Hosea 10:1-2

Tonight I ask you to turn with me to Josea chapter 10, a book of Josea chapter 10 in verses 1 and 2 Israel is an empty vine He bringeth forth fruit unto himself According to the multitude of his fruit He hath increased the altars According to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images Their heart is divided How shall they be found faulty He shall break down their altars He shall spoil their images God blessed to us He is sacred and holy word This evening If you look in a Early Baseball Encyclopedia you’ll find a man named Lou Proctor who’s listed as a baseball player He’s listed with everyone else who played Major League Baseball called himself a baseball player But when the next edition goes to went to the press his name was missing It’s been discovered that Proctor was the Pressbox Telegraph operator For the 1912 St. Louis Cardinals, He never was a player, but he put his own name in the box score of a game, thus getting into the baseball encyclopedia. Proctor was an imposter. In the spiritual realm, there are many impostors. Those who claim to be Christians, but were never. So, when it comes to spirituality. It doesn’t matter whether you have your name on a church role or not. God will expose you as an imposter if you are not a true believer. Israel presents herself here as being spiritually fruitful as a vine, one that God should be proud of. But God sees Israel as he says here in verse 1 is an empty vine, a vine which produces fruit only for its own use and not for his. I suggest that our text has something to say about being a spiritual imposter. Now, as a professing believer, you’re expected to be spiritually fruitful. You are to portraying the image of a fruitful vine. He calls them a vine here. Over and over again in the Old Testament, Israel is portrayed as God’s choice, vine, or vineyard. If you would, just look at one passage in Isaiah Chapter 5, if you would. you see this truth standing out. Isaiah chapter 5. Versus 1 and 2. and then seven, just to get us an idea here. Now I will sing to my well-beloved, a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. He fenced it, gathered out the stones thereof, planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine-press-of. And also made a wine-pressed. therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes. And it brought forth wild grapes. And then if you would jump down to verse 7. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. And the men of Judah, his pleasant plant. And he looked for judgment, but behold oppression. For righteousness, but behold, a cry. And so, Here’s one example. You also find it in Jeremiah 221, Psalm 80, 8 to 14. That’s another couple of examples. So God is disappointed, you’ll see, in the vine, and what it eventually brought forth. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ portrays himself as the true vine root with his people, the fruitful branches, the passage in John 15 that Russell read verses 1 to 8 earlier this evening. The people of God are compared to a vine for various reasons. One is that the vine is one of the vine is one of the most fruitful plants that grows. The great naturalist, Pliny, tells of a single vine, planted by the Empress, Libya, which yielded 108 gallons of good wine yearly. And what fruit is brought forth to God in this world comes through His people. As a believer you are to produce, that which makes God happy, and gives him delight. Righteousness, peace, love, devotion to him, and so forth. secondly, no plant requires more care than a vine. You have to till, you have to cultivate, you have to arrange, you have to under-prop, you have to prune it, so you find how necessary it is for God to be working within us to produce spiritual fruit. You’ll never be spiritually fruitful unless the Holy Spirit produces the fruit within you. God has to cultivate. the spiritual fruit in your life. Thus you find God identifying himself with the husbandman who cares for the vineyard as we see in John 15 in Isaiah 27. Isaiah 273 says this. I the Lord do keep it. I will water it every moment lest any hurt it. I will keep it night and day. In John 15 read about God the Father as the husbandman who prunes his vine to make it more fruitful. Thirdly, if a vine is unfruitful, it’s one of the most unprofitable things in the world. In Ezekiel 15, we find that it’s not good for producing, if it’s not good for producing grapes, it doesn’t work well for anything else. You can’t burn it very easily. It’s not a good wood to burn. Wood can’t be used for housing or carving something because it’s too fibrous. And fourthly, the vine is one of the most spreading of plants. It fills a great deal of space with its branches. It grows quickly. It spreads in all directions. And thus you read the promise of the church in Isaiah 276, Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the earth with fruit. Now all these outward associations with the visible church make up the component parts of this line. What separates real believers from false professors is spiritual fruitfulness, as John 15th tells us. Now what is obvious is that God expects you as one of his professing people as a believer to be spiritually fruitful. He’s going to prune you and he’s going to deal with you in a manner that you that you are if you are a real child of God by his word by his spirit by his providence God promises to produce fruits of righteousness within you. If you desire to be fruitful and every good word and work, see to it then that the Word of Christ dwells in you richly in all wisdom. Hide God’s law in your heart that you might not sin against him. Bring your thoughts and your feelings into line with the Word of God. Be careful by grieving the Holy Spirit. Learn that God. God’s cutting or trimming or pruning, if you would, what is necessary to further your spiritual productivity. So you’re to portray the image of a fruitful vine. You may, however, be