Hosea 6-7 - Real and False Return

[Music] pastor Aaron will today be preaching from Hosea chapters six and seven I will now read Hosea chapter six found on page 754 of your Pew Bible begin with verse 1 to the end of the chapter listen as I read for this is the very word of God come let us return to the Lord for he has torn us that he may heal us he has struck us down and he will bind us up after two days he will revive us on the third day he will raise us up that we may live before him let us know let us press on to know the Lord his going out is sure as the dawn he will come to us as the showers as the spring rains the water the earth what shall I do with you OE for I mean what shall I do with you Oh Judah your love is like a morning cloud like to do that goes early away therefore I have hewn them by the prophets I have slain them by the words of my mouth and my judgment goes forth as the light a desire steadfast love and not sacrifice the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings but like Adam they transgress the covenants there they dealt faithless ly with me Gilead is a city as a city of evildoers tracked with blood as robbers lie and wait for a man so the priests band together they murder on the way to Shechem they commit villainy and the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing he frames whoredom is there Israel is defiled for you also Oh Judah a harvest is appointed when I restore the fortunes of my people may God bless to our hearts and minds the reading of his word as ruch mentioned earlier the sermon this morning comes from Hosea 6 and 7 as he has read Hosea 6 I now read to you hos seven and I too would ask that you would listen for this is the very word of God Hosea chapter seven when I would heal Israel the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed and the evil deeds of Samaria for they deal falsely the thief breaks in and the bandits raid outside but they do not consider that I remember all their evil now their deeds surround them they are before my face by their evil they make the King glad and the princes by their treachery they are all adulterers they are like a heated oven whose baker ceases to stir the fire from the meeting of the dough until it is leavened on the day of our King the princes became sick with the heat of wine he stretched out his hand with mockers for with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue all night their anger smolders in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire all of them are hot as an oven and they devour their rulers all their kings have fallen and none of them calls upon me Ephraim mixes himself with the people's Ephraim as a cake not turned strangers devour his strength and he knows it not gray hairs are sprinkled upon him and he knows it not the pride of Israel testifies to his face yet they do not return to the Lord their God nor seek him for all of this Ephraim is like a dove silly and without sense calling to Egypt going to Assyria as they go I will spread over them my net I will bring them down like birds of the heavens I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation woe to them for they have strayed from me destruction to them for they have rebelled against me I would redeem them but they speak lies against me they do not cry to me from the heart but they wail upon their beds for grain and wine they gash themselves they rebel against me although I trained and strengthened their arms yet they devised evil they return but not upward they are like a treacherous bow their princes shall fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongue this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt the Lord bless to our hearts and minds the reading of his word and you may be seated could you please pray with me Heavenly Father we pray that by the power of your spirit your word would work in us in such a way that we do not run from hard words that we do not ignore them or cast them aside but we receive them unto repentance and faith and we experience your life giving power we pray these things in Jesus name Amen in Gilbert and Sullivan's classic musical the Pirates of Penzance there's this great scene where a group of singing maidens implore the local police force to go out and fight a band of pirates they sing go ye heroes go to glory though you died in combat gory ye shall live in song and story go to immortality go to death and go to slaughter die and every Cornish daughter with her tears your grave shall water go ye heroes go and die now the policemen are little on the timid side and they aren't so excited to receive this rather ominous call they express their appreciation for the lady's affection and sentiment but they would actually rather stay and sing but the lovely maidens continue to implore them on in song and eventually the policemen begin to sing and March we go we go we go we go we go we go but then quite humorously they don't go no they simply march around in circles singing off we go and as they sing and March with the maidens continuing to implore them along the maidens father can't help but notice that no one is actually going anywhere they March and seeing we go we go and he keeps interjecting yes yes but you don't go we go we go but you're still here we go we go it's all very humorous if you haven't ever seen the Pirates of Penzance I recommend it it's classic comedy of the absurd with each cast of characters seeking to outdo the other in terms of sheer ridiculousness you say this morning well that is fascinating why are you bringing it up because as I read through Hosea 6 & 7 again and again it was this scene from Pirates of Penzance that kept coming to my mind and in many ways that the song of Israel here in Hosea 6 and 7 it bears a striking resemblance to Gilbert and Sullivan's police force and the father's winsome critique we go we go yes but you don't go of course one big difference between Pirates of Penzance and Hosea 6 & 7 is that Hosea 6 & 7 isn't meant to be a comedy of the absurd it's actually a spiritual tragedy of the highest order and we want to consider this tragedy this morning what we may learn from it that we may not follow in the same tragic footsteps so we turn our attention right away to the opening verses and we see that the chapter begins with a striking invitation come let us return to the Lord for he has torn us that he may heal