Hosea 7:8-10

All right, tonight, let me direct your attention once more to the book of Hosea. And we want to look at chapter 7, and our text is verses 8 through 10. Osea chapter 7, verses 8 through 10. Ephraim he hath mixed himself among the people. Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devired his strength, and he knoweth it not. Ye gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, and they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek him, for all. all this. God bless to us, His holy word this evening. You remember your first gray hair? You looked in the mirror one morning and you saw it and I said, you know, some people pluck it out. And if you look in the mirror, you spotted it. Gray hair, of course, is a normal sign of aging. The hairs on your head slowly turned gray one by one. In our society, many people use hair dye. You know, the Grecian formula, or clareol or something, to hide the gray and they appear younger. People don’t like to see themselves getting older and beginning to decline. They try to wash the gray away. In Josea’s day, the Israelites had gray hair, as we read in this text. But they didn’t realize. the seriousness of the condition. They didn’t even know they were graying. The prophet’s remark here about gray hair has nothing to do with their aging. It’s not a slur against the aging process, but it is a warning about moral and spiritual decline. It’s a dangerous sign. It means you’re drawing near to death. The usual lights needed to read. realize that national death was coming if they continued in their sinful ways against the Lord and refused to repent. You no doubt are conscious of any hair that’s graying on your head. You may not recognize what we might call spiritual gray hair. And that’s what we’re talking about tonight. Spiritual deterioration may occur without you, being aware of it and it may leave you in tremendous danger. Too many religious people are just like Israel of old here in our text. They are merely gray-haired professors without any spiritual life at all in them. Now let me begin by saying this. You are in danger. if you have no distinct Christian walk. Notice verse 8 here with me tonight again. Ephraim he hath mixed himself among the people, meaning that Ephraim is mixed among the Gentiles, the he heath mixed among the Gentiles, the heath. Ephraim is a cake, not turn. Are you mixed in with the ungodly? God complains that Ephraim here, who were supposed to be the unique people, God, did not differ one iota from the nations, they even the foreigners around them. God said, be ye holy Brian, holy. But the Israelites were doing things that showed that they were doing things that they weren’t holy, nor did they care about what God had commanded them. In other words, they associated with the heathen around them and conformed to the lifestyle of the heathen. Psalm 10635 says, but were mingled among the heathen and learned their works. And this is exactly what was happening. They mingled with the heathen, did the same thing. They mingled with the heathen, did the same things that the heathen did. So they failed to be a special, separated people of God. Now, as a professing Christian, you are called to be a peculiar people, a special people, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, the people of God. nine and ten indicates. If you don’t have a distinct Christian walk, how can you claim to be one of Christ? You know, when you’re baptized and you’re raised up out of water, one of the things that’s being portrayed is your death to sin and your desire to walk in newness of life. You’re like a new person. But if there’s no difference between you and a worldling, then no one can tell that you’re a different person. Something seriously wrong. You may be guilty of mixing with the world in marriage. You may, you’re only supposed to marry in the Lord, as 1st Corinthians 739 says. You’re not to have a mixed marriage with unsaved people. It’s a sad affliction to be unequally yoked with us. others that are unconverted. It’s a dangerous step. It’s a violation of God’s clear command. There was a cruel Roman emperor who had a terrible sentence that he passed on lawbreakers. He would have a dead person chained to the living person. And that guy would have to carry the dead person. body with you all the wherever you went. And that dead body would begin to affect your body and it would kill you eventually. And too many professing to be Christians have spiritually dead spouses that are chained to them. It’s a burden to carry about which weighs you down and it leads to apostasy and destruction. You may be guilty of mixing with the world when it comes to the worship. The Israelites, you know, blended heathen worship in with true worship. They compromised the truth. We read of those in Scripture who feared the Lord and served their own gods in 2nd King 1734. Oh, they had a fear of God, but they would worship other gods just as well. Can a true believer be happy and content with false worship? With what God considers profanity. and evil? I mean, how can a Christian be satisfied with the idol worships of the Roman Catholic Church? Or the deity of Christ denying Jehovah Witnesses? Or the worldly entertainment that’s taking place in the church today? How can you compromise the truth concerning God and embrace the errors of worldly worship? you may be guilty of mixing with the world in daily living. While it’s impossible to live in this world without rubbing shoulders with the ungodly, you can avoid their sinful ways. Why should you be involved in drunken partying or sexual immorality? Why should you be clamoring to see all the filth that Hollywood produces? How can lying and lying? stealing and cheating others be an everyday affair? Can you live in such an underhanded and deceitful manner and be pleasing to God? Can you run up debts which you never intend to repay? Can you have a malicious spirit which seeks revenge? Are these the