Well, if I don't know you or you don't know me,
my name is John. I'm pastor here at Village and
so grateful to spend this time with you this
morning and to be in the Word. And so if we're
going to go to the Word, we're in our series
in Hosea called Scandalous Grace. This is our
fourth installment. And so we come in our journey
to chapter four, and we're going to spend time
in chapter four of Hosea, beginning in verse
one. all the way down to verse 10. So if you
want to turn your Bibles over there or fire up
your digital devices and get them warmed up and
going, or if you just want to follow along on
the screen, it will be up here as well. Hosea
chapter 4, beginning in verse 1. Hear the word
of the Lord, people of Israel, for the Lord has
a case against the inhabitants of the land. There
is no truth. no faithful love, and no knowledge
of God in the land. Cursing, lying, murder, stealing,
and adultery are rampant. One act of bloodshed
follows another. For this reason, the land mourns,
and everyone who lives in it languishes. Along
with the wild animals and the birds of the sky,
even the fish of the sea disappear. But let no
one dispute. Let no one argue, for my case is
against you priests. You will stumble by day.
The prophet will also stumble with you by night,
and I will destroy your mother. My people are
destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you
have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from
serving as my priest. Since you have forgotten
the word of your God, I will also forget your
sons. The more they multiplied, the more they
sinned against me. I will charge or change their
honor into disgrace. They feed on the sin of
my people. They have an appetite for their iniquity.
The same judgment will happen to both people
and priests. I will punish them for their ways
and repay them for their deeds. They will eat,
but not be satisfied. They will be promiscuous,
but not multiply, for they have abandoned their
devotion to the Lord. This is God's word. And
if you chose to come this Sunday for the first
time, here we go. We just happen to be here in
Hosea, Hosea chapter four. We're going to make
our way through this, but I think we'll see the
grace of God at work, even in the midst of what
seems is judgment. So have you ever had though
trustworthy information? Something, someone told
you something or you looked up something, a reputable
source, an authority gave you some information
that you simply did not act on. Let me give some
examples here. Maybe this will hit close to home.
You ever had a warning light in your car pop
on and you think, I'm just gonna power through,
you know, just keep driving maybe a few hundred
thousand more miles, right? And then. You realize
that your car was really asking for oil and your
engine explodes. I've never been there, but yeah.
Or maybe your doctor told you to change your
diet, right? And you're like, nah, I'll just
push through with a few more cupcakes. Keep going,
right, down the way that I am until that health
scare comes along, right? And that health scare
brings you to a final stop when truth, you're
confronted with the truth of what they said.
My family kind of hails from the Central Valley,
Bakersfield, the armpit of California. And right
outside of Bakersfield is a canyon, and what
winds through that canyon is the Kern River.
The Kern River, it has a name with the locals
there. It's called the Killer Kern River. The
killer, Kern River. Well, the reason is because
as it snakes its way through the canyon, heading
into the mountains or coming through the mountains
on down to the valley, it has all kinds of riptides
and whitewater, and it has layers of rock underneath
the surface. And so you may hop in and think
you're going for a swim, and it will pull you
underneath a rock and just hold you there. As
you enter into the canyon, there's this ominous
large sign. I mean, you cannot miss it. And basically
it says, how many lives have been lost to the
Kern River since 1960? And it has one of those
sets of numbers like in an industrial workplace
where it's like how many days without an accident,
right? So you can keep changing it. Well, every
year that number changes and goes up because
every year someone dies in the killer Kern. All
that information. All the signage, the fact that
we call it the killer kern, and in the middle
of summer you go there and the place is just
packed with people, packed with people, swimming
and jumping off the rocks into the killer kern.
Because it's one thing to lack information, but
it's another thing altogether to have the truth,
to know what is right and yet fail to act on
it, right? That is far more dangerous because...
Knowledge that doesn't shape action is knowledge
wasted. The theologian John Calvin said, to be
convinced in our mind that we know God when in
works we deny him is but self -delusion. To be
convinced in our minds that we know God when
in works we deny him is but self -delusion. And
that's exactly the problem Hosea confronts in
chapter four. God summons his people to court
and brings his case against them. And he says
there is no truth, no faithful love, and no knowledge
of God in the land. The knowledge of God wasn't
absent because God had hidden it from the people.
