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.

Ask a Question
Send Encouragement

|||| Take a Next Step ||||
SOAP Bible Study Method.
Bible Reading Plan.
Free Weekly Newsletter.

|||| Social ||||
Facebook.
Instagram.
X.
YouTube.

The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Hosea 13
• 1:53 God's Warning Through Hosea
• 5:50 Reckless Love Explained
• 7:50 Taking God's Word Seriously
• 8:51 Closing Prayer and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Hosea, chapter 13, and today's title is God is not playing around. God is not playing around. He's playing no games up in here today because we're getting toward the end of the prophecies of Hosea. And he's like hey, listen, we got to figure this thing out. I don't want you to experience all of this devastation that's on the way. Assyria is no joke. I mean, these guys are ruthless man, some of the most evil people to be on the scene at the time. And God's like I do not want this for you, so I ain't playing around, let's figure this out. And so we're going to see what God's and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job over there, and the more we dig, the more we find. Well, once again, if you've been with us for a while now, you know that Hosea is all about God's reckless love. He is a prophet in the northern kingdom, so, if you remember it, once upon a time Israel was one 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 dynasty of David and Israel, which was most of the remaining tribes, they split off and went a different direction and they are now the northern kingdom. And Hosea comes along and he is trying to be the voice of God to this nation and he's saying hey, listen, god is going to give us over to our enemies if we don't return to him. Listen, God is going to give us over to our enemies if we don't return to him. And he is prophesying. At the same time, isaiah is prophesying in the southern kingdom. He just didn't write as much right, but he still had God's hand on his life. And the number one thing that God is constantly trying to tell the nation of Israel through Hosea is how much he loves them, and he loves them enough to tell them the truth. And in Hosea, chapter 13, as we're getting toward the end here this is maybe possibly toward the end of Hosea's life he's like hey, we don't want Assyria to come in and destroy us. So we have got to figure this thing out. God is not playing around. And so we're going to read this together, as God is just warning them that, listen, we got to fix this and let's see what God's word will say to us. You ready?

Speaker 1: 2:50

Hosea 13, verse 1, says this when the tribe of Ephraim spoke, the people shook with fear, for that tribe was important in Israel. But the people of Ephraim sinned by worshiping Baal and thus sealed their destruction. Now they continue to sin by making silver idols, images shaped skillfully with human hands, sacrifice to these. They cry and kiss the calf idols. Therefore, they will disappear like the morning mist, like dew in the morning sun, like chaff blown by the wind, like smoke from the chimney.

Speaker 1: 3:27

I have been the Lord, your God, ever since I first brought you out of Egypt. You must acknowledge no God but me, for there is no other savior. I took care of you in the wilderness and that dry and thirsty land, but when you had eaten and were satisfied, you became proud and forgot me. So now I will attack you like a lion, like a leopard that lurks along the road, like a bear whose cubs have been taken away. I will tear out your heart, I will devour you like a hungry lioness and mangle you like a wild animal. You are about to be destroyed. O Israel, yes, by me, your only helper. Now, where is your king? Let him save you. Where are all the leaders of the land, the king and the officials you demanded of me? In my anger I gave you kings and in my fury I took them away.

Speaker 1: 4:20

Ephraim's guilt has been collected and his sin has been stored up for punishment. Pain has come to the people, like the pain of childbirth, but they are like a child who resist being born. The moment of birth has arrived, but they stay in the womb. Should I ransom them from the grave? 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 fruitful of all his brothers, but the east wind, a blast from the Lord, will arise from in the desert. All their flowing springs will run dry and all their wells will disappear. Every precious thing they own will be plundered and carried away. And the people of Samaria must bear the consequences of their guilt because they rebelled against their God. They will be killed by an invading army. Their little ones will be dashed to death against the ground, their pregnant women ripped open by swords. That's a bad day. That's a really, really bad day.

Speaker 1: 5:26

And so God is flashing this warning and he's saying this is coming. I don't want it to come, so please turn back to me, turn back to me, turn back to me. Over and over and over again. That's what reckless love looks like. Reckless love sees what's coming and does it anyway. It goes ahead and tells them. The picture it reminds me of is is imagine, imagine you. You see a car coming, and right in the middle of the road is someone that you love, but over and over and over again, they take advantage of you. They stab you behind your back, they talk about you behind your back. They do everything possible they can to destroy you. You love them, but they don't love you. And you look and you see a car coming and you see that they're right in the middle of the road.

Speaker 1: 6:13

Some people would say justice, would say they're going to get hit because they have earned it by all of the sins they've committed against you. You know what reckless love is. Reckless love is the one who yells 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 at all the bad things they've done. Yeah, but I still love them. That's what reckless love looks like. The ultimate reckless love wasn't just that God shouted to the person in the middle of the street. Reckless love is that Jesus himself came and pushed us out of the way and took the hit for us. That was the ultimate reckless love.

Speaker 1: 6:55

And in this chapter we see that God is telling them this is what's going to happen, the result of you turning back on that. God is telling them this is what's going to happen, the result of you turning back on me and the justice that is required. Someone's got to pay for your sins and it's going to have to be you. If you don't turn back. And he's telling them these horrible things are going to happen. God's not saying this because he's gloating. He's saying this because he doesn't want it to happen and he's warning them please turn back to me, I'm not playing around. This is going to happen, right?

Speaker 1: 7:24

And I wonder how many times in our life is it so important for us to read God's word? Because in his word, all the promises of God are yes and in him, amen. But here's the thing All the promises of God are yes, that means the promise where he says he'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 these things, then these bad things will be open to us because we won't be underneath his protection. Those are true as well, and what God is saying is is get out of the road. There's a car coming, but we have to take him seriously and get out of there.

Speaker 1: 8:03

So my excuse question is there an area of your life that you need to take more seriously what God says? Are you flirting with a sin? Are you, are you letting yourself get a little too close to some things that you don't need to get too close to? Well, if that's the case, it's okay, but it's time to repent of it and to get back right with God, because God's not playing around and he wants us to be free and whole in our life. Let's pray together right now.

Speaker 1: 8:27

God, thank you so much for today. Thank you for being with us and being for us. I pray today, god, if there's anything in our life that you are waving a flag and you're saying please get away from that, it will hurt you. I pray you'll open our eyes to see it more clearly so we can take steps toward freedom. Today, in Jesus' name, we pray amen 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. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. God's plan for us is for us to experience his reckless love every day. I can't wait to see you tomorrow for the finale. Hosea, chapter 14.