characteristics of a Christian? Are you mixed among the ungodly? Notice he says, here are you one-sided in life? It talks about being a cake, not turned, in the latter part of verse 8. I guess we’re still could be talking about that baker illustration we talked about last week from verse 4. Josea compares Israel to a pancake, a cake which the baker forgot to turn over. Now, what happens to a baker? pancake that’s not turned over. Well, one side is going to get burnt and the other side is not going to be cooked well. Because it’s not flipped. So we get burnt to crisp on the bottom and some rawness on the top. God is saying here that Israel is inconsistent. One-sided. It shouldn’t take in Einstein to figure out what side Israeli Ephraim was burned on. It’s far from eating. easy to get burnt on the heavenly side. The calling to seek the things that are above doesn’t catch fire so easily. Israel remained cold and half baked on the side facing God, but on the side facing the world, they were red-hot. And that’s what Israel liked. He enjoyed joining in the activities of the world was called toward the things of God. Now, when you think about this, it sort of reminds you what God said to the Laocyan Church in the book of Revelation, doesn’t it? Where he talked about them being lukewarm. They weren’t thoroughly hot, nor were they thoroughly cold. They were lukewarm. God is saying, you’re hot and baked on one side and raw and cold on the other. Like in Elish’s day, when he asked, why halt ye between two opinions? If Jehovah’s God, worship Him. If Bail’s God, worship Him. He can’t be sometimes zealous for God and other times hot for Bail. So what do you find today? You find those who believe in Christ, but are still hot for the world. One-sided in their lives. But you must remember that faith without works, is dead. It is an illusion to think that you can live for the world’s pleasures and still be a Christian. Jesus Christ came into the world to deliver us from this present evil world, not to allow you to enjoy its sins and still have salvation. So you are in danger if you have no distinct Christian walks. You’re mixed with the world. You’re one-sided in life. he says. Secondly, you are in danger if you’re insensible to the judgments of God. We see that in the first part here of verse 9 of our text. Strangers have devired his strength, and he knoweth it not. Why is your strength being devoured? Israel was silently and slowly drawing toward utter ruin. And so God emphasizes what is happening. Foreign powers have wasted Israel’s wealth, reduced his territory, consumed his crops, and fruits, and so forth. Some foreign powers have engaged in open war against them, such as Tiglath police or the King of Syria. Others have made false treaties of peace, which they broke and took advantage of the Israelites. It extorted them a large amount of wealth from them, like the mob. They demanded protection money. Pole, King of Assyria, would do that. So God has turned up the burner. He has intensified the judgments against Israel. The strength of the nation is being sacked. And what about you today? Is your strength being sacked, consumed by others? Have you, you? you suffered loss upon loss? Do you see your wealth and your property and your possessions and the fruits of your labor being devired? What does that signify? Are these judgments of God? That’s something you should consider. Have you considered the cause of your losses? Have you looked beyond the secondary causes to the scene in the hand of God? in this. Why is your strength being devoured? And then why have you been ignorant of your spiritual state? He know if it not, it says here. Do you have a lack of acquaintance with the state of your soul? You know, it’s one thing to admit you don’t know your neighbor. I guess it’s another thing to admit you don’t even know your own soul. How is it that you profess to be said? be purchased by such an immense price as the sacrifice of our Lord, claim to be born of the spirit, and yet think so little about your soul’s affairs. You open your eyes every morning and go right through the day until you close them at night, scarcely looking for anything but that which is external and physical? Would it not be best to have spiritual sight and seeing what’s going on in the sphere of yourself, your soul? How can you claim to be Christ or a Christian and be so earthly minded as not to know that God is bringing judgment upon you for sin? Do you avoid glancing in the mirror of God’s word? You avoid that. Many professors do not. search the scriptures. They don’t look at the book of God at all. Certainly not. They’re not meditating day and night. Do you refuse to see what manner of person you really are from the Word of God? Boy, we have a lot of unread Bibles in the land. Those neglected scriptures, Howley testifies against you. The dust of damnation has settled upon it. God is giving you a gauge to measure yourself and you won’t even read it. And so you are in danger if you are insensible to the judgments of God. My third point is this. You’re in danger if you’re ignorant of your gray hairs. In the latter part of verse 9 and then verse 10, we read this. Ye, gray hairs are here and they. are upon him, yet he knoweth not. And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, and they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek him for all this. There’s a lack of grief with regard to daily sin. There is a sense in which you can never stop repenting, because you never stop sinning. Confessing your sin, having remorse over it, is a sense. the constant occupation of a true believer. Can you violate God’s commands and not be grieved by it? Do you hear David wailing over his sins in Psalm 51? You see Peter weeping bitterly about denying Christ? Can you claim to be in their company and not be grieved by your own sin? Can you be like the harlot spoken of in Proverbs whose sins? and then wipes her mouth and says, I’ve