Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

One of the unique things about the American government is that there is a separation between church and state.

At the surface level many Christians don’t like this because we like to see our Christian values being incorporated in key decisions made by the local and national government.

Many Christians that I have talked with say that they wish that this separation would not exist and that the government would promote Scripture and force people to read the Bible in the schools and do things by our rules.

While that sounds really nice, the problem lies in that there is a huge difference in being forced to do things and doing them voluntary.

In the Roman empire, worshipping God was essentially forced by the Pope and religious officials.

If you did not worship then you were an outcast and suffered the consequences.

If you did worship God then you experienced a lot of the normal things of being a part of a family or something bigger than yourself.

The problem in the middle ages was that Christianity was an everyday way of life and almost traditional in a sense.

Everyone was a Christian.

People didn’t know what the Bible said, they simply took the priests word for themselves.

Because the church sort of controlled the government, they held the majority of the power.

That might sound nice to us, but the problem is that many Popes became power hungry and the fact that there was no separation between church and state meant that many “Christians” in the Roman empire were simply following the way of these corrupt leaders rather than seeking the Lord for themselves.

Much has changed in the time since Hosea and much has changed since the time of the early Popes, however we know that leaders unfortunately can be corrupted with power.

The separation between church and state in our world today is not a “bad” thing in the sense that it allows Christians to practice our religion and have positions different than that of governmental officials.

We can remain true to Scripture as we are called to do while also obeying our government officials.

Kids can bring their Bibles to school whenever they want.

Kids can pray in their schools whenever they want.

Just because the school does not force kids to do things like this, children who desire to share Jesus with their friends can certainly do that!

Our text tonight focuses on God’s judgment against an unclean people.

Last week we were in and looked at the fact that the priests had led the people astray.

They did not lead them closer to the Lord, in fact they had corrupted the people and they would be punished accordingly.

Our text tonight is similar in that God will punish the people because the leadership of the country has been corrupted.

The covenant is shattered and there are several warning listed in .

Message to the Leaders (1)

Again, this message is similar to what we looked at in in the sense that we see God’s coming judgment coming to the people.

Instead of the fault laying directly on the priests, says that this message is directed to all of Israel’s leadership - the priests, the family/people of Israel, and the king.

The beginning of verse 1 could be read like this: “Hear this, priests.

Pay attention people of Israel!

Listen, family of the king!

Because this judgment is yours.”

This message is direct and they are imperatives.

These are commands from the Lord: Hear, Pay attention and Listen.

None of these groups, the priests, the leadership people or the king himself will escape the coming judgment.

There are some questions regarding who these “people” are.

Some say that it could be the royal family or the “elders”.

is a great parallel text that helps us figure this question out.

We see that after “house of Israel” there are terms like they, their kings and princes - this idea seems to indicate that this term is not talking about the king/leader but also not the peasants.

These people were likely land owners and had some power.

The fact of the matter is that these powerful individuals have judgment coming their way.

We’re not told specifically what the judgment will be.

As the last couple of chapters have showed us the people of Israel have gone astray.

They have been worshipping these false gods and idols and still saying that they can worship God as well.

The reason that they have gotten to this point is because of the leaders.

These leaders have shown the people the way.

Think of some of the ways that our culture tells us that things are permissible or acceptable.

Some leaders (government or social) say that things like abortion are ok.

In fact, many politicians make a career by jumping on that bandwagon.

Others say that things like adultery and blasphemy are ok.

We know that these things are not ok, as children of God, but we also know that millions of Americans are deceived by these people.

They are following right along.

We know that leaders will be judged harsher than an average person and we know that our modern leaders will certainly be held accountable for their actions as well!

As Christians, we should support our Christian leaders and lift them up in prayer because they are facing many different issues on a daily basis.

With that said, even our Christian leaders will fall short.

The hope for Christians today is that our hope and confidence is not in a Christian leader or even a congressman or the president.

Our hope is in Christ.

We must not forget that because the moment that we place our hope in a sinful person, we are treading on dangerous ground and can be led astray just as the Israelites were in Hosea’s time.

Evidence against the country (1b-5)

There were several cities in ancient Israel named Mizpah.

This might be difficult for us to understand because Israel was such a small country, but we know that the same thing exists in our nation today.

Do you know what the most popular city names are in the United States?

There are 88 cities in the United States with the word “Washington” in them.

Granted some are Washington _____ such as Washington D.C. but the fact remains that this name is very commonly used throughout the nation.

Coming in at #2 is “Springfield” as there are 41 different cities/towns called Springfield.

There are several different Mizpah’s in Scripture and the most well known one is Mizpah in Benjamin, where Samuel was the judge and where Saul was anointed as king.

We do not know specifically which Mizpah is being mentioned by Hosea here, but we do know that it likely served as a cultic center.

Not only this, though, but the leadership had corrupted the people everywhere in the kingdom.

The net in verse 1 has been spread out through the whole land.

Verse 2 shows that the people are deep in their depravity.

They had violated the covenant and they would be punished accordingly.

The idea at the end of verse 2 is that God will place these revolters in shackles.

This is not a good place to be in, friends!

Even though the leadership led the people astray, they have all revolted and would all be placed in shackles because (as verse 3 shows) the people have defiled themselves.

They have been unfaithful.

God was not fooled by what was going on.

The priests were supposed to help the people out just as leaders in our world are supposed to help one another out, however they did not do their job.

They had failed and Israel was going to pay the price.

Guess what?

There are leaders and churches that are teaching and preying on weak minded individuals and believers today and they are selling them lie after lie.

Whether it be about the divinity of Jesus, the exclusivity of the Gospel or the sinfulness of mankind, there are leaders in our world teaching a different Gospel than what Scripture declares and they will be judged accordingly.

They are not hidden from God.

In fact, verse 4 should serve as a reminder to us and caution us.

The people misbehaved and went astray and verse 4 states that their deeds will not allow them to return to God.

The people have removed themselves from the covenant.

They do evil deeds both in this new cult and in their daily life and they forsake Yahweh in doing so.

Friends, are there consequences for actions?

There’d better be!

There is tension in this verse.

Scripture holds 2 truths that seem to run at odds with one another.

One says that Repentance is always possible - no one is too far gone for God.

We know that to be true.

But there is another truth that says that corruption can enslave a soul that repentance becomes practically impossible.

Verse 4 affirms the latter truth (not the the first truth is irrelevant, it is still true).

The people no longer knew God.

They lacked knowledge of God.

They could not return to Yahweh God because they were so far removed from Him. God knows about them, but they do not know Him.

They were unclean and could not enter His presence.

This is not a good situation to be in!

This should serve as a reminder to us today.

We should pray that we remain in our Word and that the global church would remain faithful to Scripture.