Well, I thought we were going to actually get into the stuff of Hosea 1. Never quite got that far. So this morning is some big picture stuff. I think that's really important, because as you read through Hosea, especially after you get past the first three chapters, you say, huh? How does this go with this? And how does that all go together? And so what we will try to do is talk about the book as a whole, and I hope give some kind of guidance that as you read the book of Hosea, that you'll be able to put pieces together in a meaningful way. We spent a little time prepping to move into Hosea already. Spent two sessions on what is a prophet and what is the function of a prophet. And then we spent two sessions on an introduction to Hosea, Hosea's name, Hosea's calling, Hosea's background, Hosea's peers, the other 8th century prophets, and Hosea's times politically, socially, Religiously so today we move into big picture stuff, and I left the remote over here Thank you So here are the issues that we want to tackle this morning the core message of Hosea what's the book all about and Then secondly, evidences of Israel's backsliding that rolls out of the core message. And then thirdly, God's approach to Israel's backsliding. So first of all, what is the core message? There it is. Hosea is God's message to the backslider. Well, let's read Hosea chapter 1. Hosea chapter 1. The word of the Lord which came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, Go take to yourself a wife of harlotry, and have children of harlotry, for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblehim, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the Lord said to him, Name him Jezreel for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel. And I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Jezreel. And it will come about on that day that I will break the bowl of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. Then she conceived again. gave birth to a daughter, and the Lord said to him, Name her Lo-Ruhamah, or No Mercy. For I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I should ever forgive them. But I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and deliver them by the Lord their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen. when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord said, name him Lo-Ami, which means not my people. For you are not my people, and I am not your God. Yet The number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it will come about in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people. It will be said to them, you are sons of the living God and the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together and they will appoint for themselves one leader and they will go up from the land for great will be the day of Jezreel. So, the core message of Hosea. Hosea is God's prophet to the northern kingdom in their twilight years, just before the sun sets on this nation. Remember, we looked at the timeline. 722 BC, the empire of Assyria comes and sweeps them away, puts an end to their national existence. Hosea is prophesying in the time before that, maybe 20 years, maybe 40 years, but in the time just before that, before God obliterates their existence as a nation in an act of judgment. We noted before that there were no, as in zero, righteous kings in the entire history of the Northern Kingdom. Well, they were a religious nation, but it was a religion with a mixture of truth and error. The name of God, the name of Jehovah was on their lips, but they also were infused with the paganism of Baal worship. And in the north and the south of the nation were the idols of the golden calves. and Dan and Beersheba. And the false system of priests and sacrifices and religious feasts that were instituted by Jeroboam to keep his people from seeking the true God in the Temple of Jerusalem in Judah, presumably were still in force and still in play. Yet they had a tradition and they had a language of worshiping the God of Moses and the God of Abraham. They talked about God. They did a lot of stuff. that God had said no to. Nominally, they were believers and worshippers of the God of Israel. But there were no righteous kings, and as the leader, so goes the people. And there were a nation in rebellion who had departed from the true God, who disregarded His law. They did not find their directions from here to there by the road map of His law. But they were going to do it on their own. They made no attempt to put God first, but they lived for themselves. So God sends his prophets to warn them, to awaken them out of their sleepiness towards God and his truth, to call them to God. Elijah, Elisha, Amos, a number of others. But the nation does not wake up from the sleepiness of sin. The nation does not turn off the highway headed to hell. There is no change of direction, maybe a little slowing down, I think they put off the gas. They put on the brakes a little bit when you feel a little bit guilty about hearing the thou shalt nots. But no change of direction, no turning, no repentance. The nation does not seek God. So now comes Hosea. Just before the sun sets, just before judgment descends, one last series of warnings. God's message to the backsliding nation. God's last prophet to the Northern Kingdom. So here we observe how God deals with backsliding Israel. Here we see how God feels about a backsliding people, and that's revealed primarily in what God says to backsliding Israel in the prophecies in Hosea, but it's also pictured dramatically and movingly in this twisted, broken family situation into which God inserts Hosea, which