Hosea 5:5-7

Tonight I direct your attention once again to the book of Hosea chapter 5 verses 5 through 7. Josea chapter 5 versus 5 through 7. And the pride of Israel thus testify to his face. Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity. Judah also shall fall with them. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not find him. He have withdrawn himself from them. They that dealt treacherously against the Lord, they have dealt treacherously against the Lord, for they have begotten strange children. Now shall a month devire them with their poor. May God bless to us, his sacred and holy word this evening. There was a powerful political leader who used his position and influence to captivate and seduce another man’s beautiful wife. The adulterous affair was kept totally secret. Nobody was the wise. since the woman’s husband was away on military duty. The political leader went back to his political affairs and the woman back to her home. Months passed and everything seemed to be all right. But one day the woman made arrangements to meet the political leader only saying it was a lot. I made arrangements to meet the political leader, only saying it was a extremely urgent. In the privacy of one of the conference rooms, they spoke. And the woman said, oh, David, I’m pregnant. You are the father. What are we going to do? What will my husband say when he returns? What about your career? As month by month passed, the woman’s stomach was only going to get larger. And soon everybody would know. something was up. The political leader, of course, was King David, and the woman was the beautiful Bathsheba. As one of the people of God, you can be guilty of being spiritually unfaithful. But unfaithfulness has a way of showing eventually. It eventually comes to light. And it eventually comes to light, is not something that we can hide. And Josea, Jehovah, is portrayed as the husband of Israel, but his wife, Israel has been unfaithful. And God proclaims here that judgment is coming. Israel shall stumble and fall. And God lets Israel know what the cause of her death is going to be here. Now, you should be here. find this message a warning about unfaithfulness to God because you, like Israel of old, may be guilty of the very same thing. Let me begin by saying this. You may be unfaithful to God by a self-righteous pride, as we see here in verse 5. And the pride of Israel does testify to his face. you have to be aware of the danger of self-righteous pride. Normally, when you think of a terrible sin, you might think of murder, you might think of adultery, something that’s really big and offensive. But there’s another sin that needs to be taken very seriously because God takes it. very seriously and that’s the sin of pride. The people of God were filled with pride over their own religious piety and inventive worship. They thought they were special and unique, cut above the heathen. But never forget this matter of self-righteous pride, for it is a rare, not a rare thing. It’s a very common thing. As the scripture indicates to us, there’s more hope for a prostitute and a public in her tax collector than for a self-righteous Pharisee. Now, in theory, the church really should have no room for pride. After all, everything should be geared to the praise and honor of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Where is boasting then? But in practice, a lot of boast. A lot of boast. goes on. There are churches in which the minister is worship. There are churches with holy entertainment when the people who are doing this are applauded and given the praise. Man likes to exalt himself. And this is a danger even among the profess people of God. steals glory away from God. Who is to say how many people have died from over eating at the Lord’s table or by the prayers they’ve uttered or by the things they’ve done? So when you you need to be aware of the danger of self-righteous pride. It’s easy to be puffed up. Notice also here that Pride will lead to your downfall. Testify to her face and fall. Israel’s own arrogance and guilt here will be her undoing. Pride digs its own grave. Someone said, if you’re not humble, you will stumble. And that’s the case here. The Bible says that God hates the proud look. And Proverbs. chapter 6. It’s it indicates that God opposes those who are proud, a haughty. As someone has put it, God always casts down the prow. Usually he brings you quite low in order you might realize his authority, his authority, his power and the glory to his name. The Lord will cast you down and you will never be able to rise up in your pride again. That’s how God often works. You may carry others down with you. He mentions Judah falling here in this passage. No only did Israel bring herself to ruin through pride, but she influenced the southern kingdom of Judah. I don’t know if you have taken any swimming lessons where they teach you how to save someone who is drowning. But one of the dangers of saving someone who is drowning is they grab hold of you and can drag you down with them. And so you have to take precautions. when dealing with that situation. Well, Israel is completely apostate. Judah still has correct worship going on there at Jerusalem, but she’s in danger of going astray also. It’s a great aggravation of your sin. I think that you’ve brought your misery down on the head of others. And that’s what’s happening here. Their evil influence has now caused Judah to stumble. David, at one point, wanted a census of his military situation, how many soldiers that he had. And it was a matter of pride, my great army, and God sent a plague and 70,000 people died. And this is what he said. Lo, I have sinned. I have done wicked. wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee be against me. But he dragged them down. He dragged them into it. You know, when Israel was marching through the desert to the promised land under the leadership of Moses, Cora rebelled. He was lifted up with pride. He told Moses, you know, you take too much authority upon yourself. And Cora gathered a lot. large company of people around him. His pride, however, led to disaster for all his followers. For when God opened up the ground and swallowed Cora, he also swallowed the followers up of Cora as well. Church members can be brought to great harm when they are caught up in the self-righteous ambitions of someone. who is just a rabble rouser in the church. Now secondly, you