Hosea 13: God is Not Playing Around

What does it look like when God's patience reaches its limit? In this powerful exploration of Hosea 13, Pastor Brandon unveils the sobering reality of divine judgment while simultaneously revealing the depths of God's reckless love for His wayward people.

As we near the conclusion of Hosea's prophecies, the urgency becomes palpable. God isn't mincing words anymore—the Assyrian threat looms large, and time is running out for the northern kingdom of Israel. Through vivid imagery of predators—lions, leopards, and bears—God communicates the severity of what awaits those who continue in rebellion. Yet these warnings flow from His heart of love, desperately wanting His people to escape destruction.

Pastor Brandon shares a powerful modern analogy: imagine seeing someone you love standing in the path of an oncoming car. Even if this person has hurt you repeatedly, true love compels you to shout a warning. This is God's heart throughout Hosea—warning His beloved people of impending disaster, pleading with them to return to safety. But Jesus took this reckless love even further by not just warning us but stepping into harm's way Himself, taking the hit we deserved.

Are you flirting with sin in your own life? Are there areas where you've stopped taking God's warnings seriously? This episode challenges us to recognize that when God says He's "not playing around," we need to listen. His promises of both blessing and consequence are equally true. Join us for this penetrating look at divine justice and mercy, and prepare your heart for tomorrow's finale of Hosea in chapter 14.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon, today.
Hosea, chapter 13, and today'stitle is God is not playing
around.
God is not playing around.
He's playing no games up inhere today because we're getting
toward the end of theprophecies of Hosea.
And he's like hey, listen, wegot to figure this thing out.

(00:21):
I don't want you to experienceall of this devastation that's
on the way.
Assyria is no joke.
I mean, these guys are ruthlessman, some of the most evil
people to be on the scene at thetime.
And God's like I do not wantthis for you, so I ain't playing
around, let's figure this out.
And so we're going to see whatGod's and subscribe to the

(00:47):
YouTube channel and the podcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast
it really does help and makesure you're going to the Bible
Breakdown Discussion on Facebook.
There's an amazing group ofpeople doing a wonderful job
over there, and the more we dig,the more we find.
Well, once again, if you'vebeen with us for a while now,
you know that Hosea is all aboutGod's reckless love.

(01:08):
He is a prophet in the northernkingdom, so, if you remember it
, once upon a time Israel wasone nation under King Saul, then
King David, then King Solomon,but when Solomon's son Rehoboam
came up, the kingdom split.
Judah stayed with the dynastyof David and Israel, which was

(01:29):
most of the remaining tribes,they split off and went a
different direction and they arenow the northern kingdom.
And Hosea comes along and he istrying to be the voice of God
to this nation and he's sayinghey, listen, god is going to
give us over to our enemies ifwe don't return to him.
Listen, God is going to give usover to our enemies if we don't
return to him.
And he is prophesying.
At the same time, isaiah isprophesying in the southern
kingdom.

(01:49):
He just didn't write as muchright, but he still had God's
hand on his life.
And the number one thing thatGod is constantly trying to tell
the nation of Israel throughHosea is how much he loves them,
and he loves them enough totell them the truth.
And in Hosea, chapter 13, aswe're getting toward the end
here this is maybe possiblytoward the end of Hosea's life
he's like hey, we don't wantAssyria to come in and destroy

(02:13):
us.
So we have got to figure thisthing out.
God is not playing around.
And so we're going to read thistogether, as God is just
warning them that, listen, wegot to fix this and let's see
what God's word will say to us.
You ready?
Hosea 13, verse 1, says thiswhen the tribe of Ephraim spoke,
the people shook with fear, forthat tribe was important in

(02:35):
Israel.
But the people of Ephraimsinned by worshiping Baal and
thus sealed their destruction.
Now they continue to sin bymaking silver idols, images
shaped skillfully with humanhands, sacrifice to these.
They cry and kiss the calfidols.
Therefore, they will disappearlike the morning mist, like dew

(02:58):
in the morning sun, like chaffblown by the wind, like smoke
from the chimney.
I have been the Lord, your God,ever since I first brought you
out of Egypt.
You must acknowledge no God butme, for there is no other
savior.
I took care of you in thewilderness and that dry and
thirsty land, but when you hadeaten and were satisfied, you

(03:21):
became proud and forgot me.
So now I will attack you like alion, like a leopard that lurks
along the road, like a bearwhose cubs have been taken away.
I will tear out your heart, Iwill devour you like a hungry
lioness and mangle you like awild animal.
You are about to be destroyed.
O Israel, yes, by me, your onlyhelper.