It was absent because his people refused to live
by it. And the result was devastation. So Hosea
reminds us that knowing God is not about passing
a test or collecting a bunch of facts. Do you
know who could pass with an A++ +, any systematic
theological course in any of the colleges nationwide?
Satan. Satan knows all the facts, far more facts
about God than you know or I know. And he could
walk into that classroom and get an A on any
test, but does that make him a servant of God
who knows and loves God and does God's will?
No. Because it's about living in such a way that
his character and his life is reflected in our
lives. Remember what Calvin said, to be convinced
in our mind that we know God when in works we
deny him. is nothing but self -delusion. To know
him is to love as he loves, to walk in truth
as he is true, and to act in ways that honor
him in every aspect and part of our life. Without
that knowledge, life unravels. And we're going
to see that as we walk through the passage today.
If you're taking notes, I've got three points
for you. Number one is the indictment. When Hosea
begins this section, he describes what scholars
have called a covenant lawsuit. He is a covenant
God who's made a covenant with a people to be
his own people. And as we talked about last week,
he sealed that covenant, both ends of it. He
took on the covenantal requirements, both ends
of it. And yet here we have a covenantal lawsuit.
It's as if the courtroom of heaven is open and
God himself steps forward as both the plaintiff
and the judge. And he summons his people, Israel,
and he brings charges against them. There is
no truth, no faithful love, and no knowledge
of God in the land of Israel. And so first, God
says that there's no truth. And again, this is
not about factual accuracy, whether you can pass
a Bible quiz or recite your history correctly.
Truth here speaks about integrity. reliability,
and faithfulness. The people of the land no longer
live by God's word. They have abandoned the standard
of his commands and begun to twist reality to
suit themselves. Lies have replaced honesty.
Deception has replaced integrity. And the very
thing that was meant to define God's covenant
people, that they would be people of truth, was
gone from the land. His second point is that
God says that there's no faithful love. This
is a Hebrew word, chesed, which is a rich word
that means steadfast love or covenant loyalty,
kindness that endures, a sticky kind of love.
Israel was supposed to be a people marked by
God's love, by his loyal love and reflecting
his faithfulness in the way they treated one
another, in the way that they related to God.
But instead of love that sticks, they practice
love that quits. Instead of loyalty, they chased
after idols. Instead of kindness, they used people
for their own gain. The glue of the covenant,
the glue of covenant love had been replaced by
the thin tape of convenience and self -interest.
And then God says that there is no knowledge
of him in the land. And that's the climax of
his charge in this courtroom. They may still
have had the priests and they may still have
had the festivals and the sacrificial system.
They may still have known the stories of Abraham
and Moses and David, but they no longer truly
knew God. Because in the Bible, as we talked
about a few weeks ago, to know God is not merely
intellectual. It's not to know a series of facts
or get the fact sheet on God. It is relational.
To know is relational. It means you know his
heart, you know his ways, and you seek to imitate
his character. That's what it means to know God.
John Owen. Theologians said true knowledge of
God is not to be found in cold speculation, but
in obedience. True knowledge of God is not to
be found in cold speculation, but in obedience.
In other words, to know God is to ask how would
the Lord act in this situation and then to live
accordingly. There's a very well -known passage
out of Proverbs. Many of you will know it probably
by some other version, but the CSB version reads
this way of Proverbs chapter three, verse five
and six. It says, trust in the Lord with all
your heart and do not rely on your own understanding.
In all your ways, know him and he will make your
paths straight. In all your ways. Know him, know
his heart, know his ways and seek to imitate
his character and he will make your path straight.
But Israel had forgotten and they no longer walked
with him, no longer reflected him. They were
a people without knowledge. And the results?