we read of in chapter 1. But consider that we must not limit this insight about God in the backslider to Israel of old, because we have a window here into how God deals with any of his people at any time in history. So how does God respond to people when their love grows cold? How does God respond to his people when their good works become feeble and infrequent? How does God respond to his people when they wander from him after other things and their hearts become reaching out towards other gods? And yet, all the time, because this is how it works, their self-assessment is utterly unrealistic. And not so bad. It's not a problem. Still talking about God, still going to church. I'm okay. This is normal. There's no problems here. So how does God deal with backsliders? That's what we'll learn in the book of Hosea, the core message of Hosea. So we said it's about how God deals with backsliders. So we want to talk a little bit about Israel's backsliding and the evidence of their backsliding. I want to talk about this because there's a couple of different dimensions to it, and you find it throughout the book. And as you're reading these different sections, you're saying, OK, how does it sit together? Well, there are these three dimensions of Israel's backsliding that we want to talk about. and they all fit together. First of all, Israel's backsliding as seen in religion. Now, we've already talked about Baal worship and idols. We talked about that in our previous session. We will not travel that road again, but that's important and it comes up all over the place in Hosea, of course. But would you look at chapter 2, verses 12 and 13? And we'll just kind of jump in here. God says, and I will destroy her vines and fig trees, of which she said, these are my wages, which my lovers have given me, and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field will devour them, and I will punish her, that is Israel, for the days of the Baals, when she used to offer sacrifices to them, and adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, and follow her lovers so that she forgot me, declares the Lord." Here's Israel and she's worshipping the idols and she prays to the... in an agricultural, more primitive economy, so you pray to an idol for rain, because you need rain for your crops, because everything is about the land. And you pray to the sun god for sun, so that your crops will grow, because your life is tied to the land and the productivity of the land. And so, you know, talk about God, but you really need rain. So you've got to have Baal and the rain god and all of that. So Israel includes that, and they pray to the rain god, and when the rain god gives them rain, they thank the rain god. And, but God says, you know, you're missing it. Because, verse 12, she says, these are my wages which my lovers have given me. The rain didn't come from the rain God. The rain came from the true God. So, they have a misunderstanding. They're following these other gods and attributing what the true God is giving to the false gods. And so that just tightens the relationship between them and the false gods. And they're forgetting God. Last phrase in verse 13, follow her lovers so that she forgot me. So as Israel follows the false gods, she forgets God. And that's the whole point. And following these other gods, the true God is forgotten. That's backsliding. Well, there's backsliding in religion, there's backsliding in politics. When a nation is composed of its individuals, and the individuals, what they are in their heart, is worked out in every sphere, including in politics. That's what we see in America today. the what we as undisciplined, covetous, soft, pleasure-seeking Americans are is worked out in our politics. This is what we want. This is what we got. So, what was going on in politics is what the Israelites were in their hearts is worked out on the national scene. Chapter 5 and verse 13. Chapter 5 In verse 13, when Ephraim saw his sickness, the northern kingdom, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jerob, but he is unable to heal you or to cure you of your wound. In time of crisis, Israel does not go to God. Ephraim saw his sickness. He got some problems on a national scale. What are we going to do? They are threatened by other nations. So where are they going to go for help? Who are you going to call? Well, they make alliances with other powerful nations. So to defend themselves against this nation, they go to Assyria or to Egypt, the two big powers of the time. They make treaties with the other nations. They don't go to God. They have a sickness. They have a problem. They have a crisis. They don't go to God. Who should you think of first? Where do you go first when you're in trouble? I mean, where do you go when you're in trouble? Gotta fix this. Let's check my bank balance. Gotta have a plan. We'll go to plan B now, since plan A got derailed. Or do you go to God? Chapter 7, verse 11. So, an evidence of their backsliding was that when they're in trouble, they go to plan B. They go to Assyria. They don't go to God. Chapter 7, verse 11. So Ephraim has become like a silly dove without sense. They call it Egypt. They go to Assyria. So he likens Ephraim not to an eagle, but a silly little dove. So in our house, in the living room, you get these great big windows. And if you're on the outside and you're looking in, you see the reflection, there's trees and stuff there. And it looks like trees. Well, as you're going throughout the day, minding your own business, you always hear throughout the day, thump. Or the next day, thump. You know what that was? As a morning