(03:42):
Now, where is your king?
Let him save you.
Where are all the leaders ofthe land, the king and the
officials you demanded of me?
In my anger I gave you kingsand in my fury I took them away.
Ephraim's guilt has beencollected and his sin has been
stored up for punishment.
Pain has come to the people,like the pain of childbirth, but

(04:04):
they are like a child whoresist being born.
The moment of birth has arrived, but they stay in the womb.
Should I ransom them from thegrave?
Should I redeem them from death?
Oh death, bring on your terrors.
Oh grave, bring on your plagues, for I will not take pity on
them.
Ephraim was the most fruitfulof all his brothers, but the

(04:27):
east wind, a blast from the Lord, will arise from in the desert.
All their flowing springs willrun dry and all their wells will
disappear.
Every precious thing they ownwill be plundered and carried
away.
And the people of Samaria mustbear the consequences of their
guilt because they rebelledagainst their God.

(04:48):
They will be killed by aninvading army.
Their little ones will bedashed to death against the
ground, their pregnant womenripped open by swords.
That's a bad day.
That's a really, really bad day.
And so God is flashing thiswarning and he's saying this is
coming.
I don't want it to come, soplease turn back to me, turn

(05:11):
back to me, turn back to me.
Over and over and over again.
That's what reckless love lookslike.
Reckless love sees what'scoming and does it anyway.
It goes ahead and tells them.
The picture it reminds me of isis imagine, imagine you.
You see a car coming, and rightin the middle of the road is
someone that you love, but overand over and over again, they

(05:34):
take advantage of you.
They stab you behind your back,they talk about you behind your
back.
They do everything possiblethey can to destroy you.
You love them, but they don'tlove you.
And you look and you see a carcoming and you see that they're
right in the middle of the road.
Some people would say justice,would say they're going to get
hit because they have earned itby all of the sins they've

(05:55):
committed against you.
You know what reckless love is.
Reckless love is the one whoyells out anyway to watch out,
get out of the way, move.
I don't want you to get hurt.
Why would you do that?
Why would you tell them look atall the bad things they've done
.
Yeah, but I still love them.
That's what reckless love lookslike.
The ultimate reckless lovewasn't just that God shouted to

(06:21):
the person in the middle of thestreet.
Reckless love is that Jesushimself came and pushed us out
of the way and took the hit forus.
That was the ultimate recklesslove.
And in this chapter we see thatGod is telling them this is
what's going to happen, theresult of you turning back on
that.
God is telling them this iswhat's going to happen, the
result of you turning back on meand the justice that is
required.
Someone's got to pay for yoursins and it's going to have to

(06:42):
be you.
If you don't turn back.
And he's telling them thesehorrible things are going to
happen.
God's not saying this becausehe's gloating.
He's saying this because hedoesn't want it to happen and
he's warning them please turnback to me, I'm not playing
around.
This is going to happen, right?
And I wonder how many times inour life is it so important for
us to read God's word?
Because in his word, all thepromises of God are yes and in

(07:05):
him, amen.
But here's the thing All thepromises of God are yes, that
means the promise where he sayshe'll be with us, we can do all
things.
Through him, who strengthens us, all things work together, just
all those.
But there's other ones that say, if we walk away, if we don't
honor him, if we don't do thesethings, then these bad things

(07:25):
will be open to us because wewon't be underneath his
protection.
Those are true as well, andwhat God is saying is is get out
of the road.
There's a car coming, but wehave to take him seriously and
get out of there.
So my excuse question is therean area of your life that you
need to take more seriously whatGod says?
Are you flirting with a sin?

(07:46):
Are you, are you lettingyourself get a little too close
to some things that you don'tneed to get too close to?
Well, if that's the case, it'sokay, but it's time to repent of
it and to get back right withGod, because God's not playing
around and he wants us to befree and whole in our life.
Let's pray together right now.
God, thank you so much for today.
Thank you for being with us andbeing for us.

(08:07):
I pray today, god, if there'sanything in our life that you
are waving a flag and you'resaying please get away from that
, it will hurt you.
I pray you'll open our eyes tosee it more clearly so we can
take steps toward freedom.
Today, in Jesus' name, we prayamen and remember what God's
word said.
God himself said, hosea 6,verse 6, he says I want you to
show love, not offer sacrifices.

(08:29):
I want you to know me more thanI want burnt offerings.
God's plan for us is for us toexperience his reckless love
every day.
I can't wait to see youtomorrow for the finale.
Hosea, chapter 14.