Hosea Chapter 8

The purpose of the Book of Hosea, we could say, is to highlight God's unfailing love. His unfailing love is a guarantee found in His covenantal faithfulness.

Because God is covenantally faithful, we can be assured that that faithfulness will manifest itself not only in judgment but in mercy. You do know that there is a double-edged sword to God's covenantal faithfulness. Yes, He will be merciful to His people, but along with that faithfulness, there comes judgment when we breach that covenantal term. Now, we're in the middle of Hosea. Hosea is a prophet, so therefore we're dealing with prophecy. And I would like for you guys to note that there are two prongs to prophecy. You can think of it as a fork with not just one prong but with two prongs. And what are the two prongs of prophecy you ask? Number one, write it down, that prophecy is to call the unregenerate to repentance. Whether it is prophecy that is forthtelling or whether it is prophecy that tells us about things of the future, it is to call all of those that are not in Christ to repent of their sins. The second prong of prophecy is to call those that are in Christ the remnant back to righteousness.

You know, sometimes we can have lots of fun with prophetic passages and we can talk about what this symbol means or what that symbol means. But when you boil all of prophecy down, it has this ultimate goal. If you're unregenerate, repent. And if you are in Christ, if you're part of the remnant, you need to live in righteousness and holiness. Isn't that good to remind ourselves of that?

Yes, we're in Hosea. The second half of Hosea, chapters 4 through 14, deals with Israel's unfaithfulness and God who is covenantally faithful. Let us look at chapter 8 verse 1. In chapter 8 verse 1, we will see a warning of judgment. 1 through 3. In verses 4 through 6, we will see this impending judgment because of their governmental stances of how they set up kings and princes. In 7 through 8, we'll see this judgment happen again in their politics, their diplomacy, in their policies of how they deal with other nations. And then in verse 11 through 14, we can see how they are wayward in their religious practices. Judgment is coming upon Israel because they're not trusting in Yahweh, their covenant-keeping God, but they have a self-reliance in their own politics, in their own policies, and how they want to practice their religion. Let us read verses 1 through 14. 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. To me they cry, my God, we Israel know you. Israel has spurned good. The enemy shall pursue him. They make kings but not through me. They set up princes but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they make idols for their own destruction. I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? For it is from Israel. A craftsman made it. It is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces. For they sow the wind.

Hosea 4 · chapter mention

They shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads. It shall yield no flower. If it were to yield, strangers would devour it. Israel is swallowed up. Already they are among the nations as a useless vessel. For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers. Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up and the king and the princes shall soon writhe because of the tribute. Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning. They have become to him altars for sinning. Were I to write for him my laws by ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing. 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. For Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces. And Judah has multiplied fortified cities.

So I will send fire upon his cities and it shall devour her strongholds. This is the word of the Lord and praise be to God for that. In our circles, we may often stress the sovereignty of God because it is very biblical. God is in control of all things. He controls judgment. But there are some who take God's sovereignty and push it to a limit beyond the scope of scripture. And I'd like to address that just for a moment. Those that have a hyper high view of God's sovereignty deny that there is a gospel call that applies to all that hear. This goes beyond what scripture clearly teaches. Another high and hyper position of God's sovereignty denies that faith is a duty of every sinner. A third way that people take God's sovereignty and contaminate it is by denying that the gospel makes any offer of Christ, salvation, or mercy to those that are not elect. This essentially denies that the offer of divine mercy is free and universal to all. This is not upheld by scripture. Fourth, there are some that have a hyper view, an unbiblical view of God's sovereignty that denies that there's any such thing as common grace for all. A fifth thing that isn't biblical, a fifth view of looking at God's sovereignty which can't be found in the pages of scripture is to say that God does not have love for the non-elect. All of these must be rejected because it's not found in scripture. But you're saying well how am I to understand God's love?

How should I look at the love of God even for those that would receive judgment? Even for those that will not receive God's eternal love? Well I'm glad that you asked. Here are three things that we can understand the love of God by.

The love of God is unlimited in its extent. This love that is unlimited is temporal and all experience it. Do you remember how Jesus said that he allows the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust? Sure, that happens and all receive it and it is the goodness of God displayed to them but this is only done in a temporal setting. This isn't the case once a person dies and they're outside of Christ. God's love is unlimited in extent in a temporal sense.

