God’s Case Against IsraelPart II

Hosea 5:1-6:3

Hosea 1:2…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.”

Hosea 4:1Hear 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

Three Major Charges1. No faithfulness - Hosea 11:12–

14:92. No steadfast love (mercy or

kindness) - Hosea 6:4–11:113. No knowledge of God – Hosea

4:2–6:3

BoiceOne of the things we tell ourselves when we attempt to run away from God is that if we forget him he will forget us. But God does not forget us. On the contrary, he knows all things, including all we are and do, and this is frightening.

God’s Case Against Israel II

I. Rebuke 5:1–7

II. Retribution 5:8-15

III. Repentance 6:1-3

God’s Case Against Israel II

I. Rebuke 5:1–7

God’s Case Against Israel1. The sins of the people (4:2–5) 2. The sins of the priests (4:6–10) 3. The sin of idolatry (4:11–19)

Jude 1:24-25Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Christ is AbleI. …to pick you up when you

have stumbled

II. …to catch you before you stumble

III. …to keep you from stumbling

IV. …to help you walk in the light & see the obstacles on which you might stumble

Who would want to become a Christian because of what he sees in my relationship with Christ? Who would want to seek the Lord’s help with problems because of the way I deal with mine? In a world full of anxiety, what kind of witness of the peace of Christ have I been?

EmersonWhat you do speaks so loudly, I

can’t hear what you say.

Jeremiah 3:20Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 29:13You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Matthew HenryThe piercing eye of God saw secret liking and disposition to sin, the love the house of Israel had to their sins, and the dominion their sins had over them. Pride makes men obstinate in other sins. And as Judah was treading in the same steps, they would fall with Israel. By dealing treacherously with the Lord, men only deceive themselves. Those that go to seek the Lord with their flocks and their herds only, and not with their hearts and souls, cannot expect to find him; …seek the Lord while he may be found. See how much it is our concern to seek God early, now, while it is the accepted time, and the day of salvation.

God’s Case Against Israel II

I. Rebuke 5:1–7

II. Retribution 5:8-15

Deuteronomy 19:14You shall not move your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

Deuteronomy 27:17“ ‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor’s landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Matthew HenryThe destruction of impenitent sinners is not mere talk, to frighten them, it is a sentence which will not be recalled. And it is a mercy that we have timely warning given us, that we may flee from the wrath to come.

God’s Case Against Israel II

I. Rebuke 5:1–7

II. Retribution 5:8-15

III. Repentance 6:1-3

Jonathan EdwardsAll gracious affections, that are a sweet odor to Christ, are brokenhearted affections.

Dane OrtlundIn the gospel are we liberated to experience simultaneously fall and redemption, crucifixion and resurrection, brokenness and triumph. Jesus tells us to take up our cross daily while Paul tells us we have been raised and are seated in heaven. How can both be true? Because the only person who was ever in himself triumphant-without-brokenness switched places with those who are only in themselves broken-without-triumph so that now the greatest triumph—restored sonship to God—is freely ours, even as brokenness remains. As any seasoned saint will attest,

Dane Ortlund…the strange way God brings us to treasure this triumph is through, not by circumventing, present brokenness. But brokenness is never an end, only a means. There is no brokenness in the first two chapters of the Bible and none in the final two chapters.

Bread of the World in Mercy BrokenLook on the heart by sorrow broken,Look on the tears by sinners shed;And be thy feast to us the token

That by thy grace our souls are fed.Heber