INTRODUCTION
Today we are going to look at something that can happen to us when we are wandering through the spiritual desert or it can just happen over time.
SLIDE #1
We can easily get to the point in which we are just going through the motions of our walk with Jesus.
One of the things we must remember when it comes to our faith is that God wants something real; He wants a real relationship with us.
God does not want us to just go through the motions of our faith.
For those of you who are married, do you want a spouse who just goes through the motions of marriage or do you want to have a real relationship with your spouse?
Today we are going to look at the book of Hosea, chapter 4.
Hosea was a prophet who served from 750-725 B.C. He was a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah. His was a message of judgment that was preached from a broken heart.
God told the prophet Hosea to marry a woman of harlotry by the name of Gomer.
His marriage to her was to illustrate to the nation of Israel their unfaithfulness to God. His marriage was to serve as an object lesson to the nation.
God was not happy with Israel, they had fallen away hard. The nation was quickly sinking away from God.
The nation of Israel was going through the motions of religion.
What would cause a nation to go through the motions? What would cause a “Christian” to go through the motions?
I want us to look at the first part of Chapter four of Hosea today. We need to look at what happened to the nation of Israel as a result of not knowing God. These same things will happen to us in the church if we do not get to know God.
Let’s turn to the book of Hosea chapter 4.
SLIDE #2
SERMON
I. THE PROBLEM (VERSE 1, 6)
What was the main problem?
SLIDE #3
Hosea 4:6 (NASB) 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
SLIDE #4
The problem is a lack of knowledge. The problem is that we do not know God.
The proper relationship of men to God is to know the Lord. Whereas some parts of Scripture emphasize the “fear of God,” Hosea emphasizes knowledge.
The word “know” in Hebrew is used to describe a man’s relation to his wife (Gen. 4:1) the most intimate experience that is humanly possible.
With Hosea, to know God is no mere intellectual matter, but is rather an intimate relationship that comes by living with and for him and must be persistently pursued (6:3). Without it there is killing, stealing, and false swearing (4:1, 2).
The people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (4:6; 13:4; John 17:3).
It is knowledge of God and mercy that God demands more than sacrifice.
SLIDE #5
Hosea 6:6 (NASB) 6For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
When we lack knowledge about God, we not develop a relationship with Him. Our relationships are built upon the foundation of knowledge.
A lot of marriages fail because the relationship is just based on emotions or the satisfaction of needs. To really love someone you really have to know them.
The Israelites did not have an intimate knowledge (or relationship with) of God. Hosea lists six things that resulted.
SLIDE #6
When we lack an intimate relationship with God we will display:
II. NO FAITHFULNESS (1)
• The nation of Israel we being destroyed from within because of their lack of knowledge.
• SLIDE #7
• Hosea 4:1 (NASB) 1Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel, For the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness or kindness Or knowledge of God in the land.
• The people were struggling with their faithfulness to God because of the lack of knowledge and because of the lack of a relationship with God.
• As God’s chosen people looked around them, they saw the pagans worshipping. Pagan worship looked fun to them; it was loose and just about anything was allowed. There were really no rules. This looked good to the people of God; they constantly struggled with Baal worship and other forms of idolatry.
• SLIDE #8
• HOSEA 2:5 “For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ’I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
• When we do not know God, we think we are one our own. Gomer told herself that she would go where she was taken care of.
• We will struggle with being faithful to God because we will have no foundation for our faithfulness. If you do not know God, what is it that keeps you in line?
• The Pharisees were a good example of those who went through the motions of faith without developing a relationship with God.
• SLIDE #9
• MAT 23:23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
• Notice that Jesus says that faithfulness is one on the important points of the Old Testament Law.
• Where are you today? Are you going to be found faithful? We are told that if we are faithful, we will go to heaven.
• SLIDE #10
• REV 2:10 …Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
• The only way for your faith to grow is for you to get to know more and more about your God. The people of Israel were content and stopped growing and they perished.
• SLIDE #11
When we lack an intimate relationship with God we will display:
III. NO KINDNESS
• Back in verse I, we see that God said He had a case against Israel because they were not displaying kindness.
• Do you find it hard to be kind to people? As you grow closer to Jesus, you will find that being kind to people becomes so much easier. If we are not kind, we will not attract people to Jesus.
• I remember the story that Jesus told of the Good Samaritan. Remember, a man was injured, the priest and the Levite walked right by the man, but the Samaritan stopped and helped the man. The punch line was that the Jews hated the Samaritan’s so this story really struck a nerve with them.
• When people in our community need kindness and compassion, who are the first ones there? I hope that it is God’s people. Showing kindness to people will go a long way with people.
• One of the benefits of knowing God is that we will start seeing people the way that Jesus saw them because we as we grow in our knowledge and love for Jesus, we are being transformed into His image. (2 Cor 3:18)
• SLIDE #12
When we lack an intimate relationship with God we will display:
IV. IGNORANCE
• This passage says that the people did not have knowledge of God, this is ignorance. Ignorance breeds ignorance.
• Ignorance is dangerous. If we are ignorant of something, we will believe anything about it. The Constitution of the United States is a good example. How many of you know that the Constitution speaks about the separation of church and state? It does have that phrase in it doesn’t it?
