Hos 7:8-11, 16
Going, Going, Gone
Hosea is a very relevant book. It was the last recorded word to the
northern nation called Israel, also called Ephraim. Israel is about
to be conquered by Assyria for their sins. Judah, the name given to
the southern tribes, will not be conquered but they
are already on that same road because of their sin.
Israel and America, I think, have some things in common.
1. Both of these nations were birthed by the divine hand of God.
(Some disagree with that but all one has to do is to read the
the history of our country and I believe you will see it.)
2. Both countries were founded on the Bible. Ignorant sheep can
deny that truth all they want but God did not magically put
His name and His Book into almost 100% of all this nation’s
founding documents, on nearly 100% of our first government
buildings and monuments, and throughout the laws of land.
a. The founding fathers did.
b. And why? Let’s let John Adams tell us. Adam’s served:
(1) In the Continental Congress which declared America’s
independence,
(2) Wrote his own copy of the Declaration of Independence,
(3) Served as George Washington’s (the nation’s first
president) vice-president,
(4) And was the nation’s second president.
"The general principles, on which the Fathers achieved independence,
were the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young
Gentlemen could Unite…. And what were these general Principles? I
answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all these
Sects were United: And the general Principles of English and American
Liberty.
"Now I will avow, that I then believe and now believe, that those
general Principles of Christianity, are as eternal and immutable, as
the Existence and Attributes of God; and that those Principles of
Liberty, are as unalterable as human Nature and our terrestrial,
mundane System."
—Adams wrote this on June 28, 1813, excerpt from a letter to Thomas
Jefferson.
https://www.thoughtco.com/christian-quotes-of-the-founding-fathers-
700789
3. Both have been empowered by God to serve Him.
a. Israel was to be a nation of priests. A priest’s job is to
teach the people the truth about God and to intercede on
their behalf to God.
b. America has been the torch of evangelism, first to its own
shores and then throughout the world through missions.
4. And sadly, both nations turned away from God. Israel often
turning away from God and given many centuries to repent,
America gradually turning away, but I think, will not be
allowed nearly as much mercy as Israel had.
So, I think, both of these nations are very much alike. So much that
I believe the things that God said about Israel in this book, may be
true of our nation today.
I. What were the sins that brought Israel’s destruction?
A. \\#4:6\\ They lack knowledge
Ho 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no
priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the
law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
1. That is an astonishing statement to me.
a. Almost everything in the Jewish culture and Law idea
with teaching the Word of God to the people.
(1) Priests were called to teach the Bible throughout
Israel.
(2) Monuments were established to remind the people
what God had done.
(3) Sacrifices, holy days, even the food they ate,
what their clothes were made of, and their
methods of sowing and repeating were all given in
such a way as to make the people want to know
WHY?
b. Yet, instead of fostering curiosity, the people
responded with rebellion.
c. America has gone two steps beyond that. Because of our
lack of respect for God at all, we have responded
with:
(1) Indignation
(2) Wrath
(3) Example - On June 27, 2017, 32 year old man,
yelling "Freedom," drove his car into the newly
installed Arkansas monument symbolizing the 10
commandments, less than 24 hours after they were
installed.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/watch-man-yells-freedom-as-he-
drives-vehicle-into-ten-commandments-statue-at-arkansas-capitol/
article/2627313
(4) I have heard that the man may have some personal
issues but even before the monument was
installed, the ACLU had threatened a lawsuit even
though the Supreme Court had already ruled the
same type of monument was legal in Texas.
2. What kind of knowledge can we suppose the people of Israel
lacked?
a. They lacked a knowledge of truth.
b. They lacked an accurate knowledge of God.
c. They lacked a knowledge of sin.
d. They lacked a knowledge of His salvation.
3. Everyone then as today, think they know things that they
just do not know!
a. I spoke with a lady last week, rather she spoke with
me. Three times during our short conversation, she
made the statement, "You know the Bible says…." and
went on to say something that if it is in the Bible,
no verses came to my mind.
b. It is interesting to me how many people think they know
something about God and they have never even read the
Bible through a single time!
