Hosea 4:12-14

Chapter 4 reading verses 12 through 14. My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declares unto them, for the spirit of hoardings have caused them to err, and they have gone a hoaring from under their God. they sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the hills under oaks and poplars and elms because the shadow thereof is good therefore your daughters shall commit hortem and your spouses shall commit adultery I will not punish your daughters when they commit hortem nor your spouses when they commit adultery, for themselves are separated with horse, and they sacrifice with harlots, and therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall. God bless to us is sacred and holy word this evening. If your country was tearing down church, after church and instead building banks and shopping malls and movie theaters, it would be a sign of total apostasy. It would worry you if there were whole cities like Pittsburgh or New York or Los Angeles that didn’t have a single church and you would see your nation as anti-god and anti-religious it’s a terrible plight that threatens a nation’s future. But there is something even more serious to threaten our country. That’s a highly visible external religion, which is totally apostat. Which is what the Israelites had. After reading verses one and two, you might think, well, Israel is an atheistic nation, but this isn’t true. There was hardly a hill in the land without an altar on it, hardly a clump of oak or poplar or tar and bent trees that weren’t used as some kind of holy center. But God utterly condemns all this religiosity. Why? Because it was a worldly religion. A false religion. it was a religion that didn’t change people, didn’t make them holy. And as we look at our own country, we should see we have the same problem today with many of the religious denominations that we have. Now let me begin by saying you should be aware of the dangers of worldly religion. Verse 12 in the first part of verse 13. Now we have an unscriptural process of making decisions that’s laid out for us to begin with here. It talks about stocks and staves or staffs. The Israelites were asking guidance from the stocks stocks of their idols. God calls them stocks of wood by way of contempt here. And in reference to their idols, they practice a sort of decision making using rods and arrows and sticks and staves and so forth. There were several ways in which decisions about the future were made using this method. God’s one manner was to hold a stick. or an arrow or staff and let it fall. We would sacrifice before we let it fall, of course, asking for guidance and direction. And the falling stick would point to the answer with regard to the guidance you wanted. Another method would be to put arrows or staves in a closed case, print names on each of them concerning what you wish guidance about. And then drawing one of them out, he would determine which decision we’d make. Russell read us about King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and he used a method like this because he was uncertain whether to make war against Philadelphia and Asia Minor or against Jerusalem and Canaan. And so he had to make a decision on this. And so the sacrients. sacrifice, check the liver, you know, and all these things in order to get direction. All of this, of course, points of the poor ways in which these Israelites were seeking guidance for their lives. When we think about our own day, there are many in the Pentecostal Church who seek special revelation from God. a special sign about doing this or doing that. I read about a man who saw a name on a license, I personalized license plate and concluded that God was telling him to take a certain position at a particular company. Many think they can get special messages from God by allowing their Bible to fall open and reading you know blindly picking out a verse and reading someone said that worked pretty good until one man attempted it and got Judas went out and hanged himself and he looked again and thought I better get it there first go thou and do likewise was the next verse he came up. I read about a certain woman named Effie Ford Foss who went from place to place supposedly doing missionary work and she believed it was time for her to move on to a different field of service but the funds were low. So she ordered a bus, pulled out all her money, gave it to the bus driver and said, here, take me as far as this will go. After a long ride, the bus stopped in a small town called New Way Go. Effie said, this is my new way to go and God’s telling me this. So she got out. began work there. Now all these ideas are taking counsel of stocks and staves. You see, it’s all the same idea. It’s the foundation of a false religion, not a true one, because God urges you to go to the scriptures for your guidance. All scriptures give my inspiration of God and it’s profitable for doctrine for reproof. for correction and righteousness that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished on all good words everything you need is in the word of God we don’t need these extra biblical things so unscriptural decision-making is a mark of worldly religion a spirit seduced by false worship calls it a spirit of hoardums here. Now, he is using the word hortem with reference to spiritual adultery here. He’s saying that these people are engaged in false worship and have turned their backs upon me. They’ve been unfaithful to me. The Bible indicates there is a spirit of error, 1 John 4, 6. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth God heareth not of God, heareth not us. Hereby we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. If you fall the spirit of error, of course you’re going to run into problems. Hear God’s words to Jeremiah. The complaint, actually. A horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely. And priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so. They love to have a false direction, false prophecy, and so forth. The people were in love with false worship. Paul speaks of those who depart from the faith, the true worship of God, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Demons actually seduce people and lead them astray. They’re involved in the false teaching and leading people in the wrong direction. 