Hosea 8:1-3

to the book of Josea Isaiah chapter 8 tonight we’ll be reading the first three verses Isaiah chapter 8 verses 1 to 3 set the trumpet to thy mouth he shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord because they have trespassed my covenant and trespass against my law. Israel shall cry unto me my God we know thee. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good. The enemy shall pursue him. God bless to us his sacred and holy word this evening. Have you ever been awakened in the middle of night by a fire alarm? It’s startling to hear such a shrill sight and is whales on and on for a number of minutes. But it provides a warning that there is a fire and the firemen scramble to get their equipment and race off the fight. There are all kinds of warning buzzers and sounds in our society. And a noise given off is not supposed to be pleasant and soothing. Osea is called upon by God to blow the war trumpet in our text. A war trumpet is a shrill sounding instrument which alerted the people to prepare themselves for battle against an an attacking enemy. This passage speaks of God’s warning to his professing people and the grave danger of violating God’s bond of friendship with them. We’ll begin tonight with this. Your minister must sound the trumpet of warning. Verse 1a. Blow the trumpet. Now, the purpose of this is to awaken you to the danger at hand. What is meant by the minister setting the trumpet to his lips? Well, they give you a distinct warning. He is not to use a fiddle or a guitar here, which lacked the shrill sound to alert people. It’s more like an army bugle that’s being played. A minister is to blow the trumpet to produce a decisive sound so that you may be warned about the danger ahead. as Isaiah 581 says. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression in the house of Jacob their sins. That is the duty of the minister. There are times when the minister must say some things which shake people up. and the shrill blast of thus say if the Lord rings in your ears. Maybe people are startled. Perhaps some timid souls, some children are moved with fear. But the minister must sound the alarm. And it’s high time to wake out of sleep as we read in Romans 1311. alarms and trumpets blast are designed to wake you up to your spiritual drowsy state. So you need to waken to your danger. And your minister is responsible for the welfare of your soul. Your pastor is to warn people of danger. And woe unto him if he does not, because their blood will be required at his hands. This is what God says about the lazy watchmen of Israel and Isaiah 5610. His watchmen are blind. They are all ignorant. They are all dumb dogs that cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. They’re dumb dogs that can’t bark. You know, dogs are often used as watch dogs. And if they don’t bark, then you’re not aware of anyone outside or any danger. God’s messengers cannot be careless about souls here. And so we have to be aware of this. You know, the ancient Romans had watch dogs all around the city. And that was to protect it from invasion. The dogs were supposed to bark when the enemy approached. However, the dogs were so well fed and so well cared for that they slept when the Gauls, those from Germany, scaled the city and attacked. They never gave a warning and no sound was heard, and they burnt down the city of Rome. Afterwards, the Romans took all the watchdogs and hung them on trees outside the city of Jerusalem. They crucified them. And every year after that, as a memorial, dogs were crucified by way of punishment for their failure to watch out for the Romans and warn them. So your minister must sound the trumpet of warning. Notice something else here. Notice something else here. you must be warned about violations of God’s covenant. Now, in the latter part of verse 1, they have transgressed my covenant and transpassed my law. And then the first part of verse 3, Israel has cast off the thing that is good. The breaking of God’s covenant here is associated with transgression against his law. The word coveted means a bond of friendship. It is essentially a personal fellowship with God. The law is God’s revealed standard for how he wants you to live and behave. It gives you the idea of right and wrong. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, sin is any one of conformity unto or transnational. transgression of the law of God. Now, these two ideas cannot be set over against one another. And by that I mean to break God’s covenant is to break his law. You can’t separate those two things. The problem with making a separation between these two definitions is that you can easily delude yourself into thinking your relationship with God is intact all the while you are sinning. that is not possible according to our text here. And thus we find here it’s very timely and significant teaching. It’s saying that you cannot claim fellowship with God without walking in obedience to his law. Jesus indicated something similar when he said, Why call you me Lord Lord? And do not the things which I say in Luther. 