and brings forth death. So yes, there can be discipline in the Christian life. Let us just remember this wonderful truth. If I sin as a Christian, I need to confess it. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And let us never think, oh yeah, I'm gonna wait till Sunday, I'll do that. I'll go to church, I'll confess my sin. No, let us not even think, yeah, I'll wait till I say my prayers at bedtime. No, whenever we sin, confess it and deal with it and don't linger along and God is willing to forgive us. but let us never be deceived to think no consequences. There was a senior in high school who didn't make it to graduation because last he was seen, I think he was with a friend, they were at a McDonald's, and they don't know exactly what they were doing there, but probably not good, and he took his car and he was going, I think the speedometer was stuck at like 110 or 120. He went over this bridge and became airborne and went right into a pole and was tragically taken and death. You know, we can think, I can live fast and free and I can party it up and no consequences. Don't be deceived. Don't be deceived. Or we can think, I can just hide away in my heart these little private sins. No consequences. Let us not be deceived. Let us confess sin and turn from it and turn to the Lord. And then turn with me to this, Galatians 6, 7, and 8. There's a principle that Hosea reminds us of. that we need to remember continually, sowing and reaping. If you got the email last night, I mentioned this. It can be positive and it can be negative. Galatians 6 verses 7 and 8. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life." Ephraim was deceived. They thought they could mock God. They could sow to the wind. Ephraim says, you're going to reap the whirlwind. Sowing and reaping, understanding this principle as believers should help us to resist sin. It's not worth it. I sow that, I don't know what I'm going to reap. I love Adrian Rogers, he's in heaven. He had great radio ministry. Maybe you still hear him, Loveworth Finding. One of his most popular messages was a message on alcohol. And he was completely against it. But he had a fun little way of engaging people at a restaurant. They'd come to him, can I get you a drink? No ma'am, I'm concerned I might become an alcoholic. And it meant a smile or a chuckle. What was he saying? I don't want to start that. I don't want to start sowing that because I don't know where that might make me reap. So I'm not going to start it. That's wise. And there are many things that we could argue that we have the Christian liberty, the right to do. Okay? But we'll end up in the harvest field reaping, sowing and reaping. Ephraim, all their advantages, all their blessings would still sow the seeds of rebellion against the God who brought them out of Egypt. And one last one, and please turn with me to Psalm 19. Here's the application. God spoke through his prophets the power of the Word of God. The power of the Word of God. I love this. God was gracious to Ephraim. God blessed Israel with prophets. And God has blessed us, the church, with his word to guide us, to instruct us, to change us. Let's appreciate it. Psalm 19 verse 7, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right. rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold. Yea, they're much fine gold, sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned. And in keeping them, there's great reward. Isn't that great? So let's understand consequences, let's understand sowing and reaping, and let's understand the power of the Word of God and appreciate that God has spoken to us through the prophets and they're recorded in His Word. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your Word today. You know the needs of each of our hearts. I pray, Lord, that you will give us grace and strength to understand consequences, to avoid sin by understanding sowing and reaping, and to understand and appreciate the power of your word. Help us, Lord. And thank you for this sweet and gentle and powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit to take your word and apply it to our hearts. We ask that you do that in Jesus' powerful name. Amen.