Hosea 4:1-3

Tonight I want to speak from Hosea chapter four. We’ll be looking at the first three verses together. Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel, where 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 by swearing. And lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break out. And blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish with the beast of the field and with the fowls of heaven. yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. Thank God blessed to us his sacred and holy word this evening. Years ago I read an article in the newspaper about a group of people that wanted to remove all the Gideon Bibles from motels and hotels and so forth. They said it wasn’t conducive to a good night’s sleep. They claimed the Bible was so gruesome that it would affect people’s sleep. Well, I would say that there are things in the Bible that are harsh, a bit harsh, let’s say. And the Bible does contain sections that are difficult, but it speaks of adultery and perversion and hatred and murder and so forth. Yet the scriptures paint for us a unmistakably clear picture of sin in the lives of men. And it shows certainly the loathsome aspects of depravity. What people fail to realize is perhaps the Bible is that the loathsome aspects of depravity. is written for the purpose of shaking people up, keeping them from sleeping, making them restless and uncomfortable. And that was God’s purpose, perhaps, in some of the messages that are in scripture. And certainly the one we looked at tonight stands out here. In our text here, God is bringing a complaint against the whole. whole nation of Israel. Now previously, God has used the tragic story of Josea’s marriage to teach the Israelites’ lessons about him and about them. But please understand, these words are not just for the Israelites’ lessons back in Josea’s day. But we have to understand that they were written for our admonition as well. And the principles of the Word of God apply to all nations, not just Israelites. And so it applies to your own here in the United States. Maybe it’s time for the people of America to lose a good night’s sleep. and think about what God has said in his word here. Now, God may bring a lawsuit against your nation, as we see here in verse 1. He has a controversy with the nation. He is angry with them. O’Shea uses a legal form here. in addressing the people. He’s God’s attorney pleading the case against his own nation. The chapter, therefore, begins with court proceedings, where God is the presiding judge. Jose is the prosecuting attorney in Israel is the sinful nation that is under accusation by God. Now, when God brings a charge against your nation, it’s not to be taken lightly. This is a serious charge that God is bringing. And because all the while the court is in session, there is opportunity to repent. We ought to appreciate the fact that God warns us before he thunders his judgment again. against us. You remember in Noah’s day, God said he would not continue to strive with man. And he did strive with man through Noah’s preaching for a period of time, but there came a point where it was time for the judgment to fall. And so it did. His controversy here is with the inhabitants of the land. For when God is angry with the nation, It’s the people of the nation that he is provoked by. We’re talking about the leaders in government. We talk about the president or the Congress of the Supreme Court. The wealthy and the poor. The famous and the common. The teacher and the student. The godly and the ungodly. The religious, I should say, and the ungodly. So God has a controversy against your nation’s people. Now, you’re called upon here to heed the word of God. He uses the word here. It’s a command, which implies some unwillingness on the part of the people to hear what God has to say. So he has to tell them to listen. Like the people who desired to remove the Gideon Bibles, your nation, would like to remove God’s word from all areas of life. It has successfully done so in many cases as we see. From the courts, from the media, from the public society, there’s always a movement away. Your people have stopped their ears. They don’t want to hear what God has to say. But God demands. a fair hearing here. And any message that is from the Lord, you ought to prepare your heart to receive what God has to say. God’s words are often grievous to the flesh. It’s difficult sometimes to hear what God has to say. The prophets in the scripture, especially the minor ones, often talk about the burden of Lord. It’s a heavy message that is being brought. What is your nation done? Well, it’s removed God’s word. Hard truths are not easily received. God calls upon a people here to hear what he has to say. So he tells us to be we should listen to his word. Now, you should know that God will, especially call to account a nation given spiritual light and privileges. When God says, you children of Israel, he has in mind those who have enjoyed the light of God’s word. What other nation that he gave the law to? What other people had the light that the Lord provided for that nation? or had the privileges of so many prophets speaking to them about God. He’s speaking to a nation, however, that has wallowed in spiritual darkness never seen evidently the light of the truth. Just the opposite. God is addressing people who are greatly privileged and yet have cast that. aside as non-essential. Think about the great heritage as a people they’ve had when God blessed them in the past and delivered them from Egypt and so forth. They had a long history of great spiritual leaders. When we think about Moses and Samuel and David and Elijah and you know how many great men the Lord had lifted up. for them. But they’ve turned away from God’s Word. And this is a serious matter. Now, our own nation, when we look back on it, many of the founding fathers, it seems, were believers. They believed in what God’s word said, and it seemed that they wanted to have one nation under God. and we see that throughout the years, God has blessed our nation with many good men to preach and proclaim the truth of God’s word. And yet, that has been cast aside, and a deaf ear has been turned to these things. I’m reminded about the parable of the vineyard in