Sharper Iron from KFUO Radio
Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God’s Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen. Sharper Iron is underwritten by Lutheran Church Extension Fund, where your investments help support the work of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit lcef.org.
Episodes
September 10, 2025 • 53 mins
The LORD’s compassion for His people comes to them anew in the wake of their repentance. He promises to restore their land from the destruction brought about by the locusts, famine, and enemy armies. As the LORD restores His people’s land, so He restores His people with abundant fruit and great joy. As He takes away the shame of His people, the LORD shows them that He is the only God who dwells among them for their blessing.
Re...
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September 9, 2025 • 54 mins
Joel answers the question from the end of the previous text. The one who endures the great and awesome day of the LORD is the one who returns to the LORD in repentance. Such repentance is not only an outward mourning, but true inward grief over sin. Such repentance is for all people and must not be delayed. Such repentance is the gift of God, whose grace and mercy draws us to Him in confession of our sins, trusting that He will be ...
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September 8, 2025 • 53 mins
The LORD sounds His trumpet to proclaim His coming Day. His judgment on that Day is described with imagery of darkness, fire, locusts, chariots, and warriors, all reminiscent of the plagues against Egypt before the exodus. Those who have set themselves against the LORD will have no escape, for He is the One bringing His army. The only one who can endure the Day is the one who takes refuge in the LORD. Jesus has endured the wrath of...
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September 5, 2025 • 57 mins
Joel reveals very little of his historical context within his short book, but the word of the LORD that he is given to preach is for people of all times and places. Joel proclaims that all people must pay attention, for the LORD’s judgment has come through an insatiable swarm of locusts. The resulting famine has led to mourning and languishing, in which the only appropriate response is repentance. The swarm of locusts proclaims the...
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September 4, 2025 • 57 mins
Having preached the condemnation that Israel’s idolatry deserved, Hosea once more calls the people to return to the LORD in honest confession. He gives them words to speak that both acknowledge the guilt and folly of their idolatry and look to the LORD’s mercy with faith. The LORD is quick with His promise. He speaks words of healing and love, in which He will cause His people to flourish in safety once again. Unlike idols that onl...
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September 3, 2025 • 56 mins
Israel’s glory days have long come to an end, for their idolatry has killed them. Even now, they only compound sin upon sin as they become as fleeting as the idols they worship. The LORD reminds them who He is and what He has done as their Savior, yet they forget Him in arrogance. Therefore, the LORD will show Himself to them in judgment, and no king will be able to save them. Only the LORD can rescue them from the death they have ...
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September 2, 2025 • 57 mins
As the LORD brings His charge against Israel and Judah, He calls them to remember the story of their father, Jacob. Although Jacob was known as a cheater early in his life, the LORD still showed His faithfulness to Jacob. Because the LORD gave Jacob His blessing when Jacob strove with Him, Israel now should strive with God in repentance and faith, seeking His forgiveness even now. Yet rather than returning to the LORD as Jacob once...
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September 1, 2025 • 54 mins
The LORD reminds Israel of the love He showed to them as their Father, when He brought them out of Egypt, led them with love to Mount Sinai, and fed them in the wilderness. Despite the LORD’s great love, however, Israel only runs farther away from their God to idols. The LORD promises that His judgment will come through the Assyrian army, and yet, even then, He promises His compassion will call His people back to Himself. St. Matth...
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August 29, 2025 • 55 mins
The LORD’s vineyard Israel continues to produce only idolatrous fruit. When He promises that He will bring His judgment, Israel still refuses to turn to Him. Instead, they mourn for their worthless idol as it is carried off into exile. Because the people have refused to dwell with the LORD in His presence, He gives them only the thorns and thistles that grow east of Eden. Even now, the LORD still calls His people to seek Him in rep...
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August 28, 2025 • 55 mins
Israel has looked to Baal for fertility in agriculture and population, and so the LORD speaks the awful judgment that both of these joyful gifts will be taken away from Israel. Their food will only be eaten in mourning, and they will not be able to go to the LORD’s appointed feasts because they will be in exile. Despite Israel’s mockery of Hosea’s faithful preaching, the LORD will do according to the Word that His prophet has spoke...