considered by God as an empty vine. And that’s what he talks about here in verse 1. Now, a flourishing plant, Israel, I should bring forth something which pleases God. But all God finds in Israel at this point is worthless fruit. Israel had survived a long, long time, had grown large and strong, especially in Jose’s day, during the reign of Jerobo and the Second. But even though God had been a good husbandman, Israel was not. producing anything good. Thus God is humanly speaking here, disappointed in Israel. She didn’t bear anything good. She was empty spiritually. As God said through Isaiah, I looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes. We read that in Isaiah 5.2. Spiritual emptiness. and those who profess to be God’s people is a very great evil. It’s a very serious charge to be called it empty vine. James 2.20 says, but wilt thou know, O vain, or empty man, that faith without works is dead. The word vain there is Kenos empty. empty. A life void of good works is an empty life. It’s a spiritually barren life. The entire epistle of James consists of test regarding the true faith. All of which are the practical fruits of righteousness in your life. For example, do you persevere in trials, chapter 1, verses 1 to 12. Are you obedient to the word, chapter 1, 13, verse 25. Do you have pure and undefiled religion? Chapter 1, verses 26 and 27? Are you impartial in your treatment of fellow believers? Chapter 2, versus 1 to 3? Do you have righteous righteous works? Chapter 2, verses 14 to 26? Do you control your tongue? Chapter 3, 1 to 2. 12. Do you possess true wisdom, chapter 3, verses 13 to 18? Do you have hatred of pride and worldliness, chapter 4, 1 to 6? Do you have humility and submission to God? Chapter 4, verses 7 to 17? Do you have right behavior among the people of God, chapter 5, 1 to 20? You may speak highly of your faith, your religion. God’s free grace and yet be extremely empty spiritual. If there is no grace in your heart, you can’t bear spiritual fruit. And thus, those who have no spiritual fruit cannot claim to be Christians. In John 15, you find those branches of the vine, which are empty and fruitless, are cut off and cast out. Those who Do not abide in Christ will find themselves rejected by God. So as a professing believer, you are expected to be spiritually fruitful. Secondly, why you may prove to be an empty vine. You may be selfishly using God’s gifts. In verse one, we see that God says you bore fruit here. He says, Israel is an empty vine. He bring it forth fruit unto himself. According to the multitude of his fruit, he hath increased the altars, according to the goodness of his land. They have made goodly images. Israel bore some type of fruit, but it wasn’t fruit unto God. Israel aimed exclusively to please herself. It should be noted that this was true with regard to worship and religious activities. For example, we read in Zachariah Chapter 7, this is 5 and 6. Speak unto all the people of the land and to the priests say, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those 70 years, meaning the years of captivity, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when you did eat and when you did drink did not you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves you didn’t do it under me he said thus many that are barren towards God and cannot do anything for him yet are very active when doing anything for themselves when you ask god to do something when you ask them to do something for God they are unable. They have a great deal of energy to help their own cause. If you are carnal, you will please seek to please yourself. You’ll be self-centered in your outlook. You will take God’s good gifts and will waste them on your own interest rather than using them to further the kingdom of God. Paul complains of God. this in Philippians 221. For all seek their own, he says, and not the things that are Jesus Christ. Even among those claiming to be Christians all find selfish approach to life at times. False professors are empty because they are selfish. If you complain of fruitlessness, here is the reason. You’re selfish. Your prayers are empty prayers. even though they may be full of biblical words and expressions. Why? Because they are geared entirely to self. As James 4.3 says, He ask and receive not because you ask amiss. You may consume it upon your own lusts. Some years ago, there was an organist that was giving a concert. In those days, someone had the pump, the large bellows, backstage to provide air for the pipes for this organ. And after each selection, the musician received a thunderous applause. Before his final number, he stood up and said, I shall now play, and he announced a piece. Sitting down at the console, he adjusted his music, checked his box, and with his feet poised over the pedals, and hand over the keys, he began with a mighty cord, but the organ remained silent. And just then a voice was heard from backstage. Say we. If you didn’t have the guy pumping, he can’t play. When you seek your own interest and your own promotion in religious matters, you can’t be pleasing to God. You’re going to end up as an empty vine. selfishly use God’s good gifts and abuse them. You may have a divided heart, quoting the verses one and two. The word translated divided here literally means smooth. It has to do with speech. We might say slick, deceitful speech. People going through the motions of doing one thing, but actually they are intent on doing something else. Do you have that today? Of course you do. It’s a warning here against hypocrisy. Israel had purported love for God, but she was unfaithful. You find the emphasis here on adulterous worship. They were worshipping idols. The whole background of the book about Jose marriage comes into view here. No doubt when Josea’s wife Gomer went off with her lovers, she might still have said that she loved Josea, but love like that is no place in marriage. By its very nature, by