may be unfaithful to God by a false religious fervor, as we see in verse 6. They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord. They shall not find him. He hath withdrawn himself from them. You may only begin to earnestly seek the Lord. When trouble comes in your life. And though you may slight and neglect God while pursuing your own carnal ambitions, there comes a point when you begin to realize, I need God. And when Israel saw the hand of judgment coming upon her, she turns here to the Lord. Self-preservation. drives many people to do this. As Isaiah 2616 says, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. Yes, when God began to chasten them all of a sudden they turned into Him in prayer. That people will turn to the Lord for help and comfort in their hour of need is nothing new. We see that happening all the time. But God plays a lot. you in a hospital bed and you will be pressing out and mumbling some prayers. When you are in a desperate situation, you may be very quick to turn to God then. But as long as you get along fine, you don’t seem to see your need of addressing him at all in prayer. You know, the prodigal son got along fine as long as his money didn’t run out. So as his money ran out and there was a little. Sam and the land and he was looking at the pig slop. All of a sudden, he’s starting to look to the Lord and to his father’s house. So the Israelites go in searching of the Lord with their sheep and their oxen. And this indicates that they offered sacrifices to the Lord here. They wanted to appease God, it seems. People think that they can make things right with God by some outward religious activity, but this is still pride at work within these individuals. They have not heard God’s word through the psalmist. You know, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He doesn’t need animal sacrifices. And there are of danger. They do not cry out anxiously, oh God, be merciful to be a sinner. There’s not. not a slight degree of remorse here. There’s nothing about repentance in this passage. All they do is present God with sheep and oxen, and this is being unfaithful. They run to their husband, so to speak, only when they need his protection. This same problem plagues people today. People say, oh, God, if you’ll just get me out of this hospital, but I’ll serve you. I’ll go faithfully at church. I’ll pray regularly. Is God really interested in a blitz of religious fervor? Is he interested in some bride being offered to gain his attention? This is unfaithfulness. Isn’t not God more interested in a humble spirit that pleads for mercy and grace from him? and a desire to get right with him and the fellowship with him. So you might begin earnestly to seek the Lord when trouble comes, but notice, God may withdraw himself so that you don’t find him. Interesting how this is worded here. You might think, well, if I seek the Lord, surely I will find him. Don’t we have that promise seeking you shall find in Scripture? What is wrong? Problem is you being two-faced. You are supposedly seeking the Lord, but you’re not willing to give up your sins. There is no true repentance. You are doing things to seek God only because of the present circumstances that trouble you. There was a small boy that dialed zero and wanted to get the operator to a doubt. a number for him. But he couldn’t speak clearly and she had trouble understanding what he said. And finally, after four times trying to explain himself, he finally said, you operators are dumb. He slammed down the receiver. However, his mother happened to hear the last part of that conversation, made him call up the operator again and ask if this was the same one and it was and apologized. Later, when his mother left the room, the boy got on the phone again. Is this the same operator? I spoke with a little while ago? Yes. Well, said the boy, I still think you’re done. People are just like that. They don’t, they’re not changed. They stay the same. There’s no real repentance. They’re only forced by circumstances to acknowledge their sin. Now to find God would certainly, and should be, certainly the goal of all religious activity, but God will not always be found when he sought. God is not going to be found if you cling to your sinful ways and will not repent. God will not be found if you are seeking him only to escape. a looming catastrophe, but you have no desire to fellowship with. God will not be found if you seek him too late. Now the Bible says, seek the Lord while he may be found. There’s a point where he may never be found. He hath withdrawn himself. You remember King Saul for many years, King Saul lived a life of disobedience. He refused to destroy the Lord’s enemies. He intruded into the priest’s office. He, on many occasions, tried to kill the righteous David. And he was a man full of pride and arrogance. But one day, the Philistine army was bearing down upon him. And the military pitcher looked awfully, what is he going to do? Well, he would seek God, assistance. The one problem is that God had withdrawn himself. He would not answer King Saul. He gave him the silent treatment. We read these awful words in 1 Samuel 2815. I am sore distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets nor by dreams. And the next thing we see is him seeking a witch to somehow pull up Samuel from the dead, supposedly, and give him advice. Now, God does not utterly forsake his true people. Still, listen to David in Psalm 119, verse 8. I will keep thy statutes. O forsake me not utterly. You know, God sometimes withdraws himself for a time with regard to believers, but not utterly. And yet you’ll notice that his heart is right with God. He promises, I will keep by statutes. And that’s important. So you may be unfaithful to God by a false religious fervor. You may be unfaithful to God by committing spiritual adultery, as verse 7 indicates here. They have dealt treacherously against the Lord, for they have begotrously against the Lord, for they have begotten strange children, now shall a month devire them with their portions. You may deal deceitfully with the Lord. The prophet had to live out the message in his own personal life of God and Israel, God being the husband, Israel being the wife. Just as his wife abandoned him and threw herself and other men. So Israel has abandoned the Lord and pursued other gods. Treacherously here implies adultery. Unfaithfulness. It’s a sharp reproach