• Can you tell me where the phrase is or where it is implied? NO WHERE! READ IT.
• We have a whole nation of people who think that is in there, so based on that assumption; we are allowing the ACLU to rid us of God in our society.
• When we are ignorant of God’s word, we will not know when we are being sold a bill of goods.
• What if the church buys into the thought that all roads lead to heaven, so there is really no difference in the different religions and that doctrinal differences mean nothing. We would quit reaching out to various people groups!
• Whom we pray to is important. What we need to do to be saved is important.
• When the people are ignorant, then they we believe everything except the truth!
• If you proclaim the truth, you are a bigot and narrow-minded. Why is it that if you stand for truth, people will be tolerant to everything but the truth? Why is a person who proclaims the truth narrow-minded?
• There are many benefits to possessing the truth about God. Here are just a couple.
• SLIDE #13
• EPH 4:14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;
• We will not be tossed around by every teaching that comes at us.
• Secondly
• SLIDE #14
• JOHN 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
• We will be set free! Think of the all people in history who have been enslaved because of their ignorance.
• The truth does not put you into bondage it releases you!
• SLIDE #15
When we lack an intimate relationship with God we will live:
V. A LIFE OF SIN VS 2-3
• Let’s look at verses 2-3.
• SLIDE #16
• Hosea 4:2 - 3 (NASB) 2There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3Therefore the land mourns, And everyone who lives in it languishes Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, And also the fish of the sea disappear.
• A lack of knowledge makes us ignorant to the truth we do not know what God wants us to do in our lives. If we do not know God’s word, then how are we supposed to live for Him?
• Ignorance of God and His word lead to a life of sins. Notice the items mentioned here. They are all direct violations of God’s Law.
• The “People of God” were being swept away by the sinful life-styles of the pagans around them. If we do not know God, we will let the same thing happen to us. If you look at most of the negative statistics that indicate a societal downfall, the church is right in line with most of them.
• Sin enslaves us, sin is not your friend, as you grow closer to Jesus, you will overcome sin in your life, Jesus will help you. We cannot live long enough to overcome all sin, but that is God gives us this 5-letter word called GRACE.
• SLIDE #17
When we lack an intimate relationship with God there will be:
VI. NO REPROOF VS 4-5
• When we are ignorant of God and His ways, we will not be able to help one another on the path to heaven.
• Look ate verses 4-5
• SLIDE #18
• Hosea 4:4 - 5 (NASB) 4Yet let no one find fault, and let none offer reproof; For your people are like those who contend with the priest. 5So you will stumble by day, And the prophet also will stumble with you by night; And I will destroy your mother.
• If you do try to share the truth about something, you are called intolerant.
• Go and tell people that it DOES matter what you believe and see what happens. Go tell people that Jesus is THE way, THE truth, and THE life and see what happens. Tell people that there are absolutes and that sin is sin, see what happens.
• Tell people that without Jesus, Buddhist, and those who follow the other world religions will die and go to hell.
• If we tell people that because of what Jehovah’s witnesses and Mormon’s believe about Jesus that they are lost and people will not like it.
• Dare to tell people that God tells us that we should not do certain things and see what happens.
• We have a whole nation that is wondering why things are getting so bad socially, and when we tell them why, we are intolerant narrow-minded bigots.
• There are absolutes even if over 70% of the people say there are none. If God says it is wrong, it I wrong for everyone.
• SLIDE #19
When we lack an intimate relationship with God:
VII. FUTURE GENERATIONS ARE AFFECTED VS 6-7
• Ignorance breeds ignorance. God says to the Israelites that He was going to turn from the children of the people because the more they had, the more they sinned.
• SLIDE #20
• Hosea 4:6 - 7 (NASB) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame.
• We are raising a society of people who know little to nothing about God and we will pay and are paying the price for that. The nation of Israel suffered because one generation did not teach the other.
• If we sit in the church and do not know anything, how in the world will we teach our children, and how will they teach their children?
CONCLUSION
. We have people perishing everyday who do not know Jesus. We can stop that. If the church does not know Jesus, how in the world are we going to teach the lost world? Can you tell me something that is more important than Jesus?
How can we show people the kindness of the Lord if we do not know Him?
When people are hurting, how can we really help them if we do not know God? If a person comes to you, do you want to really help them? If you do, tell them what God’s says about their problem in a way that they can see the application.
At the heart of Hosea’s theology was the relationship between God and Israel. God alone was Israel’s God. Israel was God’s elect people. Hosea presented God as a faithful husband and Israel as an unfaithful wife. Hosea’s stress is not upon righteousness and justice, but the knowledge of God and loyal love.
God’s love for Israel would not permit Him to give up on them in spite of their lack of knowledge and infidelity.
The last chapter of the book encourages the people to return to God and He would accept them with open arms. God said He would heal them and restore them. That promise is for you today. Give yourself to Jesus and He will accept you and love you in spite of your past. What God is looking at is from today forward.
God will not hold the past against you if you will come to Jesus today.
If you have been a Christian for a long time and really do not know God, now is the time to get to know Him. I PROMISE THAT YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY AND THAT YOU WILL NOT REGRET YOU COMMITMENT TO JESUS. ANYONE CAN BE COMMITTED TO THE LORD. Commit yourself to knowing God today!
