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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.
Hosea - God's Message to Backsliders
Series Hosea
| Sermon ID | 1125121929348 |
| Duration | 43:56 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday School |
| Bible Text | Hosea 1:1 |
| Language | English |
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