(1) Most Christians have not.
(2) I dare say that many preachers have not.
(3) But even reading the Bible through once would not
begin to reveal the truths that it contains about
God.
(a) I have been reading and preaching through
this book for over 40 years and I am still
discovering truths that if I ever saw them
before, I have forgotten them.
(b) The Bible is a living Book. It will never
give up all the truth that it contains.
4. People today are probably more ignorant of the Bible than
any generation since the invention of the printing press.
a. Most people’s knowledge comes from what they reasoned
while talking to someone else who did not know
anything more than them.
b. Or they got it from television. Don’t get your
theology from an electronic device. Get it from the
Bible.
B. \\#8:4\\ Ungodly kings or leaders.
Ho 8:4 They have set up kings, but not by me:
they have made princes, and I knew it not: of
their silver and their gold have they made them
idols, that they may be cut off.
1. You can read of the kings of Israel in the books of Kings
and Chronicles. Israel never had a righteous king.
2. In our nation during the last election cycle, the phrase I
heard most often used was "the lesser of two evils." When
any democratic nation is reduced to those options, it is
not getting the rulers that God would desire.
C. \\#8:9\\ Alliances of wickedness
Ho 8:9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild
ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.
1. Assyria was the nation that conquered and destroyed
Israel.
2. How did Assyria first get involved with Israel?
a. Israel paid them to be their ally.
b. Alliances built on greed, graft, and bribes are wicked
and flimsy.
Am 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be
agreed?
2Co 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what
communion hath light with darkness?
3. It is better to be alone with God than with others without
God.
D. Abominable religions
Ho 8:11 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to
sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.
1. There was only supposed to be one altar in all of Israel and
it was to be at the temple in Jerusalem.
2. Having many altars meant they were worshipping many false
gods.
3. America has become a nation where any and every religion is
shown partiality except for Christianity.
4. I know many of you are wanting prayer back into the public
schools and some may be backing the Republican’s initiative
to allow churches to endorse candidates, but consider that
we are now living in a country where most people do not
know who God is.
E. \\#4:1-2\\ Abounding sins
Ho 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of
Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the
inhabitants of the land, because there is no
truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the
land.
Ho 4:2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and
stealing, and committing adultery, they break
out, and blood toucheth blood.
1. These were the sins that brought Israel to destruction.
2. America has jumped many steps past these.
II. Listen to how God described Israel in this condition.
A. \\#7:8\\ "a cake not turned" - A cake not turned is a cake
ruined.
B. \\#7:9\\ "gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he
knoweth not." - They have become weak but do not know it.
C. \\#7:11\\ "a silly dove without heart" - flying every where
without purpose
D. \\#7:16\\ "a deceitful bow" - You think you can trust them but
you cannot.
III. What is God going to do? Many things, but let me show you the
worst.
A. God will not punish sinners.
Hos 4:14 I will not punish your daughters when
they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they
commit adultery: for themselves are separated
with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots:
therefore the people that doth not understand
shall fall.
1. If there are no negative consequences to a wrong action,
people will continue in the wrong direction until they
destroy themselves.
2. The absolutely worse thing you can do to someone doing
something wrong is nothing. It always emboldens them to
do more wrong.
B. God told the preachers to left Israel alone.
Hos 4:17 Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
1. When God tells the preachers to quit preaching, there is
little hope left.
2. However, things can get even worse.
a. Three times in the book of Jeremiah, God told
Jeremiah to not even pray for the people.
b. \\#Jer 7:16, 11:14, 14:11\\
c. Friends, how bad is it when God forbids the righteous
to even pray for the wicked??
C. God withdrew from Israel.
Hos 5:6 They shall go with their flocks and with
their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not
find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.
1. Ezekiel recorded this event happening to Judah some years
later. \\#Eze 10:4, 10:18, 11:23\\
2. Some have asked me do I think this is what is happening
to America.
a. I do.
b. God is not gone, but he seems to be well out of
America’s front door.
c. And with each passing day it becomes a bit more
unlikely that the revival we need to get God back is
going to come.
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