Well, verse two describes a society that is in
utter collapse. Lying, cursing, murder, stealing,
adultery are all rampant. And I think Hosea intentionally
chooses to highlight those because those are
directly violating God's commands. It's 10 sayings,
the 10 commandments. One act of bloodshed follows
another. It's like a picture of lawlessness has
broken out as God's commands are trampled. And
verse 3 takes it even further. For this reason,
the land itself mourns, and everyone who is in
it languishes, along with the wild animals and
the birds of the air, even the fish of the sea
disappear. You see, sin doesn't just affect individuals.
It spreads. It ripples outward into families,
into communities, even into creation itself.
When truth and faithful love and the knowledge
of God are absent, everything groans. I know
this in my own experience. I know this in my
own household. You see, I struggle with a sin
of control and anxiety, and it looks something
like this. I feel like I'm losing control of
a situation, which makes me anxious so that I
then, Jump in to take control without wisdom,
which leads to anxiety in all those around me.
And I said a lot of the word control there, and
it's kind of funny because a really stupid case
in point is the issue of my controller for my
TV at home. See, it has a spot, and it's supposed
to be in that spot. And me and all of my righteousness
and godliness, for some reason, have made a regular
habit that I open the door, I say hi to whoever's
standing there, whoever's in my way, whoever's
standing there. I say hi, and then I'll glance
over. Just a quick glance. I've been gone for
10 hours. I've been gone for 12 hours. I've been
doing all kinds of things. I'll walk in, I'll
glance over. Is my remote still where it's at?
I don't plan on watching anything. I just want
to know that the remote's there. It's like a
little comfort, a little blankie, right? A little
sippy cup, right, for me. You know what happens
if it's not? Anxiety. Where's that remote? And
it's on top of mine right now, so if I don't
go try to find it right now, it's gone forever.
And so what do I do? Well, everyone, get out
here now! And pretty soon we're flipping couches
over and all of the cushions are out and everything
is turned upside down looking for the remote.
Then we find it, we put it back into place, and
we all go back to normal, right? This is healthy,
right? I'm exaggerating to some degree. I mean,
I'm not angry usually, it's just I'm determined,
right? I'm taking control without thoughtful
wisdom. And what does that do? Well, my anxiety
becomes their anxiety. And pretty soon, everything
around me is turned upside down, even my sofa,
looking for my remote control. Sin doesn't just
affect individuals. It spreads. It's got tentacles.
It goes out. You guys have experienced this.
You can make fun of me all you want. This is
the charge that God brings against his people.
They're without truth. They're without steadfast
love. They're without knowledge of God. And because
of it, the land itself is unraveling. I mean,
you got birds of the air and wild beasts. You
got fish in the sea being affected by sin of
God's people. And the crested remains, how did
they get here? the people alone of the people
of Israel alone guilty of this? Or was there
someone who bore a greater guilt, a greater responsibility?
The question is, who was supposed to be guiding
them? Who was supposed to be teaching them? Who
was supposed to be shepherding them in the knowledge
of God? And Hosea then next points to the priests
and the leaders and to their failure to fulfill
their calling. If you're taking notes, the second
point I'll have you write down is the failure.
The indictment and the failure. After laying
out the charges against the people, Hosea then
turns the spotlight toward the leaders. And verse
4 opens with a warning. But let no one dispute,
let no one argue for my cases against you priests.
God says, in effect, don't point the finger and
don't try to argue your way out of this. The
blame begins with you, priests and leaders. Why?
Because the priests were called and meant to
teach God's law, to shepherd his people, to be
living examples of holiness. And their role was
to cultivate the knowledge of God among the people
so that families and communities and the nation
itself would be whole and walk in his ways. But
instead of feeding the flock, they had starved
them. Instead of training the people in righteousness,
they had left them in ignorance. Instead of leading
with faithfulness, they had turned aside for
their own personal gain. And that's why God says,
my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
And note that connection. The people are perishing,
not because God has failed, but because those
entrusted with teaching them have failed. The
priests reject the knowledge of God, and as a
result, people are perishing. And then comes
the word of judgment. Because you have rejected
knowledge, I reject you from being a priest for
me. In other words, their very calling that defined
their lives has been stripped away. When the
leaders abandon God's word, the people are left
without anchors, without direction, without life.