6.46. So your breaking God’s covenant is associated with transgression of his law. Notice here that you’re breaking God’s covenant is associated with turning away from God and true worship. To cast off here in verse 3, first part of it, means to remove far off, or to throw, or to throw something at a distance. The idea is forsaking something. Certainly God himself, who is the greatest good, had been forsaken. It’s also clear that God’s true worship had been forsaken. Sadly, that which is a good thing and beneficial to people is often cast off as rubbish. We see this a lot. Worship is something that should be prized. Merely neglect that which is good is evil. To cast it off is an abomination. The Israelites were warned, if you seek the Lord, he will be found of thee, but if you shall forsake him, he will cast the off forever, 1st Chronicles 28-9. There have been many churches which God has left. because people have broken fellowship with him. You remember in the Old Testament when God pulled his presence from the temple, Iqabod was written over the doorframe of the temple. But the Lord had departed, and they were abandoned. There’s a danger for any church. church to lose its first love, turn away from Jesus Christ. If our assembly allows sin to grow among its membership until the whole body is leprous, God will cast us aside. The greatest danger of the day is that any person with a religious inkling is admitted into the fellowship of the church. I remind you the words of Christ, I have chosen you 12 and one of you is the devil. Judas was in the midst. There are deceivers who mix in with the true people of God, but they should never think the church membership guarantees fellowship with God. You may be a Judas all the while you’re attending church. A son of perdition was turned away from the true God. So you must be warned about violations of God’s covenant. Thirdly, you must realize the danger of neglecting God’s warning. Belonging to the house of the Lord does not mean that you will be spared according to verse 1 and part, the second part. says here, he shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord. Different commentators have interpreted the word eagle here, differently, and same way with the word house. To me, the simplest, most logical explanation is the house means the house of the Lord. In other words, the Old Testament church, which has become a posse. state. If sin dominates in the house of the Lord, it’s no more going to be spared than a synagogue of Satan is going to be spared. It is useless to think that you will find security among the professing people of God if you are busy violating his laws and his covenant. Do you remember what happened to Joab, who was the longtime army commander of Israel. He rebelled against King David’s successor, Solomon, by siding with Adonaja. And when his treachery was discovered, he fled into the tabernacle and caught hold of the horns of the altar, and he thought he was safe. Solomon, however, said to Benaya, fetch him forth. and Beniah said, come forth from hence. But Joab replied, nay, but I will die here. When Benaya reported this back to Solomon, he said, well, strike him down where he is. Don’t spare him, even though he had his hands on the horns of the altar. Benaya thrust his sword through Joab. There he was, clinging to his sword. altar, but he was put to death. So will be with you and I. You may put your lips to the communion cup. You may hold God’s word in your hand. You may have a position or an office in God’s church. You may steadfastly occupy your seat for every service each week. But unless your heart is right with God, even with your hand, so called on the horns of God’s altar, you must be damned. Consider this matter carefully, because we should search and try ourselves to see whether or not Christ be in us. So bringing a belonging to the house of the Lord does not mean you will be spared. God’s judgment. judgment against you will be sudden and swift. Verse one and in verse three, we see the word eagle. It’s possible the word eagle here refers to the Assyrian king. Shalmaneser, Ezekiel 17, that portrays him as an eagle. It may be that his ensign was an eagle, or that his army was compared to an eagle because of its swiftness, quickness in action. In the law, an eagle was an uncle was an uncle an unclean bird. God will use the unclean heathens to swiftly attack his professing people and bring judgment upon them according to the last part of of verse three. An eagle poises itself high in the sky and with its eagle eyes it can look down and see even the smallest fish in the water. And so with the sharp eyes that it has at a tremendous height, all of a sudden we see him dashing downwards, falling from the sky at great speed like a meteor and snatching away its prey. Now, such is often God’s hesitation. on a church. He comes suddenly like an eagle, chasens his professing people. Listen to Christ’s words to the church at Pergamose in Revelation 2.16. Repent, for else I will come quickly and fight against them, the false disciples in her midst with the sword of my mouth. I will come quickly. come swiftly, quickly. God never leaves his chosen people, but he often has left separate churches when those assemblies