dove. Flying straight into the window. Sometimes they fall down and They're senseless for a couple hours, and they get up and fly away Otherwise they fall other times they fall on dead and we go out in the deck, and there's some dead morning doves Get it Ephraim has become like a silly dove brainlessly flying into the window and killing themselves and Why is he calling him a silly dove? Because when they're in trouble, they go to Egypt. When they're in trouble, they go to Syria. What about God? And what's dumb about it is that they make treaties with these nations and they give them money thinking that, oh, these nations will keep their promises. We'll write a contract. Law will protect us. these nations see that they've got money to give and where there's a little then there's more so later on they put the squeeze on they come back and say hey they got money they're good prey for the future or maybe another king comes up later and says remember Israel gave us this much let's go look for the rest because if they gave us this much there's undoubtedly more to spend where that came from silly dove well And then Isaiah 8, 9, and 10, they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey all alone. Ephraim has hired lovers, even though they hire allies among the nations. Now I will gather them up. So again, making treaties with other nations, seeking help from human sources instead of going to God. It's a transcript of their heart. It's where they're at. They're not looking to God in times of trouble. Backsliding in religion, backsliding in politics. Backsliding in morals. This is all over in Hosea, but turn back to chapter 4. So what are their lives like? Chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, for the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land. There's swearing, deception, murder, stealing, and adultery. They employ violence so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. So what's the national life like? There you are. Deception, violence, practicing the ethics of stepping on someone else's head to get up on the ladder of success in these times of prosperity and godlessness. Chapter 4, verse 11, harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding. What pervades the national practices? Saps and alcohol. That was Israel in the mid-700s. Their backsliding of heart affects their morals. Chapter 4, verse 14, I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot or your brides when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go apart with harlots and offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes. So the people, without understanding, are ruined. There's some controversy as to how widespread this practice was at this time. But prostitution was part of Baal worship. And men, when they go to worship, were engaged in this ritual religious sex. And similarly, the daughters of the land, to some degree, practice this as a part of religious practices. The morals of the land. Israel's backsliding. God comes with a message to backsliding Israel, which is evidenced in religion, politics, and morals. And that's where you see that talked about throughout the book of Hosea. That's why. Because all of this is evidence in various dimensions of their lives. of their backsliding. So, big picture stuff. The core message? God's message to backsliders. We look at how Israel's backsliding is seen in their national life. And then thirdly, we look at God's approach to Israel's backsliding. Understand that Hosea is fundamentally not a book about backsliding. But Hosea is fundamentally a book about God. So there's all this stuff going on, and you see God in action, and you see God speaking, and you learn more about God. If you and I sit down together and I say, well, tell me about yourself. Would you tell me about your childhood, or where you went to school, or your job, or your kids, or whatever? I hear a lot of facts. But I start to put together the pieces that tell me about who you are and what you're like as a person, as an individual. And I learn about you from your words and your story. And Hosea tells us about backsliding Israel, but Hosea tells us about God. What God's like. Same God we interact with and talk to and respond to. It tells us how God relates to and responds to his people when they sin. So what are the options for God? How might God deal with backsliders? A similar question might be how might parents deal with a wayward or rebellious teenager? It's parallel. And so, three options. These come from Derek Kidner, as most of my good ideas do. First, play it cool. This means, let the facts of life bring people to their senses in their own time. Get educated in the school of hard knocks. Want to play with fire? Go ahead. You'll eventually burn your fingers, and there you'll learn a lesson that you will not soon forget. Let them alone. Don't shield them from getting hurt. It's a non-interventional approach. With parents, they may let the teenager have the freedom to make some mistakes. You don't want my advice? Go ahead, get hurt. with respect to God. God withdraws from his people. Let them eat of the fruit of their own ways. Something of what we hear in Proverbs 1, and I can just read this to you. Proverbs 1, 30-32. They would not accept my counsel. They spurned all my reproof. So, they shall eat of the fruit of their own way. and be satiated with their own devices, for the waywardness of the naive shall kill them, and the complacency of fools shall destroy them." Hosea chapter 5 and verse 6. Let's see this in practice in Hosea. They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, but they will not find Him. He has withdrawn from them. And this will often be your experience of backsliding. Kind of like Samson. I will go as normal, not knowing that his strength had departed from him. You go seek God, but where do you go? Now understand, understand that walking in darkness in no way means that you are in sin or are backslidden. Isaiah chapter 50 and verse 10, because I know there are some with very tender consciences. And you should not plunge into despair because of this. Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. There are those who fear the Lord and who are in obedience to the voice of his servant, and yet they walk in darkness. That is, at a certain point in time, They're locked in life, appointed by God, they have no light. It doesn't seem like God answers them when they pray. It doesn't seem like God is near. That is a fact. And so the fact that God seems far away, the fact that God has withdrawn from you does not indicate that you are backslidden, necessarily. You may be one who fears the Lord. And God is wanting you to live by faith, that of trust in the name of the Lord, and not by feeling, as a part of your growth process. That's what God knows you need now. But, this is how God does deal with backsliders. Play it cool. God withdraws. And so, the backslider no longer experiences joy in meeting with God's people. They've become boring to him. They've become colorless. They are no longer as much fun as his other friends. They no longer experience joy in God's book. The Bible is a bunch of words on pages. The newspaper is more engaging. in prayer holds no interest. And at first the backslider hardly notices, because really he hadn't been paying too much attention to God anyway, because he was so absorbed with other things, he hardly noticed that God had withdrawn Hardly notice that God doesn't answer when He called. Hardly notice that He couldn't find God when He seeks Him. Hardly notice that the heavens were eerily silent when He prayed. Is no one there? The backslider begins to ask the question, did I ever know God? Did I ever meet with Him? Or was it just a fantasy? God withdraws. Hosea chapter 4 and verse 17. Here's God playing it cool again. Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone. You want the idols? Have at it. Ephraim wants his idols. Ephraim desires his pleasures. Ephraim seeks every god but God. So God says, let him go. Let him alone. I will stop pulling back on the leash. I'll let the leash go and let the dog run out in the street. If he wants to eat cotton candy chips and pop instead of three meals a day, I'll let him eat junk until he gets good and sick. Let him alone. I won't keep sending prophets. I won't keep calling to him. I won't keep holding him back, restraining him from plunging headlong into sin. If he is joined to idols, let him alone. Hosea 8, verse 7, For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. He wants to sin? I'll let him. And I'll let natural laws take their course. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. You want to sow thistles? Go ahead, eat a thistle salad when it's time for harvest. You want to do stupid, self-destructive things? I'll let you suffer the natural consequences of your choices. But the consequences are always an order of magnitude higher than we expected. Okay, so maybe I could deal with the wind, but I didn't expect a whirlwind. It's always come back with a bigger whammy than you expect. Sin looks so pleasurable. The pretty girl who's obviously lascivious, looking good. Realize what a creep she is. You want to have a relationship with her? With a snake? Sow the wind. Reap the whirlwind. If you don't know what you're getting into, man, it's a godsend to warn you about. But God says, one option, play it cool. Let him have it. That's how sin is. It's out of control. It's lawless behavior. Second option, play it tough. This means act sternly, exert tighter control, grant less freedom, and enact tougher penalties. With respect to parents with a teenager, the curfews become earlier. There are more rules. There's grounding. There's less freedom. There are significant penalties tightly linked in fractions of the rules. Parents lower the boom. With God, he becomes severe. He does not offer grace and mercy, but he punishes more quickly and more severely. Chapter 5 and verse 14. For I will be like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away. I will carry away and there will be none to deliver. Like a lion, God will tear the prey to pieces and then go away like a lion. Like a lion, God will carry them away and there will be no recourse. What are you going to do? Excuse me, Mr. Lion, could you please stop that violent behavior? You've got nothing to say to the lion. And so, God will let the nations invade Israel. Actually, God will activate the nations. to invade Israel. God will enable the nations to invade Israel. God will prosper the nations when they invade Israel. I will be like a lion, and I will tear them to pieces. It will be God's doing, because God's the lion. I know there's Assyria. And later on, I know there'll be Babylon. And in your life, I know there'll be some other guys and stuff going on. But it's going to be God behind it. Because he's got the remote. And they're carrying out his will. God's the lion. Play it tough. Chapter 9 and verse 9. They've gone deep into depravity. It's in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish. their sins. I thought God was a forgiving God. Now, God's a holy God, first and foremost. And you've experienced the deferral of His judgment, mistaking a delay in judgment for reluctance to judge. And now, verse 