And the responsibility is not only on the people,
but on those who are entrusted to shepherd them.
The late Dr. John MacArthur said, if a man does
not know the word of God, he cannot be a pastor.
If he does not love the word of God, he should
not be a pastor. And if he does not live the
word of God, he must not be a pastor. Pastor
is a mere shepherd, someone who is called to
lead and teach and live. And certainly not a
perfect person, but one who is submitted to the
grace of God and growing up in the Lord. And
verse 9 sums up, the same judgment will happen
to both people and priests. I will punish them
for their ways and repay them. for their deeds.
Like people and like priests, when leadership
is corrupt, the people follow suit. When shepherds
fail, the sheep scatter. And this is a reminder
that in God's economy, leadership does matter.
Teaching does matter. Shepherding matters. And
when leaders are faithful, people flourish. But
when leaders fail to feed the flock with the
knowledge of God, destruction follows. And church,
this is not just a word for ancient Israel, is
it? It's a word for us today. Every pastor, every
elder, every teacher in the fellowship carries
a sacred responsibility to hold out the word
of God so that God's people are not destroyed
by lack of knowledge of God. And every follower
of Christ also has a responsibility. That's you.
Every single one of you has a responsibility
to weigh what voices you listen to, to weigh
what voices you listen to, to go to the word
of God. Every Sunday, you should be going home
and searching the word of God to see if I actually
told the truth. You should. You've been around
the block a few times. You know that's true,
right? You should be going home and checking
to see. You don't just take it. You have a responsibility.
You have a responsibility to weigh the voices
from whom you'll receive. And I think in the
church today, and especially with the proliferation
of the media and the ways that people can get
their message out there, we are in a chaotic
time where lots of voices are out there and no
one half the time knows who they should listen
to. But partly because they haven't taken responsibility
to weigh what they're hearing. Because there
are bad shepherds and bad teachers out there.
There are. There are prosperity preachers who
are proliferating in our society and worldwide,
even more so in Africa now. We're going to a
place where the prosperity gospel is thriving.
They're going there and holding massive conferences
and getting more converts. The likes of Kenneth
Copeland and Benny Henn or Joel Osteen. And all
of their spiritual offspring. And here's the
issue. They twist and distort some truth. But
maybe a more grievous error is that oftentimes
they withhold truth. They don't tell the whole
counsel of the word. You never hear the word
sin ever preached. It's just improvement, self
-improvement. Yet, by withholding. by distorting,
by twisting, they benefit. They grow their reach
and their influence. They grow their pocketbook
to the destruction of their listeners. And there
are other errors. There are many errors in the
church, and you have to always be watching. They
can show up at Village. You have to always be
watching. Some error in leadership style, right?
Put some scare quotes around it, right? Style.
Spiritual abuse. Lack of grace. Building their
own kingdom on the backs of their hearers, followers.
The Bible says that people bear great responsibility.
The Bible says that the leaders bear greater
responsibility. And I think all of this points
us to why the New Testament, I think, It's so
glorious when it says that Christ is actually
our great shepherd. Christ is our great high
priest. Because where Israel's priests fail and
where many pastor shepherds today fail, Jesus
has succeeded. He perfectly revealed the Father.
He is the very knowledge of God in human flesh.
And he not only teaches us the truth, he embodies
it. And he not only commands us to love, he shows
steadfast love at the cross. And he not only
calls us to know God, but he makes God known
and he's accessible to every one of us. Right?
He's not a PhD who's only accessible to the leadership
class. And everyone else has to just trust what
the leaders say. He is the great shepherd, the
great high priest who is available to each and
every one of us. That means we can all go and
check the information. Number three, the indictment,
the failure, and the consequence. When the knowledge
of God is rejected, when truth and faithful love
vanish from the land, Hosea makes clear that
there are consequences. God does not overlook
unfaithfulness. Beginning in verse 6, the Lord
tells the priest, since you have forgotten the
law of your God, I will also forget your sons.
