An Old Message for America
Hosea 4:1-5
There is a phrase used sometimes to describe the land in the middle of the United States:
Flyover Country
It is a phrase that is meant to describe the vast stretches of land that many Americans only see as they “fly over” it while traveling from coast to coast.
Thus it is deemed as unimportant or inferior and unworthy of stopping or living there.
Honestly, that flyover country is my sort of place.
Less people, more nature, country life
If there is Flyover Country in the Scriptures, it is the twelve books some call the Minor Prophets.
They were first called “minor” by Augustine of Hippo around 400 A.D.
The ancient Jews called them “the Twelve” and they were often on one scroll.
These books are often “flown over” as people jump from the prophecies of Daniel to the coming of Christ in the Gospels.
If I were to ask you this morning to list these twelve books from memory, I doubt more than a handful will name them correctly and in order.
What a mistake we make in disregarding these books!
In them we meet:
Hosea who prophesied about the judgment to come upon the Northern Kingdom of Israel
Joel, who prophesied about pestilence and judgment upon the Southern Kingdom of Judah
Amos, who prophesied against the Northern Kingdom
Obadiah, who prophesied against Edom
Jonah, who fled God’s call before reluctantly obeying after graduating from Whale University.
Micah, who prophesied against the sins of both Kingdoms
Nahum, who prophesied about Nineveh’s fall
Habakkuk, who prophesied about the righteousness of God’s judgment upon Judah
Zephaniah, who prophesied concerning the terrible day of judgment upon Judah
Haggai, who motivated the Jews returned from captivity to rebuild the Temple
Zechariah, who prophesied about the future of Israel through those returned captives
Malachi, the final prophet of the Old Testament era who preached for repentance and revival
I do not know why but it seems God has been leading us lately into these overlooked messengers.
We just finished going through Jonah in Sunday School and are starting in Micah.
Today, we find ourselves in Hosea.
Who was Hosea?
His ministry stretched out for at least 50 years.
He was a contemporary of Isaiah
He was the original “weeping prophet”
The sadness of his home life and his message to unheeding audiences
The judgment he announced upon Israel.
God used Hosea’s home as an object lesson for Israel
Just as Israel had been unfaithful to God, so would Gomer be unfaithful to Hosea
Just as God would in mercy redeem Israel from its sin, so would Hosea redeem Gomer
I would not count myself to be an expert on this book, though I have taught through it twice in Sunday School settings and once at the Norris Bible Baptist Seminary.
And here is what strikes me every time I read the words of Hosea:
Though written about a kingdom and people some 2,700 years ago, I find so many parallels to today.
I know of no other book that I see our situation in America reflected in as well as it appears here.
Let me say that is because people are still people, no matter the date or location.
We are all sinners.
Sin was just as effective and deadly then as it is now.
God still judges sin and calls for man to repent of that sin before it is too late.
God still offers forgiveness through His mercy and grace.
So, this morning, I want to look at the Book of Hosea and see what its message is for today.
I. The Terrible State of Affairs
Look at the words of Hosea Chapter 4:
Hos 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
When God looked down to examine the hearts of men what did he find?
Well, He tells us what He did not find – the things He was looking for.
Truth! Mercy! Knowledge of God!
My eyes read those words and I hear echoes from Genesis 6:5:
Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Why, those are His chosen people – the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!
Yet God sees them in the same position as the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah:
Void of righteousness!
Void of Truth!
Void of Light!
Read on:
Hos 4:2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
In the first 11 words they are guilty of breaking 4 of the Ten Commandments!
They are broken free from all restraints as a dog broken free from its leash.
The blood of their victims pools together, crying out for justice!
My friends, can you not see our present world in those words?
Read the front pages of any newspaper in America!
Glance at any news website!
Good is evil and evil is good!
The prophet Isaiah nailed it when he said:
Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
How can that be?
Hosea tells us in vs. 6
Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Our society is void of truth!