have become mixed in with the world. You look at the seven churches of Revelation, and it would be interesting take a journey to that area of the world over there in Turkey and go on the road. from Ephesus to Laeotica, how many churches do you think are left from those seven churches? Well, there were once seven major churches, but today there’s none. In fact, in that whole area, maybe you’ll find 25 Christians instead of, you know, seven churches. And so, you know, if you went 25 miles in circumference, you would not get many Christians there. it’s a Muslim country today. So God has taken the candlestick out of its place, quenched the light, and how quickly the spiritual glow is diminished from that light. All it takes is one generation for a church to go from a lighthouse to total darkness. Think about that. All it takes is one generation for a church to go from a lighthouse to total darkness. one generation. As long as you walk with God and you’re faithful to His Word, you are secure. But if you sin and it is permitted to spread in our midst, like the spirit of lukewarmness, laxity and doctrine, prayerlessness, it will be all over. Oh, may God, who has kept this little cross. congregation for many years under the shadow his wings, be pleased the work in our midst till Christ returns. God’s judgment against you will be swift and sudden. The pitiful cries of those who think they know the Lord. It’s interesting how verse 3 is worded here. First part of it, Yidra hath cast off the thing that is good. The enemy shall pursue. I’m sorry, Israel hath cast off the thing that is good. The enemy shall pursue him. Verse two, Israel shall cry unto me. My God, we know thee. In the Hebrew, verse two, verse two is quite remarkable. It actually reads, they shall cry unto me, my God, we know thee. Dash, Israel. they say, my God, we know thee. Then as if God did not know them, it’s us, it’s Israel, that’s speaking. They mentioned their name, and they pleaded before him. We are Israel, the people who know you. Remember us? We’re not strangers. Do you expect favor with God? Because you’ve made some profession of being a Christian? What do you think God’s going to say to you if even despite your profession you’re living like the rest of the world? Will you cry under God in your distress and call him your God and claim to know him? When all along all your work say that you’re denying him. Hear the pounding of the five foolish virgins on the bridegroom’s door. in Matthew 25, pleading for admittance and what does he say to them? I don’t know who you are. I never knew you. Verse 3 is God’s answer to the pitiful cries of those who think they know the Lord. They’re going to be judged. As a church, Liberty Baptist may truly say, not in pride, but in thankfulness, God has been very gracious to us. When I look over the years, and I remember the early years in the church, and we were wondering whether we would survive the next few years. Here we are all these years later, and God has sustained us the whole time. And sometimes miraculously done so by giving us money out of the blue. He has distinguished us by his grace. He has caused our candlestick to continue to shine brightly. He has heard our prayers. What a blessing it is to be able to pray to the Lord and have him respond and answer us. We must expect that though he will not cast off his people, yet as a church, he could take away our spiritual beauty and dim our light. and so we must always be aware and cautious about this matter. Seek the Lord in mercy that he will keep Liberty Baptist Church faithful to him. Pray that you may walk before him according to His commandments. I need prayer that I may faithfully blow the trumpet. I need prayer that I may faithfully blow the trumpet. prayer that I may faithfully walk before the Lord and preach his word to the best of my ability. We all need prayer that God will sustain us in difficult times. When we’re small, when it seems that we could easily disappear, we have to look to our Lord who has sustained us all these years and will sustain us. I believe if we are faithful to him. So let us keep that in mind as we look at this text tonight, for Israel did not keep it in mind, and we see what happened to them. Let’s have a word of prayer at this time. Heavenly Father, as we bow before you, you often give us a solemn passage. as scripture to consider. To ponder. Help us as your church. To do what’s pleasing and right before you. Remember us, Lord, in our struggles and in the weakness of our flesh. Help us, Lord, with our infirmities. Lord, we’re a small church. We have many issues to address. address, but remember us, Lord, and help us. And I pray, Lord, that you would reach out to us and rebuild our assembly, strengthen it. Help us, Lord, at these difficult times in life. We know that all things depend upon you, and you have never left us nor forsaken us, and that is your promise to your faithful people. Help us, Lord. to continue to be faithful. In the name of Christ, we ask these things with Thanksgiving. Amen. Let’s stand for the benediction tonight. Grace be with all them to love our Lord Jesus Christ and sincerity. Amen.