1. Timothy 4, 3 and 4 says, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust or desires, shall they heap to themselves false, have themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they shall turn away their hearts or their ears from the truth and shall be turned to fables. It’s an itch is something you want to scratch. And so people are driven to scratch. So people here are driven to find out for themselves, teachers that will suit their perverted interest. It is a mistake to think that most people want truth in religion. No, they don’t want the truth in religion. They don’t want to feel comfortable in their religion. You can be charmed and seduced by false religion, by worldly religion, because it allows you to satisfy your lust, and continue on in your sin. And any religion that does not require mortification of sin is a false one. And that’s what we see here. The third thing here about false worship, it’s unsubmissive to God. He says that you’re about from under, they want to get out from under God, God’s authority. God’s direction, God’s guidance. In other words, the Israelites cast off the yoke of God. They had no interest in really obeying God’s law. They should have been a subjection to Jehovah, who was their head and husband, but they revolted against him. And they removed their allegiance and put it in a false God. Jesus said, take my yoke upon you. There is a yoke for us to bear while it’s easy in light, according to our Lord, but many people desire religion which will let them free to do as they please. Some religions are very popular with people because submissiveness to God is never required. You never hear a Sarmanonaut. You never hear anything about it. And so the submissiveness, unsubmissiveness to God is a mark of the false religion. Fourthly, denial of the regulative principle of worship is also a sign of false religion. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, verse 13, and burn incense upon the hills under hills, under poplars and oaks and poplars and elms because the shadow thereof is good. Now when we talk about the regulatory principle, we’re saying that worship is restricted to only what God commands in his word to be done in a worship service. As I have mentioned, there was hardly a hill which didn’t have some kind of holy shrine built upon it at this time. And most beautiful groves of the forest were set aside for holy places. Daily sacrifices were slaughtered there all the time. Truly, these Israelites were diligent practices practices, practices of religion,. But not God’s religion, as we find out. Now, in former times, you were allowed to sacrifice in different places. But once God gave his law out in detail and has chosen a place for the place for the the tabernacle and later the temple, there was a restriction that the people of God were to bring their sacrifices there and worship. God, in the past, had approved of sacrificing on mountains and so forth, Abraham went to Mount Moriah and we was going to sacrifice his son, remember, and he sacrificed to Abraham. In Genesis 21-33, we read of Abraham planning a grove when he called upon the name of the Lord. None of these things were forbidden, but we find that God later, in Deuteronomy, if you look with me, in chapter 12, verses 13 and 14, the worship. Deuteronomy 12, 13, and 14. Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest. but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee. Now, you’ll notice that God’s had a special way of worship, and this forbids all other ways of worship. And, uh, God gave a specific command to pull down these high places that were built on all these hills and so forth. Look at verses 2 to 5 on chapter 12 of Deuteronomy. You shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess serve their gods upon the high mountains, upon the hills, and under every green tree. And ye shall overthrow their altars break their pillars, burn their groves with fire, and you show you down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. You shall not do so under the Lord your God, but under the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even under his habitation shall you seek and thither, and thither, thou shall come. And so we see what God would have them do, but that’s not what they were doing. And so they were violating God’s regular principle of worship. Look at the worship services that are going on in so many churches that we have today, and all the unbiblical things that are taking place in them. They don’t have a thus say if the Lord for what they’re doing. A denial of the regulative principle of worship. And then there’s man-pleasing worship. Now, in verse 13, back in Josea, he talks about here because the shadow they’re of is good. Now, what he means by this is important for us to consider. They weren’t seeking to glorify God, they were seeking the shade of the trees because worship would be pleasant. In other words, this would be comfortable for them to be under the shade of the trees. And that’s why they continue to do it. Heath and religions had a tremendous influence upon them. And so they had all these groves already planted. And so they worshipped there because they were more concerned about the shade than they were the Savior. In short, their lives were dominated by the pleasures of the flesh. And this spilled over into their worship as well. Religious services were not abandoned, but they geared everything to what was charming to the eye, what was pleasing to them,. Whatever made them comfortable. This is exactly the way it happens today. Consider, if you would, the elaborate and beautiful rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. But when you look at it, it’s all a big show. It’s a production. It is something that’s made to be pleasing to the eye. Why do some churches have Western Sundays where people dress up as cowboys and cowgirls and to go to the church service? What’s its purpose? Fun and excitement. When I drive past a church which has a sign in big letters saying come join the party that I know they’re interested in the shade. They’re not interested in serious worship. When I was growing up, they had special Sundays in certain places where they would announce that they’re going to have the biggest candy bar and they’d get