This is a devastating reversal. The very ones
who were supposed to remember God, to carry his
word, to pass it down to the next generation,
because they had forgotten it, God says their
own children will be forgotten. And this predicts,
in a way, the loss of the role and the function
of the priesthood as a result of the exile the
people of Israel are going to go into. In the
broader biblical storyline, also Hosea's words
anticipate the eventual end of the Levitical
priesthood in Hebrews chapter 7, ultimately terminating
in Christ. That the priesthood was temporary,
unable to save us, and ultimately set aside.
in favor of Christ's eternal priesthood. But
then verse 7 adds to the weight. The more they
multiplied, the more the priests multiplied,
the more they sinned against me. I will change
their honor into disgrace. In other words, growth
without godliness only multiplies corruption.
Growth without godliness only multiplies corruption.
You can see this in those who think having more
money will somehow make them more moral or a
better person. It doesn't. It just multiplies
your corruption. Having better health doesn't
make you more moral or godly. It only multiplies
corruption. More influence and power, growth
without godliness only multiplies corruption.
And the priests, They may have been increasing
in number or influence in the nation, but it
only meant more sin, more failure, more shame.
What was once a position of honor, the priesthood,
serving in the house of God, has now become a
source of disgrace. Verse 8 paints this sickening
picture here. It says, they feed on the sin of
my people. They have an appetite for their iniquity.
Some scholars think that what Hosea is referring
to there in God's indictment is that some of
the priests were rejoicing or happy in the fact
that sin was abounding because more sin meant
more sacrifice and more sacrifice meant they
could get fat off of it. They ate the sacrifice.
So keep on sinning, keep on bringing the best
choice meat. It's good for the priests. They
feed on the sin of my people. They have an appetite
for their iniquity. The leaders were not grieving
over sin. They were profiting from it. The sacrifices
of the people had become a way for the priests
to line their own stomach, and sin was no longer
something to confront. It was something to consume.
So we're getting down to the last two verses.
Verse 9 draws this conclusion. It says, the same
judgment will happen to both people and priests.
I will punish them for their ways and repay them
for their deeds. Leaders and followers alike
fall under God's judgment because leaders refuse
to teach and people refuse to listen. Like people,
like priests, the corruption is shared and so
is the judgment. And so verse 10 sums it all
up with, they will eat, but not be satisfied.
They will be promiscuous, but not multiply, for
they have abandoned their devotion to the Lord.
This is the ultimate consequence of rebellion,
and that is futility. The people will chase satisfaction,
but never find it. They will pursue pleasure,
but it will leave them empty. They will seek
life apart from God and end up with nothing at
all. Because this is the divine principle that
is woven into the fabric of creation, and that
is when you reject the knowledge of God, life
itself begins to unravel. Charles Spurgeon once
said that sin always promises to serve and please,
but it always enslaves and destroys. Anyone been
sucked in by the lure of sin? Three people, four
people, a couple people over here. We're going
in waves here. It went like that. Yeah. Well,
David said, man, if you kept the record of wrong.
Who could stand? If you kept a record of wrongs,
who could stand? You know who has the biggest
list? The one who thinks they have no list, right?
The one who thinks they have no list has the
biggest list. Well, John says that later in 1
John. We'll read that. Sin always over -promises
and under -delivers. It promises satisfaction.
It leaves us hungry. It promises intimacy but
leaves us empty. It promises life but leads to
death. That's the warning. Hosea is pressing
into the hearts of God's people. To a people
without knowledge is to be a people headed for
destruction. But the passage itself isn't meant
to condemn. Only it is meant to awaken us. Thanks
be to God that the story doesn't end there where
Israel rejected knowledge. Christ has come as
the wisdom of God, we are told. When Israel abandoned
truth, Christ is the way, the truth, and the
life. Where Israel forsook faithful love, Christ
is the embodiment of steadfast love, laying down
his life on the cross. He has taken on himself
the consequence of your rebellion and my rebellion,
so that in him we might be restored to the knowledge
of God. And so in conclusion, what do we do with
this? Well, first off, it means that the most
urgent need in your life is probably not more
information, but transformation. The most urgent
need in your life is not more information, but
transformation. And the question is not just,
do I know things about God? But am I living as
one who truly knows him? I want you to listen
to a couple of passages that come out of John
chapter 1. Not John chapter 1, 1 John. Lots of
different chapters. 1 John. 1 John 2, 3. This
is how we know that we know him. That's a good
start, right? How do I know that I know him?