scripture. scripture, when those who were, they rented out the vineyard to, when they mistreated the prophets, when they killed the son of God, you recall what Jesus said in that parable, that God would take away the vineyard and give it to another nation that will bring forth the fruits thereof. And so we find that When a nation spurns the privileges and the light that they’ve been given, God may shut it all off, turn it all off, and let them wall in darkness, and turn to another nation. So God may bring a lawsuit against your nation. Now notice God’s charges against your nation. Your people will be indicted for what they have failed to do. No, you notice in verse one at the end there, he says, for there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land. There’s no truth. No honesty. People are not reliable. Their word is not their bond. Society is marked by falsehood and devious attempts to avoid. telling the truth. The word truth here can be taken for justice as well in the land. There’s no justice in the land. You speak speak every man the truth to his neighbor and execute the judgment of the truth and peace in your gates. Zachari 816. Indeed, our Lord seems to be referring to this passage when he tells the Pharisees, you have neglected the weightier matters of the law, judgment, or justice, truth, mercy, and faith. Isaiah talks about truth falling in the streets, being trampled over. People betray every trust. It’s every man for himself. There’s a mad scramble to get ahead. There’s no truth in the land. There’s no mercy. There’s no mercy. in the land. A merciful God demands that man treat his fellow man mercifully, but there are many who do not give a hoot about the sufferings of others. Josephus, the Jewish historian, records an interesting account of King Herod in the New Testament. He says that even the wicked Herod showed mercy when there was a great famine in the land of Judea. He melted down the gold and silver in his palace, even had the vessels used at his dining table, melted down. And with the precious metals, he sold for money, and he bought grain from Egypt in order to feed his people. And he pointed bakers to provide bread for the sick and clothing for the naked because a lot of their sheep had died during a famine. Here’s a wicked man but in the moment of public disaster, he showed mercy. But there is no mercy. God says, I don’t see any in the land. There’s suffering in others, but it means nothing because people are self-centered. There seems to be a little concern for our people’s neighbors and their welfare. Loving your neighbor as yourself is not something that the majority of people believe in our own nation anymore. There’s no mercy in the land. He said there is no knowledge of God in the land. Israel has reached a point where she doesn’t even acknowledge God. They have their own gods that they’ve pursued. To know God in an experimental way was the greatest blessing the ancient Jew could have. The turn from such knowledge to idols was the greatest folly imaginable. God calls it spiritual adultery and faithfulness to him. all in the United States we talk about God. We have, you know, in God we trust on our coins. People mention God at times. But people usually walk in their own ways and there’s really no true knowledge of God in the land. Few indeed recognize the need for a relationship with God. It’s not something the vast majority of people are concerned about. Yet what a sign of feel for reprobation that hangs over our nation to have the word of God and have so many people without knowledge of the Lord God in the land. I don’t see the United States as a nation of people that are dedicated to serving God. It is indeed in many ways a heathen nation. Yes, there is a holy remnant in its midst, but as a whole, the people are far from God. Notice something else, your people will be indicted for their sinful activities. Swearing or cursing. Jeremiah 13 says, 10 says, for because of swearing the land mourneth, the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. When we think about our language today, it is becoming more and more filthy, and more and more people are using very wicked speech. A few years ago, that wouldn’t have been allowed, but now it seems like it’s just a very commonplace thing. Think about all the things. filth that’s plastered on t-shirts and on bumper stickers and everything else. And so we could say that our nation is foul-mouthed, if you would, that God’s holy name is not being held in reverence. The name of our Lord Jesus Christ is often blasphemed in our society. But my scripture says, God says this, my enemies, take my name in vain. His enemies do that. There’s no wonder God has a controversy with us. Francis the 9th of France, Louis, excuse me, Lewis the 9th of France, punish the sin of swearing by searing the lips of swears with a hot iron. Pretty serious. When this law was executed upon a citizen of Paris. Some said, boy, that is just too cruel. When the king heard about it, he replied, I would to God that by so searing my own lips, I could banish out of my realm all abuse of oaths. Remember what Job’s wife said, curse God and die. And that’s those words should be connected. together. We curse God. We certainly are going to fall under his judgment. God will not hold you guiltless if you take his name in vain. Then he talks about lying here. Isaiah 63-8, my people are children that will not lie. God says about his true people. They tell the truth. How is it then that our nation can be classified as a Christian nation when lying, It’s sad to see our politicians lie almost constantly. Everything that comes out of their mouth, it seems like they’re lying. They’re being deceitful. We consider the advertising and the contracts and the business dealings and the oath between a husband and wife and people lie. They try to cheat you. and take advantage of you. Jeremiah 9.3 says, they bend their tongues like their bow for lies. I’m reminded what Paul said Titus about the Christians where he was ministering. He said that all Christians are liars. Well, we could say that about American, too. America, all Americans seem to be. very well versed in lying too. Skillful at it. The sin of lying leads to the breakdown of all society because there’s no truth to be