Hosea 1:1-2 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.”
The language of whoredom is a powerful image of unfaithfulness. Israel, represented as a wife unfaithful to her husband, has not been faithful to the covenant. The “land committing great whoredom” is another way of saying that Israel is like Adam in that “they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.” (6:7)
How did Israel transgress the Covenant? Three main ways are discussed:
First, Israel forgot who provided for her needs.
Second, Israel disregarded the Lord’s Law.
Last time we discussed the fact that Israel forgot who provided their needs in that they forgot the Lord and ascribed that their needs were being provided by other things than the Lord.
This time we will discuss the second main way Israel transgressed the Covenant: they disregarded the Lord’s Law.
On Mount Sinai, “the Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.’ ” (Exo 24:12) Here the Lord gave the children of Israel His law which they were to keep. Why was the Law given? The Law was “added because of transgressions” (Gal 3:19). What does that mean? Romans 7:7 helps us understand this when it says, “if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ “. Therefore we understand that the law was given in order to bring us a “knowledge of sin” (Rom 3:20)
This is important because it ensures, “that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” (Rom 3:19). This is important because “God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” (Rom 11:32). The Law is an act of mercy in that it brought knowledge of sin, but we must understand that it did not give life.
Paul says in Gal 3:21-24, “if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”
To summarize all that, “The Law was given to show us that we are sinful and need a Savior to redeem us.
But Israel disregarded the Lord’s law and thus disregarded the Lord Himself. By rejecting the Lord’s law, Israel was rejecting their only means of salvation. The Lord says in Hosea 4:1-2, “Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.”
Israel rejected the Lord and thus rejected what pleases the Lord. Things like steadfast love and gaining knowledge about God dwindled while at the same time acts of lying, murder, stealing and adultery increased.
When a nation rejects the Lord’s law, the nation becomes more and more wicked, the nation calls evil good and good evil and ultimately the nation is forsaken by the Lord Himself. It is important that we see this as more than a simple history lesson, but rather see this as a warning. Consider to this verse from Hosea, it could be written to America in 2009: “They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.” (7:4)
Let us consider the warning from the prophet Hosea and repent of disregarding the Law of the Lord and repent of satisfying our sinful sexual lusts. Let us reject the oversexualization of our culture and actively fight against it. Whether it is refusing the watch inappropriate Television programs, let us refuse to gossip and slander others, let us refuse to cheat or steal, or whatever; let us as David said, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” (Psalm 101:3)
Let us return to the Lord so that he will listen to our pleas for mercy and heal us (Isaiah 19:22). And let us pray that the Lord would awaken this nation to seek Him.
Filed under: Christianity | Tagged: Sermon