done nothing wrong. Do you take your sins lightly? Is there any remorse and turning from your sin? I suppose there’s no more common gray hair than this. A lack of grief over daily sin. Indulgence in certain minor sins. Now I call them minor only because people look at them as minor, not because they’re minor in the eyes of God. You know, when the thief finds the doors of your house all locked, he’s going to look for an open window that he can get in. Even so, Satan, cannot perhaps engage you in a gross sin. But he is certain to find some lesser sin that you are not guarding against. And then the lesser sins will open the door for the next sin. You all know how a wedge works. You can’t use the blunt edge of a wedge to begin with. You have to slide the thin edge in first. And then by prying it carefully again and again, you slowly open up the space little by little. Some religious professors begin with a little conformity to the world and think, well, there’s no harm in that. And then there is something a little more sinful, you indulge. Slowly but surely, you may shipwreck of your professed faith. I’m afraid there are too many professing Christians that are like King Saul. Instead of destroying the Amlokites, he keeps alive, some of them, spares the flocks and so forth. You keep alive some sins in your life? You spare those, they give you the most pleasure? That’s another gray hair, indulgence in certain minor sins. covetousness. Beware of growing covetousness. One of the most insidious of all sins. It comes by degrees. Many a person has begun to accumulate wealth also begins to ruin his soul. There’s a hoarding of wealth that becomes your chief occupation. Instead of doing more for God, you do less. The more you save, The more you want. The more you hoard up, the less content you are. Watch about this grasping spirit, as it will prove your utter ruin. C.H. Spurgeon used to tell a story about a bankrupt man who had ruined himself by buying a new couch. He says, oh, he said, I, that sofa was a bad beginning. It was too fine for me. It made all my old chairs and tables look awful. So I went out and replaced them. Then the curtains had to be replaced. And as I saw it, the furniture in the other rooms also had to be sold. New articles were bought to correspond to what he had in the parlor. And soon he found the house was not good enough to have all this beautiful furniture. in it. That’s all he had to get a new house. He says, now here I am bankrupt. Well, you find today that a driving desire for material possessions has many times lured people into the trap of unending debt. Society wants you to be a compulsive buyer. God says, but that’s covetousness. That’s another gray hair. Worldliness. Your life can be taken up with the things of this world. Christ warns about this in scripture many times. We can be consumed about what we’re going to eat, what we’re going to drink, what we’re going to wear, and that’s the main issue in our lives. Your Sabbath day is not given to the Lord, but to the cares of this world, the sporting events, the businesses, the job concerns, the TV, shows, hobbies, and so forth. You’re so caught up in the world that you can’t give God one day and seven. You can’t bear to silence the world for 24 hours. The fact is, my friend, you’re growing worldly, and worldly interests have snatched away your heart and your soul. It pays to hold things loosely in this life to be able to put them aside if need be. See, if you’re going to see if you’re going to. addicted to it. See if you’re being controlled by it. Proper observation, observance of the Lord’s Day can help you immensely to overcome worldliness. That worldliness is another great here. And then he mentions pride here in verse 10. For all your flaws, you think yourself to be something when in fact you’re nothing. You secretly glowed within about how much better you are. are than others, perhaps. Do you see yourself as more knowledgeable, more spiritually gifted than they are? You don’t think of yourself of having any gray hairs, but the truth of the matter is you have a headpole. And so pride is a dangerous thing. And then suspension of communion with God. How terrible it is to follow Christ afar off, which many people do. to display a lack of love to God, even to harbor hard thoughts about God. There is a neglect of real prayer. Fewer trips to your knees as your soul reaches a more severe level of decay. There is no delight in listening to the preaching of the word of God or reading the word privately. It’s always a bad sign that your spiritual appetite fails. Where are you really with God? Is that another gray hair? Did you need to consider? Well, let me conclude. Are you in spiritual danger tonight? Do you have a distinct Christian walk? Are you aware of the Lord’s chastening? Do you detect any gray hair? Is there no distinction between you and a worldling? If you are incensed, to God’s judgments and full of gray hairs? Are you really born again? Ask yourself, is Jesus Christ the center of my life? Or am I one-sided? Am I a cake? Not turned? Am I mixed in with the world? I urge you to make the examination. It’s better for you to doubt and to fear where you stand than to go to hell, blinded by some carnal security that you may think you have. Well, may God bless us as we ponder this passage this evening. Let’s close with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we do consider a joy to be able to come before you. But what solemn words you have laid out for us and the warning that you gave Israel and Ephraim, may we see our sense. cells in the same light and carefully consider where we stand. May you help us to do the things that are pleasing in your life. Bless us as your people, Father. May we take the heart, your word. In the name of Christ, we ask these things. Good Thanksgiving. Let’s stand for the benediction tonight. Grace be with all them to love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.