found. Killing. Murder is a sin that provokes God. He seldom suffers it to go unchecked even in this life. The life of a man is precious. in the eyes of God who soever sheds a man’s blood by man shall his blood be shipped. Innocent blood. Lavel talks about various kings taking over the property of people in the city and shedding innocent blood. Now this week or the week before there was a big to do about the children that got killed in the school and a couple of teachers as well. And all, we’re all concerned about the children except for when we’re murdering thousands upon thousands every day. Where’s the concern for the children that are being aborted? What about those people? It’s a sad day when we think about how many have been slotted. I read a story one time about little Jessica McClewer who fell into an abandoned well in Midland, Texas years ago. And it took workers 58 hours to dig her out and get her out of there. And that was in 1987. Did you know in those same 58 hours more than 10,000 babies were bored in the United States? Think about that. This is, this means that there’s blood on the hands of the people of our nation. You know what the Lord says when blood gets spilled it’s not easy to remove it. God says he requires it when blood is shed killing. And we, you know, we could talk about some of our cities, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and the murders that are taking place there all the time. Stealing. Oh, man. We have gotten to the point now where people just walk into the store with hammers and crowbars and bust up the glass cases and just take what they want and walk out. It’s a sad day. No one prosecutes them. no one holds them accountable. There’s all kinds of scams, you know, credit card scams. And my favorite one was the solar dryer that somebody was selling. When you bought it, you got a piece of clothesline. You know, companies conspire together at times to price fix, take advantage of the consumer. But there’s another form of stealing. the Bible talks about robbing God, taking what is due him. We don’t always appreciate all the good things he’s provided, nor do we have thankfulness about it. And then he mentions adultery here. Sexual sin is very commonplace in our society. This promiscuous lifestyle is promoted, and we see that it’s constantly a problem. Adultery is glorified in many ways. You know, on this big screen and TV and all the rest of it. Marriages are falling apart. It doesn’t seem to be any real concern about faithfulness in the marriage relationship. Excessive violence and bloodshed. There’s no. limits to man’s iniquity. One form of bloodshed follows upon another form. There’s so many ways to harm people. And we really need statistics. I think we can just look at our society and see how bad it is out there. And crime in America has reached epidemic proportions. And the police have been defunded. You know, I’ve been defunded and even when they do capture someone, the federal prosecutors won’t take them to court, won’t put them in jail. And there’s bloodshed and violence. You can kill somebody and get out of jail pretty quickly, believe it or not. So God charges, these are the charges against the nation. Here he’s angry with. And then God’s verdict of judgment will fall against your guilty nation. As verse three indicates, therefore shall the land mourned, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish and the beast of the field. And with the fowls of the heaven, yea, the fishes of the sea also, shall be taken away. I’ve got to remind it here of when Adam fell, he brought the whole creation under of the curse. Even the animal kingdom, they’re moaning and groaning underneath sin’s curse. And so we have the same kind of idea, I think, here. Man’s wickedness affects the whole of society and particularly even the animal kingdom that the whole land is affected and pines away under all this wickedness. Josea enlarges on the greatness of God’s wrath, for he includes the innocent beast here and the birds and the fish of the sea and so forth. When God’s vengeance extends to brute animals, what will become of mere man. Thus part of God’s punishment is to remove those things in which man finds delight in pleasure. any nation which has had the light of the gospel and turned away from it will incur God’s wrath. and that affects even the environment in which you live. perhaps when we look around us and we see all that’s happening, it will awaken us to the judgment of God hanging over us. If people would take the Bible seriously, they would feel uneasy. They would feel restless. Perhaps it would do them good and do the people of America good to lose the night’s sleep after reading a passage like this. God’s lawsuit stands opposed to your sinful nation, to any sinful nation. It’s time to repent. It’s time to turn away from the wickedness. that we’re guilty of. It’s time for the knowledge of God to fill the land and the hearts and minds of people. You can easily see that rejection of God leads to an outbreak of depravity and your nation is even now suffering because they’ve turned from God. It’s no wonder that we have so many problems. Now, as one of the people of God, we should pray for mercy to be granted to our country, for it certainly needs God’s mercy. God is a God of patience. He waits at times before he sends judgment. And we’ll look at this Lord willing next week when we study one of the attributes of God. We’ll talk about his patience. But Think about this, that God lets men’s sins ripen before he judges them. And there are times when you’re wondering, why doesn’t God do something? He is doing something. Back hook asked that question. God, you know, truth is falling in the street. The people aren’t listening to you. You know, when are you going to do something? He said, I am doing something. I’m sending the Babylonians. They’re going to haul your country off to captivity. So we shouldn’t think that God isn’t doing anything. He is doing something. But he has things that are in his time and for his own purposes. And so we have to wait upon him. Let us see tonight from this passage then our own wickedness as a nation. And I need to pray for God to bring it to repentance. Or if not, it is certainly going to be utterly destroyed. Let’s close with me.