You said, do I know things about God or am I
truly living or am I living as one who truly
knows him? Well, this is how we know that we
know him. If we keep his commands. This is how
we know that we know him. If we keep his commands.
First John chapter three and 14 says, we know
that we've passed from death to life. Because
we love our brothers and sisters. So we know
that we know him if we keep his commands and
we know that we've passed from death into life
because we love our brothers and sisters. John
goes on to say, the one who does not love remains
in death. First John chapter five, verse two
said, this is how we know that we love God's
children. When we love God and obey his commands.
I think you just did a little circular thing
there, didn't you? How do you know that you know
him? Well, you keep his commands. How do you
know that you pass from death to life? Well,
you love your brothers and sisters. How do you
know that you love his brothers and sisters?
Well, you love God and you keep his commands.
For some of you, the call today is to turn from
your empty substitutes and finally come to know
the Lord and Savior, Jesus. Not as an abstraction
and not as a list of facts, but as a person to
relate to and to know. Life apart from him only
leads to futility. Life apart from him only leads
to destruction. Eating, but never feeling satisfied.
Searching, but never feeling like you found anything.
But in Christ, the knowledge of God becomes personal
in a person. And he offers the forgiveness in
life your heart has been longing for. For others
of you, it means shaking off apathy. Perhaps
you go through the motions. You believe the right
things, but you are not practicing the truth.
You are not walking in covenant love. You are
not cultivating the knowledge of God day by day.
And Hosea warns us to live without the knowledge
of God is to wither. God's word is calling you
back to him. Brothers, still this passage is
an encouragement to keep burning brightly. Some
of you are running hard after Christ. You are
rooted and established in his love. You are striving
to be shaped by his truth. And Hosea reminds
us, Why it matters. It matters because the land
mourns when God's people drift. Communities,
families, churches fall apart when God's people
drift. But it flourishes. They flourish when
God's people live faithfully. And so be encouraged
if you are running hard and rooted and established
in Christ and his love. You are going hard. You
understand this relationship with your Savior.
And know that your pursuit of God is not wasted.
It is breathing life into family, community,
and the church. Hosea says, my people, are destroyed
for lack of knowledge. But in Christ, and we're
told in 2 Peter, that in Christ, that his divine
power has given us everything we need for life
and godliness through our knowledge of him. In
other words, we don't need life and godliness
in order to know him. We need him in order to
get life and godliness. out the call in order
to be the people of God, in order to be the bright
shining light. We need him. We need him. No shortage
of him. You probably experienced it maybe in
your own life, in your own walk. A season where
you were living off of a list of facts about
God. You could answer any debate, you could question,
but it wasn't like a relationship. It wasn't
like a covenantal relationship. Remember, it's
not like a boss relationship. We're not talking
about a boss relationship here. Employee, boss,
you know. Don't be mad at me. A covenantal relationship
sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ with you
and me and us. So it ought to be a relationship.
We ought to relate to God on those terms. And
how do we know? What's the evidence that we know
God? It's that we're beginning to look more like
him. That's what John's saying. It's that we
obey his commands so that we know him. It's that
we know him and we begin to obey his commands.
And we go, oh my gosh, I look like, I sort of
look like my Lord and Savior. Every day, a little
bit more. Every day, a little bit more of my
old life is passing away. And every day, a little
bit more of the new creation is coming. I see
it now. I know, I know that I know God. Because
I'm not the same. I'm not the same person I was.
I know that I know God. I couldn't have done
that myself. But only the power of Christ at
work, his divine power, at work in my life, can
make me into that. Ultimately, all glory goes
to his glory and goodness, right? Jesus is the
way, the truth, and the life that we live by.
He is the faithful love that we cling to. And
he is the knowledge of God revealed so that you
and I can know God. What an amazing promise.
Amen.