this big candy bar made or they were going to have a giant ice cream Sunday that everybody could take something off and put it in their little bowl and eat it. So it was all about fun and games. Youth would have rock bands play their kind of music and so forth. All this is merely shade. It’s man-pleasing worship, fun worship, and has nothing to do with the true worship of the holy gods. He should be aware of the dangers of the worldly religion. Secondly, you can be assured that God will punish worldly religion. Let’s look at the second part of verse 13 and also verse 14. Therefore, your daughters shall commit whortem and your spouses shall commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they commit hortem nor your spouses when they commit adultery. For themselves are separated with whores and they sacrifice with harlots, and therefore the people that does not understand shall fall. God punishes in a manner similar to the sin that’s committed. If you commit spiritual adultery, being unfaithful to me, God says, I will cause your daughters and your wives to be unfaithful to you. God often punishes sin with sin. Here, spiritual adultery with with physical adulter and thus Josea says that the husbands and fathers should not be surprised if their brides and daughters engage in open adultery. You know, Canaanite worship, if you’ve ever studied it, involve religious prostitution, sexual pleasure and lewdness was part of worship. No wonder it was so popular and people followed it. By devoting themselves to some goddess or other, the brides, the daughters, might even become prostitutes for their goddess, and so forth. Perhaps you can see here that worldly religion leads to perversity and often to sexual sin. And so God says, I’m going to punish in a manner in which you have sin against me. God punishes by not restraining sin. In the first part here, verse 14, the disappointing fathers and deceived husbands whose daughters and brides took part in this sexual sin, find that God is not punishing. their daughters and their wives. And I believe that God is saying in a way he will show his wrath against the Israelites in giving up their children and wives to sexual sins. He will not restrain them in their evil ways. He will allow them to go to the very depths of depravity. It’s one of the most fearful judgments of God in the world not to restrain men from sinning. That God would give you up to evil, as Romans one talks about. The less punishment you receive in this life, the greater punishment that will come in the next. Martin Luther said this. While unto those men at whose sins God winketh, it is a fearful judgment to fall into the hands of the living God, but it is a more fear for judgment to fall out of the hands of the living God in this respect. Many men bless themselves that they can go on in the world and although continuing in sin, still prosper and thriving. They do pray in their families as others do. They are not scrupulous. in their consciences as others are, not so strict to walk exactly, yet they thrive in their trades. They are as rich, healthful, they are as rich, healthful, have as fine persons, handsome children as others, and thereby they are hardened in their sin. Oh, but no, though thou mayest bless thyself in this thing, yet it is the heaviest curse of God that can be upon thee. Unless he should send thee quick into hell. There is no such mark of reprobation as this. That God, for God to suffer a wicked man to prosper and his sin. So God punishes by not restraining sin. Lastly, God punishes by bringing about an eventual fall, as he talks about in the last part of verse 14. Josea sums up the whole tragedy and says that you’re doomed to fall. God is speaking here of, when he talks about knowledge, he’s not thinking of education, but he’s thinking about the knowledge of God’s truth. The nation with mere education is not going to be helped in any way. The word of God’s truth. understanding here implies the idea of faith in what God has said. An enlightened I, which truly knows what fosters peace and human welfare. A nation that has a religion and follows a religion without God does not live by faith, therefore is doomed to be ruined in Detroit. The rising of the younger generation attaches no significance whatsoever to the true faith. And when God lets a nation ripen in sin, it eventually rots, becomes putrid, decayed, ready to be tossed into the rubbish heap. So we see tonight the danger of worldly religion and what it does to you. Most religions are interested in the oil, the wine, and the shade. This kind of religion does not impart strength and devotion to the family. Family life loses its backbone and spirit. The children in the home never learn that service to God can bring joy and satisfaction to them. While their father may be able to them. pray at meals. He does not live in a way that guides or directs his family with a godly example. Church services are filled with shade today. Church is merely a source of entertainment, pleasant activities for a lot of people. Worldly religion will all be appealing to the flesh, but But there’s no spiritual substance to it. You may attempt to make church fun for your children, but don’t you think your children can see through the sham of it all? Most religious groups are run, you almost have like a circus atmosphere. It’s all entertainment. It is only the true faith, which provides. the things which your heart and conscience need. Fellowship with God is what is missing for many. Have your children had an opportunity and to know, to feel your faith and how it changes you? How it gives you joy, how it is strengthens your confidence in your God. yes, the youth of our nation are in danger today. It’s no wonder that sexual sin abounds when God lets it go on and does not immediately judge. Just have a talk with Jose the Prophet, and he knows all about the matter. There’s nothing new under the sun. Worldly religion tends to bring young people to this state. And so, And so if we have turned our backs on the Lord, we can’t expect our children all of a sudden that they’re going to follow the Lord. They need, of course, his spiritual renewal, but it would be very helpful if they had guidance from the parents in this regard. Well, let’s close with the word of prayer tonight.