America had God’s truth.
America rejected God’s truth.
America will be judged according to God’s truth.
A. That rejection of God is manifested in Idolatry
Hos 4:12 My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.
Hos 4:13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
Just as Ancient Israel rejected God for worthless idols, so has America.
Oh, they need not be statues or figures for anything placed above God in our hearts is an idol.
Money, fame, power, greed, lust, selfishness…
B. That rejection of God is through all society.
Hos 5:1 Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
Hos 5:2 And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.
Hos 5:3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled.
I see three groups of people in these verses.
First, the general populace – the house of Israel
Second, the religious leaders – the priests
Third, the aristocracy – Ephraim
Why is Ephraim the aristocracy, the ruling elite?
Ephraim was the most powerful tribe
Jeroboam, an Ephrathite, started the cracks that led to the split of Israel
See I Kings 11:26-40
Let me say that I despise those that seek to divide our nation through inciting class warfare.
I am not here to say the problem is the poor or the rich or the rulers or the young or the old.
I’m here to say that as a whole and then no matter who you slice it, our society is becoming more and more corrupt.
C. That rejection of God led them to seek answers outside of God.
Hos 5:13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
The wages of sin came due with interest.
Where did they turn? Not to God!
They turned to the pagan Assyrians, who would soon conquer them!
They call today the Information Age.
We can find answers to almost any question in a matter of moments.
Yet in all that searching we fail to look to Truth itself.
We fail to go to God!
Oh, we turn to celebrities and their “expert opinions”.
We turn to scientists and their knowledge.
We turn to political leaders and their influence.
And we fail to turn to God!
It is His Truth that we have rejected!
It is His Judgment that surely must fall if He be Just at all!
It is He who can grant mercy and forgiveness!
And we will go anywhere to anyone but to Him.
WHAT CAN WE DO???
Well, I’m glad that God is merciful to us sinners!
He has provided the remedy then and now.
II. The Trigger to Stop God’s Anger
Hos 6:1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
Just because God may judge our sin does not mean He casts us off.
He bids us to COME.
What a wonderful word!
Hear the words of Christ:
Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
What is the message for the world today? Come!
Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Oh, what America needs to do is to come to Jesus!
What we Christians need to do is to come to Jesus!
What does it mean to COME?
A. It means to come from where we are.
That is repentance in a nutshell.
We change our mind and our direction.
We turn from sin to the Savior!
We turn from sin’s wages to the Great Shepherd’s care!
We turn from a curse and death to blessing and life!
B. It means to come expecting a change.
Hos 6:1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
Hos 6:2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
Everything changes when we turn from sin toward God.
Our nation needs a good ol’ fashioned life-changing revival!
The kind that makes a lasting change in the hearts of men.
Too many today attempt to turn to Christ without loosing their hold on sin.
Then they wonder why they struggle so spiritually.
It is like a drowning man holding on to an anvil when we try to serve God and hold onto sin.
C. It means a change in heart and not just action.
Hos 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
We focus on the actions, while God focuses on the heart.
It has always been so.
Cain’s sacrifice was rejected more for the heart behind it than the offering itself.
The story bears that out.
David was chosen among his brethren not because of his appearance but because of his heart.
God does not want us to make the appearance of turning to Him, He wants our hearts to be truly changed.
What does God want from us today?
He wants the sinner to turn to Him for salvation!
He wants to Christian to turn to Him for strength and guidance!
If we do not turn, they we will be like the Israelites we read about here.
Hos 6:7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.
What happened to them?
History tells us the judgment came.
The Assyrians conquered them and carried them away captive.
Thomas Jefferson said: “Indeed I tremble for my country when reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever…”
The hope for our nation is that those of use with God’s Truth will heed that truth and repent.
When we change our ways, we may affect the wicked to change theirs.
Though also not written to us, we may learn from the words God spoke to Solomon:
2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.