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HOSEA 8 DATE: Sunday, December 13, 2020

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HOSEA 8 DATE: Sunday, December 13, 2020 HOSEA 8 DATE: Sunday, December 13, 2020 THE TEXT: Let us stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word. 8 ​Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law. 2 To me they cry, “My God, we—Israel—know you.” 3 Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him. 4 They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction. 5 I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? 6 For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces. 7 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; 1. if it were to yield, strangers would devour it. 8 Israel is swallowed up; already they are among the nations as a useless vessel. 9 For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers. 10 Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up. And the king and princes shall soon writhe because of the tribute. 11 Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning. 12 Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. 13 As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt. 14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds. 2. PRAYER: INTRODUCTION: In the summer of 2014, Amanda and I loaded up our kids and took a two week trip to Germany. The first week of our trip was devoted to sightseeing southern Germany, while the second week of our trip was spent serving and ministering to european missionaries who were gathered together for a yearly conference in the mountains of Germany. I’m not sure if you have ever been to Germany, but it is a stunningly beautiful country. Germany has some of the most breathtaking landscapes and remarkable buildings, towns and cities of any country in the world. On our trip, we had the fortune of spending two days in the quaint little town of Rothenburg, located in Bavaria. The area of Rothenburg was settled by the Celts around 275 B.C. but was officially considered a township around 1274 A.D. So the area of Rothenburg is very, very old. One of the highlights of our trip was when we participated in an evening tour of the city with the “Night Watchman of Rothenburg,” Hans Baumgartner. Baumgartner was the official Night Watchman of Rothenburg who had the job of meeting tourists at the town square and then leading them on a walking tour around Rothenburg, teaching the groups about the history of the town and the importance of the job of the Night Watchman. Baumgartner dressed like a Medieval Night Watchman, with a long black cap, a lanturn, a trumpet horn, and a pike. You see, both the job and the instruments of a Night Watchman were crucial to the safety of the people in Medieval Europe. The Night Watchman had the job of staying up all night, patrolling the streets, keeping an ever vigilant eye on the town; waiting for any hint of danger. When danger would present itself, the Night 3. Watchman was the first one to sound the alarm, ready his pike and prepare to defend the town. The prophets of the Old Testament were a type of Night Watchman. The prophets were there to “sound the alarm” when spiritual danger was approaching. In today’s text we see that was exactly what Hosea was doing. Hosea was called to sound the alarm to Israel of a coming danger that was caused by an even greater spiritual danger. Which is why God commands Hosea in verse one to “Set the trumpet to your lips! EXPOSITION: HOSEA 8:1-14 8 ​Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law. God was calling Hosea to sound the alarm; to be the Night Watchman over Israel; to warn them of danger. But what was the danger? Look at the second sentence. “One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord, because “they” have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law.” It appears that Hosea is sounding the alarm because a vulture is over the house of the Lord. In this passage, the term “vulture” is the hebrew word “nesher” which means an unclean bird. Hosea is using the analogy of an unclean bird as representing sinful priests who were serving in the house of the Lord. These priests cared nothing for the Lord, they only wanted to advance their own gain. But how were these unclean priests established as priests? Look at the second part of the text, “because they (we will see in verse 4 that the “they” in this verse is the monarchy of Israel) have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law.” This shows how wicked leadership corrupts other forms of leadership. The wickedness of the monarchy was establishing wicked and unclean priests who were in charge of the spiritual leadership of the nation. This wicked 4. recipe served as a horrifying blueprint for the spiritual decline of the nation. Oh, but these people claimed to know God, but their actions proved otherwise. 2 T​ o me they cry, “My God, we—Israel—know you.” ​3I​ srael has spurned (Zanach- cast off, rejected, expelled, excluded) the good; the enemy shall pursue him. Notice what is happening in verses 2-3. These Israelite leaders claim to know God, but their actions prove the opposite. Their actions prove their stated belief to be false.Verses 2-3 is an issue of Lordship Salvation. If Israel claimed to know God, they would have had actions that represent God. Jason talked about this last week. Jason said that if you are truly walking with Christ, the things that God finds detestable, you will begin to find detestable. The same principle is true today. If Christians claim to know Christ, yet walk in a manner that is contrary to Christ, it must be questioned if they indeed know Christ. I am in NO WAY saying that good deeds can merit salvation. They cannot! However, I am saying that if the saving power of Jesus Christ has drawn a heart out of death and into life, then the by product of that heart will be that it will want to live a life that honors Christ. So the Israeliets were guilty of claiming to know God, while proving the opposite because they rejected the good things that are of God. But notice the last five words in verse 3. Because Israel has rejected the good, Hosea says that an enemy shall pursue him. Because of Israel's insurrection, a judgement is soon to come. But what were the Israelites doing that was so bad for God to judge them? What was Israel up to that was so offensive to God. Let’s unpack this in the next verses. 4 T​ hey made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. In verse 4, Hosea is accusing the monarchy of Israel of politically “stacking the deck.” According to 2 Kings 14, the monarch of Israel was involved in great sin, curel ambition and violent treachery. During the establishment of these kings and princes, 5. God’s will was not sought, rather the criteria of ambition was used to establish these leaders. So the Israelites were guilty of establishing rulers for their own gain; but it doesn’t stop there, let’s look at the second part of verses 4-6. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction. ​5. I​ have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence (notice the language: how long will they be incapable of innocence. This is language that is reminiscent of Genesis 6 concerning the people increasing their wickedness on earth)? ​6 F​ or it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces. The religious structure that God had established through Aaron had now been denegrated to calf-worship. This offensive act of worship was in complete defiance of God’s command in Exodus 20:3-6 and Leviticus 19:4, “​3 “​ You shall have no other gods before me. ​4 “​ You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ​5 Y​ ou shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ​6 b​ ut showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” And in Leviticus 19:4 God said, “​4 D​ o not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.” The text indicates that it was the people Israelites living in Samaria, who were responsible for constructing and worshiping a golden calf.
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