Another way that we can understand God's love is that it is like a concentric circle. It is limited in degree. God has a general love for all of mankind but then he has a special love for those that are in Christ. It's limited to them and there is even a greater love that God the Father has for God the Son which even draws the circle in closer. This limited degree of love that God has for the elect is not just temporal but it is eternal. And ultimately we can say third that God's love is supremely directed by his glory. God's glory defines or limits or constrains how he is going to show his love. God does have an unlimited love extended to all in a temporal sense and then he has a more specific love that is limited in degree and extends on into eternity and all of this is to the praise and the glory and the honor of our triune God. So how is this unlimited love manifested in time? I'd like to give you guys four ways that this unlimited love is manifested. First of all it is shown in common grace. God allows the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust. Why do good things happen to bad people? It's because God has love for them. Furthermore God has a love that has compassion and pity upon those that are lost, destitute. You can look at maybe a stray dog and you can see that it has been run over a little bit and it's mangy and you have compassion on that don't you? When God looks upon the plight of sinners and seeing how we have made a shipwreck of our lives he truly does have compassion upon sinners. Oh Israel I would gather you would I not? As a mother gathers its own hens he has compassion upon that city but you would not have me.

How heartbreaking is that? A third way that God shows his unlimited love is by warning. The way in which you are going when you keep on striving against the law of God there are consequences for this and God says judgment is coming destruction awaits you turn turn. That's the love of God. That is the love of God and the love of God is manifested not only by telling you that there is common grace for all or a pity or a compassion for those that are destitute or even warning them that destruction is on their brink but God then truly and sincerely says if you turn from your sins and turn to me the Lord Jesus Christ you will be forgiven of all. Isn't that wonderful? That's the love of God.

That is the love of God. See those hyper views that we had talked about earlier have to be dismissed and today as we are jumping into Hosea chapter 8 you need to read this text with the love of God dripping all over it. Why? Because it is warning Israel of old and us today that if we continue in our self-reliance judgment will come upon us. I hope that helps us as we look at these verses here.

Hosea 8 · chapter mention

Now let's take a look once again back at Hosea chapter 8. Set the trumpet to your lips. Make a sound. This is the warning impending judgment is coming upon you.

Hosea 8 · chapter mention

One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord could be thought of as the land. It doesn't necessarily have to be the temple and obviously you knew that Israel had set up their own places of worship. A place where God was to be adored. But why? Why will the vulture or the eagle come over this desolate land? Why is there going to be a trumpet set to our lips warning us of Assyria? Well you can see it in the second half of verse 1 because they have transgressed my covenant. My covenant you will notice in this text that it is very personal. This is not an abstract God. No this is a personal God. They have gone beyond the bounds. They have transgressed. They've stepped over the lines of my covenant and if that was passive this is active. They rebelled against my law.

We're guilty. Israel what have you done? You've transgressed the covenant. You've rebelled against God's good law. To me they cry. My God we Israel know you. Oh these are empty words. How did Jesus say it? On that last day many will say Lord Lord and then he uses the same kind of word here. Depart from me. I never what? Knew you. I never had a covenantal relationship with you where there was intimacy. Oh this whole idea of knowledge is all through Isaiah. It talks about how that marriage relationship that Hosea and Gomer had pictures the relationship that God has with Israel but they have violated it. They have violated it. My God we Israel we know you. Verse 3 we read Israel has spurned the good. They have rejected God. They have loathed his covenant. What happens when they push God away? Well you can see it there at the end of verse 3. Enemies shall pursue.

That's the warning of judgment. Why? Because they're trusting in themselves.

They're trusting in themselves. Verse 4 we move out of the warning of the judgment but now we see that their judgment is based upon their political or their governmental ways of doing things. Verse 4 it says they make kings but not through me. And of course as we jump into the history of it we see assassination after assassination of these kings and all of that was not approved by God. They make kings but it's not through me. They set up princes but I knew it not. And the way that they do that has implications upon them. With their silver and gold they make idols for their own destruction. Do you see how they're not trusting in God's wisdom or the way that he has designed things to be but now they're taking the wealth of this world placing their trust in that making it forms of worship but that which they worship is ultimately their downfall. They have presumptuous actions by not going to God and asking him for help and we can also see how they have a self-styled worship in verse 5. They I have spurned your calf. This is like a metonym Oh Samaria. This this calf that he's talking about is referring to their whole religious system. They're not talking about the calf in particular. There is a calf that they had. Of course you remember them making a golden calf when they were delivered right but it could also refer more to the bales. Archaeology shows that you have men standing on top of these great bowls. They wanted to have a bale a God a strong ox that would bring them prosperity. They wanted fertility with their crops. What's God's response to all of this? Well obviously he has spurned it but then he says my anger burns against them. God's not neutral to this. Once again do you see how personal it is? My anger? My anger. For it is from Israel a craftsman made it. Verse 6. It is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. Well it's not only judgment because of their self-reliance on their government but also in their diplomacy and their diplomats with other nations.