us he has struck us down and he will bind us up after two days he will revive us on the third day he will raise us up that we may live before him let us know let us press on to know the Lord his going out as as sure as the dawn he will come to us as the showers as the spring rains that water the earth it's beautiful language striking language but it is language that scholars have some sharp disagreements of in terms of what to do with it the main question revolving around these verses is who is actually talking here we see that the entire invitation is extended in the plural it's full of us and we and so the question is who is the US and the we here many have argued that this is Hosea the prophet speaking that he is speaking in the plural as he identifies with the people of Israel in their sinful state and he is calling Israel back to the Lord in a manner in which he includes himself in that call this is what you might call a a prophetic identification with the people in their sinful state they the argument goes Hosea is not just pointing the finger he's including himself along with Israel in her spiritual need no say this is certainly possible both theologically and grammatically and if this is the case then we should hear verses 1 through 3 as entirely genuine and sound as we will see going forward this call is not heated in truth but according to this argument the call itself the invitation is thoroughly genuine and the problem is simply that Israel does not heat it the other argument though is that this invitation is not in fact coming from Hosea but rather it is coming from the priests the religious leaders of Israel this makes sense at some level because this would have been the priests job right to provide spiritual leadership to the people of Israel in times of trial but as we've seen from chapters 4 & 5 the priests of Israel at this time are themselves spiritually adrift as the text has said they have rejected knowledge they have forgotten the law they have forsaken the Lord and if it is this the spiritually adrift priesthood who is extending this invitation to Israel that changes the character of the invitation itself we would have reason to suspect this is not altogether but is in fact part of the problem now again while both of these are real possibilities with good scholars on both sides I tend to think the latter position that this is the priest is actually preferable why well if we go back to Hosea 5:15 the Lord says I will return again to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face and now here in Hosea 6 1 through 3 there's this call to return to the Lord when many wonderful sentiments are expressed but what is missing in this call is an admission of guilt there's nothing here about Israel's sin no confession of wrongdoing there's there's nothing really even close to that sentiment there's a call to return to the Lord there's a declaration that the Lord will surely heal and bind up and raise up and give life there's a kind of zeal to press on and know the Lord but there is no acknowledgement of guilt which is striking given that that is the very thing the Lord said he was insisting on in the previous verse then given the state of the priesthood at this point this is exactly the kind of return we might expect from Israel and if this is in fact the case that this is the priest offering this kind of language to the people then we can say this is not altogether genuine it's not calling for a return to the Lord on the Lord's terms but rather it seems to be an appeal for renewed religiosity in a time of trial but yet it lacks real repentance and if this is in fact the case we would expect the Lord not to be impressed and that is exactly what we find in verse 4 for coming right on the heels of this impassioned call to return to the Lord the Lord declares what shall I do with you oh we Furr what shall I do with you Oh Judah just a quick reminder for those who haven't been here each week Ephraim is one of the tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel the largest and most prominent of the tribes and so often the the Old Testament prophets use Ephraim as shorthand for talking about all of Israel and so you can almost hear the Lord's sigh the sense of resignation in the word of the Lord Oh what shall I do with you Oh Israel and then over the course of the next two chapters the Lord spells out in many ways he restates the nature of his problem with Israel and he presents to us three categories if you will three kinds of problems that are present in Israel's life three things that genuinely exasperate the Lord and cause him to shake his head if you will at Israel the first category is what you might call the the rotten deeds of Israel it says like Adam in the Garden of Eden Israel has transgressed the Covenant that God made with them committing actual sins of all kinds Xion in the garden back in genesis 2 God offered and in essence gave adam f sinless communion with god life real life dominion over the creatures blessing joy pleasure purpose fulfillment God joined Adam to himself in a covenant relationship and what God then required of Adam to remain in that blessed state was obedience to God's Word but Adam didn't obey though he disobeyed the Lord he wanted to be like God instead of living in faithful covenant with God he wanted to be in charge rather than to be under God's rule and serve under God's blessing Adham severed himself from the Lord with his disobedience and he in turn received the Lord's judgment and as we have seen over the past weeks Israel has essentially done the same thing for God his chosen Israel made them into a great nation and joined Israel to himself in a covenant relationship like a bridegroom joins himself to a bride the Lord has saved Israel brought Israel into the Promised Land given Israel life and blessing and joy and pleasure and purpose and fulfillment and he's given his real his law and commanded them to keep it he's promised them to bless them if they do and warm that he will curse them if they were announced his law and turn from it and as we've seen throughout our study of Hosea Israel has spurned the law of God they have rejected knowledge they have forgotten the law they have forsaken the Lord they've played the spiritual harlot with other gods and their lives are now marked by evil deeds they are idolatrous worshipping other gods they are