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August 27, 2025 • 54 mins
The LORD causes the warning trumpet to sound again as Assyria waits to scavenge God’s people, who are already dead in their idolatry, even though they do not realize it. Israel has been ruled by unauthorized kings, and they worship worthless idols, just as their fathers had once done even at the foot of Mount Sinai. As Israel multiplies their altars, they only multiply their sins. The LORD will not receive their idolatrous worship,...
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August 26, 2025 • 54 mins
Even as the LORD attempts to heal His people, more of Israel's disease becomes apparent. Hosea speaks about the sin in Israel with vivid images. As the heat of an oven that leavens dough before the blazing fire bakes it, so the treachery in Israel grows until it blazes with destruction, even as the people fail to call upon the LORD. As an aging man tragically does not realize the loss of his faculties, so Israel tragically cannot ...
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August 25, 2025 • 54 mins
Having heard the LORD’s call to repentance, Hosea desires to lead the people back to their God. He calls them to return to the LORD in the certain faith that the LORD raises the dead and forgives sinners. Nonetheless, the people of Israel only display temporary repentance and hypocritical faith. Despite the preaching of the prophets and God’s available and abundant grace, the wickedness in Israel only continues to grow.
Rev. Ry...
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August 22, 2025 • 55 mins
The LORD calls the leaders of His people to account. Although Israel does not know Him, He knows Israel and sees the prideful idolatry that infects both the northern and southern kingdoms. The LORD says that the warning trumpet must sound, for He is bringing His judgment, slowly but surely. As Israel continues to look for help in the wrong places, the LORD promises to return to His place until His people turn to Him in repentance a...
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August 21, 2025 • 54 mins
Through Hosea, the LORD indicts His people for their lack of faithfulness, steadfast love, and knowledge of Him. The last of those three charges takes center stage first. The priests of Israel have failed to teach the people to know the LORD truly, and so the whole land suffers. The idolatry of Israel, led by the priests, has failed to fulfill any of their needs, even as the people foolishly worship pieces of wood. The LORD promise...
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August 20, 2025 • 53 mins
Hosea’s preaching takes a Gospel turn as the LORD promises to woo Israel anew as His bride. No longer will they call upon Him in idolatrous worship, but they will call upon Him as their Husband according to His holy name. In this wedding between God and His people, He invites them to dwell with Him as He once dwelt with Adam and Eve in Eden. The LORD’s command that Hosea bring back Gomer, despite her unfaithfulness, provides a livi...
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August 19, 2025 • 52 mins
As Hosea preaches from his marriage to an adulterous woman, he speaks against the spiritual adultery Israel has committed against the LORD by their idolatry. Although the LORD was always the source of all Israel’s good gifts, they failed to realize this and foolishly looked to Baal for blessing. In response, the LORD promises that He will take such blessings away and make the Promised Land a wilderness. Through the coming Assyrian ...
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August 18, 2025 • 53 mins
The LORD called Hosea to preach to the northern kingdom, Israel, during times that were prosperous economically but horrific theologically. The first part of Hosea’s book centers on the LORD’s command for Hosea to marry a wife of whoredom, Gomer. Through Hosea’s marriage, the LORD provides a living sermon of the relationship between Himself and Israel. The names given to the three children of Hosea and Gomer all initially preach ag...
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August 18, 2025 • 2 mins
“Majoring in the Minors” is a mini-series on Sharper Iron that goes through the books of Hosea, Joel, Jonah, Micah, and Nahum. Although the books of these prophets are shorter, the Word of God they preached was important in the years leading up to the coming of the Christ, and that Word remains important for the Church today. Just as we still need to listen to their call to repentance over our idolatry, so we still need to heed the...
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August 15, 2025 • 56 mins
As the Psalter draws to a close with a grand Hallelujah Chorus, Psalm 148 calls upon all creation to join together to praise the LORD. The praise starts with the heavens and the heavenly creatures. These are not to be worshiped, but rather, they join together in worship to the Creator who continues to sustain them by His Word. The praise of the LORD continues on the earth among all earthly creatures, as they live according to the w...
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