Verse 7 is a proverb. They sow the wind. They shall reap the whirlwind. That which you plant has a bumper crop. It is going to have exponential growth. You plant a little sin and notice what happens to it. Now for those of you that are farmers or that like to dabble with little gardens you know this. You just put in a little seed and then a huge plant comes out and it fruits. The consequences of our sins may seem small to us but devastating in its ramifications. Isn't that true for Adam? And one man he plunged all of us into sin and misery? Oh yeah. They sow the wind. They reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads and it shall reap no flower. For if it were to yield strangers would devour it. Verse 8. Israel is swallowed up. Already they're among the nations. A useless vessel. They were to be a peculiar people set apart for God's own use and now they're just indistinguishable from the world. Is that true of you? I hope not. I hope it's not true of me. Why? Why have they become a useless vessel? Verse 9. For they have gone up to Syria like a wild donkey wandering alone.

Ephraim has hired lovers. They're hedging their bets. They're not turning to God.

They're relying upon their own policies submitting to this nation to the north or maybe to the south or wherever they may be. Though they hire allies among the nations I will soon gather them up. Oh you think that's good that God's gonna gather them up? Sometimes it is good when God gathers his from the four corners of the earth but not here. This is not gathered for restoration. This is a gathering for destruction. How do I know? I will soon gather them up and the kings and the princes shall what? They'll soon rise because of the tribute. Judgment is befalling them. But it gets worse because as we turn to verse 11 we see that it's not just their governmental policies. It's not just the way that they deal with the nations but in verse 11 we also see that it's going to deal with their with the way that they are worshiping God because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning and of course you know altars were made so that sin could be atoned for. Well what are they now doing with these sacred altars where our sin could be covered? They're now exposing their sin and idolatrous practices. They have multiplied their altars for sinning. They have become to him altars for sin worshiping the bales and the asteras. Another Proverbs is kind of given to it.

Were I to write for him my laws by ten thousands? Oh if I could just give you my law I would give you law after law. And of course the law is a good thing. That's where the wisdom of God is to tell us what God is like and how to please him.

If I were to do that by ten thousands if I was to multiply your books into libraries he says you would regard it as a strange thing. Friends you that are listening to my voice is God's law a strange thing in the hearing or the reading. It shouldn't be. We should visit many good books but we should never leave the good. It should be our meditation day and night. We should read it so that it would read us so that we would be laid bare and say oh God forgive me the sinner show me the paths of righteousness so that I may walk in them.

But it was a strange thing for that people. Verse 13 it goes on it says 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 sin. I don't want God to remember my iniquity or my sin but he says I'm going to bring it to remembrance. There's a toll for continuing in your sin. The covenant keeping God Yahweh says I'll remember it. I'll not just remember their iniquity. I will punish their sins and they shall return to Egypt. They'll go back to bondage. I've liberated you and yet the way that you have broken my covenant I will let you go back to the desires of your shirton.

Verse 14 for Israel has forgotten his maker. It's forgotten. He doesn't know God and has built palaces and Judah has multiplied fortified cities yet palaces you have these fortifications so I will send fire upon the cities and I'll devour her strongholds. You've taken that which was good the covenantal relationship that God has given and you've substituted for your own sacrificial system your own way of doing things you've jettisoned my laws and now you've built palaces and fortifications so what does God do he sends fire upon their cities and he devours and destroys their strongholds. How did we start off this morning with a long introduction about prophecy that there's two prongs to prophecy. One prong is to call the unregenerate to repentance and to call the remnant to righteousness because this is the unlimited love of God to warn us. Friends it doesn't matter what boat you're in unregenerate or remnant there's just one response to it if God has judgment for unconfessed unrepentant sin. There's destruction but we know but we know that God has an unfailing love and covenantal faithfulness and he has scales that are tilted towards mercy if we but confess our sins he's faithful and just to praise be to God. Let's pray.

Almighty God we shudder when we think how holy holy you are and we praise you for your holiness and we ask that your Holy Spirit would do his work in our lives. Convict us Lord of sin where we have fallen short of your glory and over Lord comfort us that you are faithful and with you there is steadfast love, mercy, kindness, and grace. For this we praise you in Christ's name.

Amen.