violent which is the particular emphasis of these chapters we see in verse 8 that their cities are tracked with blood robbers lie in wait for a man the priests the very priests who would be calling the people to return to the Lord they band together and murder on their way to Shechem which was a very important religious and political center in Israel the text says they commit villainy later in Chapter 7 it says they deal falsely the thief breaks in the bandits raid outside their deeds surround them deeds of treachery and adultery and drunkenness and mockery they devour their own rulers all their kings have fallen they mix with the people's they call to Egypt they go to Assyria though the picture of Israel here in these chapters is one of idolatry with the gods of other nations and treachery and violence within and this is not hyperbole now if you go back to 2nd Kings 15 you see that after the reign of Jeroboam when Hosea began his prophetic ministry Israel had six different kings until the fall of Israel and all but one of those kings was killed by some type of internal conspiracy and assassination Israel's elders were devouring each other and dragging the entire nation into a cesspool of treachery and murder and villainy and to put it mildly this exasperated it angered the Lord but then this rotten D this picture of rotten deeds it's not the whole problem what also caused the Lord to shake his head at Israel perhaps even more than their rotten deeds was the empty and false religion that they practiced in the midst of it while their priests conspire and participate in the violence and intrigue they call out to the people ah let us return to the Lord so that he can make everything better they murder while openly professing love for the Lord but as the Lord says in 6 for your love is like a mourning cloud like the do that early goes away we see in 6 6 that Israel continues to make sacrifices to the Lord through all their rotten deeds they continue to offer burnt offering in the midst of their villainy and treachery they cry to the Lord they they wail upon their beds chapter 7 verse 14 but their cry is not from the heart they they gash themselves the text says which which we know from elsewhere in the Old Testament is actually a part of a BHEL worship we see that in first Kings 18 it's an act of physical cutting it was a kind of pagan ritual that sought to get God's attention Israel is a rotten people with an empty religion they publicly profess love they offer sacrifices they cry out to God for help and blessing they even gas themselves to show their sincerity and added all the Lord shakes his head what am I to do with you o Israel and not only does the Lord single out Israel's rotten deeds and their Empty religion but then to kind of top it all off he just exposes how ignorant and oblivious they are to the spiritual reality of their lives the Lord states again then again he desires knowledge of himself but Israel doesn't seem to know anything in 7 9 it says strangers devour Israel's strength and he knows it not gray hairs are sprinkled upon him that is he's moving towards death and he knows it not know as it says in 711 Israel is like a dove and this is not a compliment Israel is like a dove silly and without sense Israel is a faithless people committing terrible unspeakable deeds they are immoral idolatrous and violent and then they try to paper it over with empty religion they are a spiritual trainwreck and perhaps the most tragic part of all is that they know it not they are silly without sense they can't see what's going on right in front of them and within them they are ignorant and oblivious and yet at the same time the text says they are proud refusing to see that they cannot see but make no mistake the text is clear the Lord sees seven one says Israel's evil is revealed to the Lord seven - the Lord remembers all their evil their deeds surround them they are before his face o Israel what shall I do with you and before we then consider the Lord sentence on Israel there's one final assessment that the Lord gives of Israel's life here in these verses you see Israel calls for that they claim to return to the Lord but they are like the silly senseless policeman and the Pirates of Penzance oh they cry and they march we return we return we were we returned to the Lord but the Lord sees them all inside and out and he declares in 7:10 they do not return to the Lord their God nor seek him for all this but they cry no we return we return we return to which the Lord declares in 716 ho they return they return all right but not upward this could also be translated but not to the Most High we return we return we return but you don't return for a religion without true repentance there is no return at all and so here in this chapter we see that the Lord ends up answering his own question what shall I do with you Israel what shall I do with all your rotten deeds and your empty religion what should I do with your spiritual pride and your ignorance and your oblivion what shall I do with you what shall I do with your so-called return to the Lord which is no return at all the Lord says I'll tell you what I will do I will judge you I will pour upon you both words of judgment and deeds of judgment the words of judgment are spelled out in 65 the Lord says I have hewn them by the prophets I have slain them by the words of my mouth and my judgment goes forth as light you see God has made it plain he has warned Israel with prophet after prophet if Israel will not repent and turn from their wicked ways God will judge them he will destroy them he will tear them down of course these words are not easy to hear but they are truth and what these chapters then continue to offer our words of coming judgment Israel it says it's like a heated oven not cared for it's gonna cook unevenly and burn the bread Israel's leaders are devouring themselves in a kind of judgment and they don't even know it and as the chapter comes to a conclusion we see that a greater judgment is coming the Lord says beginning in 7 12 I will spread over them my net I will bring them down like birds of the heavens I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation woe to them before they have strayed from me destruction to them before they have rebelled against me their princes shall fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongue I would heal them