to Israel. Unfaithfulness shakes the very foundation of the marriage. This is exactly what Jehovah is telling us here. The marriage is exactly what Jehovah is on shaky ground. The marriage is on shaky ground. The marriage is on shaky ground. grounds here. It’s a frightening thing when every sin you commit put you in this category of unfaithfulness. You’ll notice that James says this in James says this in James 4.4, ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. They’re adulterers and adulteresses. Notice something else. Your children testify against you. You’ve begotten strange children. Josea here is providing, I think, some convincing proof that Israel has been unfaithful to him. Now, the Israelites pointed to the animals that they were sacrificed. God points to their children. and as the basis of his complaint. An illegitimate child is a living and continual indictment of its mother. And faithfulness has taken place. Now, of course, Josea here isn’t speaking in a literal sense. What he means is that the children are now worshipping idols also. The children raised. by these Israelites parents are praying to false gods. If these Israelites were so faithful to the Lord, why is it that their children have been trained up in the ways of the golden calves or the bales or something of this nature? If you had served the Lord faithfully, your children wouldn’t have turned aside the way they did. You’ve raised Heel. dedicated to false worship. What God is saying is this. What is to be made of the fact that so many children are professing Christian parents are not serving the Lord? Why is it that so many professing Christian parents have children that never dawned the door of the church, just like them? You know, when I was growing up, there were those. who would send their children to Sunday school and church, but they never came. They never came to church. There are God-fearing parents awful who suffer the agony of seeing one of their children go astray. But unfortunately, what we’re looking at here is something more common, that parents have been unfaithful the Lord, and therefore it’s no wonder their children are unfaithful. professing Christians often miss church, you know, to play golf on Sunday, or they miss church for the Steeler game, or soccer practice, or karate class or something of this nature. If you don’t take worship seriously, your children are not going to take worship seriously. We shouldn’t be missing church. The church should be the practice. priority if we’re going to put God first in our lives in his kingdom. In other words, there’s nothing that takes priority over the worship of God. Now, there are many things you might want to do. That’s for other days. When it comes to worship of the Lord God, that has to be the primary thrust of our lives, that we are not going to let anything interfere with that. And so I hope that we see the danger here. Think about your children, what they’re going to think. Think about your grandchildren, what they’re going to think. How’s that going to affect them? Think about your fellow believers. How’s that going to affect them? So these things have to be weighed. When I was a pastor, and we used to have a family. It came regularly to the church, but they weren’t members of the church. And their oldest son played for the Alequipa football team, and they happened to end up going to the championship game for Pennsylvania. They were so good that year. And so, instead of being in church on Sunday, he takes his family. to the football game. And you talk to these people and it’s like, don’t you see the problem here? Part of his problem, of course, that he was not a sabbatarian, as he should have been. But this is a danger. This is a real danger that we should be aware of and the influence that we have had. I don’t believe the sun even goes to church. anymore. I’ve had some contact with him a couple years ago. So are you unfaithful to Christ? Unfaithful of the marriage covenant that you have with you between you and God. Self-righteous pride steals the glory from the Lord God, and he will not put up with it. False religious fervor, when you’re only seeking help because of your present distress is not going to go over well either with God. You may find you withdraws himself. And raising a worldly child here often reflects the spiritual unfaithfulness of the parents because they don’t put God first in their lives. So why should the child? The child looks at them and they’re not going to church, They’re not doing what they should be doing, and it has a terrible effect upon them. So a destruction is coming. It’s going to devire the people and their property. History records it was the Assyrian invasion and the captivity that followed that. And it would occur shortly. He talks about a month here. Some translated a new moon. In other words, it’s not far off. It’s coming soon. If you are unfaithful to the Lord, you could expect the same kind of swift punishment in your life as well. Let’s close with the word of prayer tonight. Heavenly Father, we are mindful of the fact that we fail you every day. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to renew our commitment to you. that we would not be caught up in the world and the things of the world, that we would set aside those things we even delight in and take pleasure in, that we may worship you in spirit and truth on the Sabbath day. Father, give us a true sense of your Sabbath and our responsibility regarding it. And bless us as your people, Father, help us. as we go through this life to have a testimony before all those around us. For it’s in Christ’s precious name, we pray with Thanksgiving. Amen. Let’s stand for the benediction tonight. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. I didn’t even see you back there. He’s Jack. He’s Jack all the time. Thank you. So you are named Jack. Yes. I was named John, but they call him Jack because my grandpa was a John. That’s actually named after my uncle Jack. They killed in a motorcycle racket. He was John Jr. But they dropped the son off of it? Yeah. It’s not Jackson, it’s just Jack. No, it’s just Jack. But for Jerry. I gave you a Jackson. The middle name, because Jack’s not. Okay. Of course, that was the year Jesse Jackson ran for breakfast. Well, you can never pay too much attention to what the politicians are named and how that affects your… Speaking of which, we could stop this recording.