7, the days of punishment have come. The days of retribution have come. Let Israel know this. You will remember their iniquity. You will punish their sins. God won't pass forever on judging sin. God will make you own up. God will make you face up. God will make you pay up. And no one should ever think that they won't face punishment in this life, that it's all reserved for the hereafter. So don't worry about then. Just worry about the here and now. Take one thing at a time. It's like a debt where you pay only interest and nothing on the principal. You just think easy money goes on forever. Not so. The note doesn't just get renewed forever. At some point, somebody's got to pay. The lender wants his money back. He wants the principal back. That's why he lent it. So, with God, here, play it tough. The note is due. Pay up or get evicted. Pay up or get foreclosed on. Play it tough. Third, play it... tender. Appeal to people's better feelings with the parent, with the teen. He appeals to the child's loyalty or gratefulness or love. You're my child. Remember all the kindnesses and opportunities I have shown you. Shouldn't that affect the choices you make or how you respond to my requests of you? I love you. Don't you love and respect and want to please your parents with God? He is merciful and gracious when it is totally unexpected. Chapter 11 and verse 8. This is perhaps the most moving verse in the Bible. How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Adma? How can I treat you like Zeboim? Adma and Zeboim were two of the nations of the plain, along with Sodom and Gomorrah, that were destroyed in the fire and brimstone that came down from heaven, punished as a result of their sin. My heart is turned over within me. All my compassions are kindled. They're set on fire. The eloquence, the love, the passion, the tenderness, the pleading of God are evident in this verse. And God's love and God's covenant mercies impel him to display mercy to an extent that only God could do. Verse 9, I will not execute my fierce anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again, for I am God and not man. the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath." You and I would have run out of patience well before this. But God says, my compassions are kindled. I am God and not man. Only God could love like this. Now, He doesn't love in a way that contradicts His holiness. Judgment is not set aside. I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst. So His love doesn't cancel out or erode His holiness. But keeping His holiness central, the Holy One in your midst, He yet loves like this. Only God can and only God would love like this. And this is perhaps, perhaps. the leading thought of the entire book of Hosea. He does play it cool and he does play it tough, but boy does he play it tender. You saw that in chapter one already, right? I mean, you saw it. He says, You know, there's Jezreel, I'm going to scatter you, I'm going to put an end to the kingdom. Then there's the second one, Lo-Ruhamah, no mercy. Then there's the third one, Lo-Ami, you are not my people. And then verse 10, yet. Where it said to them, you are not my people, it will be said to them, you are the sons of the living God. What's God doing? I mean, is He contradicting Himself? Didn't He mean it? No, no, sometimes he plays it cool, sometimes he plays it tough, and sometimes he plays it tender. Are those contradictory? No. Different strategies, different approaches, different pathways to the heart of his backsliding people designed to bring them back. Sometimes you got to play it cool, and if you don't, You're missing an opportunity. Sometimes you've got to play it tough. If not, you're a wimp. And nobody takes you seriously. Sometimes you play it tenderly. And God does it like nobody else can. Like nobody else would. I am God and not man. How can I give you up? Chapter 14 and verse 4. I will heal their apostasy. I will love them freely. For my anger has turned away from them. They departed. They left God. They refused to listen. They refused to repent. They refused to turn. They refused to respond. They ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction. They are not the prodigal son of the parable. Because they're still in the pig pen, loving it. They're not saying, I will arise and go to my father. They're not saying, this is stupid, what am I doing here? They're having a great time in the pig pen. And yet, yet, God says, I will heal their apostasy. I will love them freely. You will love them freely. You can't buy love like this. You never could afford the price. Only God could. This is love beyond the limits of rationality. God's love does not make sense to you and me. We wouldn't do this. People who say that God will just always forgive are clueless as to who God is. He's the Holy One to whom justice and truth are given. So which of these options should and would God choose? Well, all three. In the right mix and at the right time. And that's what God is doing in Hosea. If you read Hosea, and I would encourage you to read it through, because we will start on chapter 1 next week before we go on. That's what you see throughout the book. One, then the other, then the other. Sometimes just boom, boom, boom right after another and you're saying, wait a minute. Well, this is what's going on. God has three approaches. He's doing one and the other and the other. And that's how he responds to his backsliding people today as well. Boy, are we out of time. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word in this prophecy of Hosea. Help us to learn of you as we read it. In Jesus' name, Amen.