the Lord says I would redeem them if they would genuinely return to me if they would acknowledge their guilt and seek my face but because all I get from Israel is sin and silly ignorant oblivious prideful empty religion cloaked as a return I will give them judgment and that's exactly what the Lord did as we've seen in our study of Hosea what we know that God's words of judgment here soon turned into deeds of judgment and he destroyed all of Israel at the hand of the Assyrians kings and princes priests and temples the whole house of Israel destroyed just as he said no this is no comedy of the absurd it is a spiritual tragedy of the highest order which then brings the question to each of us what shall we do with this tragedy what shall we now do before the Lord I tell you there is much to be gained from Israel's example and the Lord's blistering critique of it then first we must recognize just like with Israel God sees all our sin he remembers all our evil and he not only knows our deeds he knows our hearts he knows the nature of our cries and the depth or lack thereof of our loves we cannot hide anything from him we cannot paper over our sin we certainly cannot distract God from it with mere religious activity so what will we do well what we see here and throughout this book is that true religion begins with true acknowledgement of our sin and guilt religion without repentance is vain and empty calling upon the Lord without confession of sin is like a howling gong or a clanging cymbal you see everybody wants the Lord's blessing no one wants to experience pain and suffering so so so most people are willing to say hey lord help me out in times of trial people are willing to return to church and say hey Lord look at me now Here I am can you bless me now no we are willing to sing in March we go we go we go but the Lord says but you don't go you don't return you don't return to the most high for such a return only happens when we acknowledge our sin and guilt before the Lord when we confess Arsen when we say to the lord have mercy on me a sinner forgive me cleanse me save me from myself you see it is most certainly the Lord's desire to heal us to bind us up to revive us to raise us up to redeem us so that we may live before him it's not just see here in this passage take a passage like second Peter 3:9 where it says the Lord is not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance and I tell you if you doubt the Lord's desire to save based merely on these words then consider the Lord's actions to save in the person and work of Jesus Christ for Jesus Christ God in the flesh became a man so that he might live the perfect life that we should have lived and then he took all of our sins upon himself and he died he suffered all of God's judgment that our sins deserved and he rose from the grave on the third day in order that our sin might be defeated forevermore you see he died and rose that we might be healed he died and rose that we might be revived he died and rose that we might be raised up with him he died and rose that we might be redeemed he died and rose so that even sinners like us might live before him and be certain of this the way to enter into the life that Christ offers and the way to walk and live according to the life that Christ gives is through acknowledging our sin and guilt and repenting of our sin as not just as a kind of one-time act a box we can check and move on but know as a way of life as an ongoing grace we return to the again and again in what our confession of faith calls repentance unto life it is repent in repentance and in faith in Jesus Christ that we experience the Lord's healing and reviving and redeeming love it is in repentance and faith in Christ that we find true life in him it is in repentance and faith in Christ that we find the strength and the zeal to pursue new obedience of the church is not a place where religious people get together and declare all we have done to return to the Lord on our terms rather the church is to be the place where sinful people gather to repent of their sins on the Lord's terms and through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ find then that healing grace that reviving forgiveness that only comes through repentance and faith in Christ and then having received it we can extend that grace and that forgiveness and that healing to others and together we can walk in ongoing lives of repentant faith pursuing the obedience that the Lord calls us to brothers and sisters I don't want to be a silly senseless sinful yet self-righteous man and I don't want us to be a silly senseless sinful yet self-righteous Church Oh may God protect us from from from from from prancing about prattling about singing about how we go we go we go onward we go if in reality we don't go not upward that would be the greatest of tragedies to have israel's example before us and to stumble into the same path but instead may we be a people who individually and corporately we daily return to the Lord in truth not afraid to acknowledge our guilt and our sin and to seek the face of the Lord Jesus Christ in forgiveness may we be a people who don't live in religiosity but we live by the power of the gospel in confession repentance forgiveness faith and new obedience may we in this way seek the face of the Lord Jesus Christ that we may truly live before him in grace and truth let's pray Heavenly Father by the power of your spirit help us to hear the hard word and not run away from it but to receive it for what it is a word that can lead to life by your spirit produce within us a godly grief that leads to repentance faith in Christ and new obedience and may we cast off in a definitive way empty religion that boasts and looking good that has no place for true repentance o Christ do your work in us even now as we come to your table and we pray these things in Jesus name

Channel: Westminster PCA, Atlanta

Views: 373

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ, God, Christian, Christianity, Christian teaching, Westminster Presbyterian Church, wmpca, church, reverent, joyful, worship, sermon, preaching, Bible, biblical, reformed, PCA, Presbyterian, expositional preaching, Hosea, Old Testament, prophet Hosea, minor prophets, book of Hosea, Hosea 6-7, Hosea 6, Hosea 7

Id: pF7ZgMGwh5o

Length: 35min 46sec (2146 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 09 2019