the law of God, marriage is supposed to be an exclusive affair. It’s one man or one woman. Faithfulness to each other. In plenty or in want, in joy and sorrow and sickness and health till death harts you. When another comes along and enters into that marriage relationship, love is betrayed. And there’s a vacillation there. And we would say that the partner who strays is unfaithful. Israel was guilty of such a sin. They worship God, but they also worshiped idols. and therefore were unfaithful. She pretended to acknowledge Jehovah. She was multiplying all these false altars and dedicating sacred stones. She would have her lovers, even though by covenant she was supposed to be exclusively the Lord’s. She was committing spiritual adultery. Today there are so-called millions of Christians who do the same thing. They try to serve two masters, God and Manon. You would never think of denying the existence of the true God, perhaps. You might even claim that you’re one of his people and that you worship him. I go to church. I’m not a Buddhist. I’m not a Muslim. I’m not a Hindu. Yet, instead of worshipping God, many people are actually in. church because of what other people might think of them, or maybe to make a good impression. You need to make sure that you do not have a divided heart. Would you not merely say that you love God, that you actually do love him and serve him? A chief symptom of a divided heart is formality in religious worship. People stand. for form and lack the power of God. I read a story about a man and a pastor who was staying overnight at the home of a young couple. And the next morning he was awakened by a soprano voice singing, nearer my God, to the deep. At breakfast, he mentioned to his hostess how pleased he was to hear that lovely old hymn. And yet he was puzzled. He said, I had never heard his son quite. as fast as that before. Oh, said the hostess. I guess that’s because I wasn’t paying too much attention to the words. You see, it’s a song my mother used to sing, and I found that it’s a good one to boil eggs by. Just repeat the first verse five times rapidly for soft-boiled, eight times for hard-boiled. So that the singing may have sounded good to the minister, but it was all an empty formality or boiling eggs. How inconsistent a divided heart is. You’re a person on Sunday and you go to church and you appear to be a saint, and perhaps you can talk using the right religious language, nod your head at the proper moments in the sermon, sing the songs of praise, but you don’t call upon him any time during the rest of the week. For if people would look at your life, you’re not living any different than a worldling around you. You have a divided heart. It would be very pleasant circumstance if a minister could believe that everybody in his church was truly converted. Sadly, the larger the church, the less likely everyone is converted. But friends, there may be some of you who practice sins unseen by your pastor’s eye. You can be a very clever hypocrite that you’re not going to fool God. So why you may prove to be an empty vine? You’re selfishly using God’s good gifts and you have a divided heart. What God will do with you as an empty vine? The worship of Bethel was sinful. It was filled with heathen customs. and practices. And yet the people were basking in the good gifts of God enjoying his temporal favors. And we see that very clearly in the life of Israel. They kept building altars and monuments, but they did not repent. They refused to devote their hearts fully to the Lord. What would God want with all of them? if his people did not offer their very lives as living sacrifices to him. Why would God care about the restoration of monuments bearing images from the past if you don’t bother restoring God’s image in yourself? Thus, the Almighty will sweep away all the altars and destroy all the monuments. Serving God isn’t. quite as easy as it appears. You should not be so foolish as to think that you can deceive God with pomp and ceremony. God sees through it all. God will weigh you in his balances and you will be found wanting. He knows all about you. He will find you guilty. Friends, what does God care about beautiful church buildings? elaborate ceremonies, professional religious music in the services if his people are not living monuments to God’s faithfulness. God will take a broken and contrite part as a sacrifice. Hearts devoted to serving Christ, they are living monuments to His grace. But what will happen to empty vines in the end? God, the husbandmen, will examine you, for spiritual fruitfulness, and finding none he will cast you forth the wither in this life, and at the last day you will be cast into eternal fire and be burned according to John 15. This is a horrible fate, but it is the end that God has in store for all those who are spiritually empty. Lou Proctor snuck his name into the encyclopedia, of baseball, but he was found to be an impostor. He never was a baseball player. In the Christian realm, there are many religious impostors. God calls them empty binds. You may have your name, listen to the church roll. You may be considered a believer by those around you, but God knows the truth about you. It behooves you then. Examine yourself. to consider if you are in the faith. See if indeed there are any fruitful, is there any fruitfulness to your vine? Is there anything spiritually productive in your life? May God bless to us his word this evening. Let’s close with prayer. Heavenly Father, we give you great thankfulness for teaching us here. and causing us to examine ourselves regarding whether we are truly in the faith. I pray, Father, that you would cause us to weigh these things carefully and to be ready, Father, to see whether we indeed are fruitful Christians. Be with us in this, Father, and help us. We ask these things in Jesus, and let’s stand for us. for the benediction tonight. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.