Hosea 5:1-7 Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor. ² And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter, but I will discipline all of them. ³ I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore; Israel is defiled. ⁴ Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD. ⁵ The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them. ⁶ With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them. ⁷ They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

INTRODUCTION
This morning we’re going to begin looking at chapter five. In it we see similarities to the beginning of the previous chapter as Hosea renames his audience, charge, message, and rationale. From there we see five new aspects of the nature of God’s holiness, Israel’s sin, and God’s fierce jealousy—that is, we see several more facets of sin. Please pray that sinners would find help to repent and saints would find help for holiness.

BIG PICTURE (5:1-2)
In 5:1-2, much like in the beginning of chapter 4, Hosea set the stage for this section. He gave a high up perspective on what was to come.

He named his audience: the priests, the house of Israel, and the house of the king. No one is excluded. From the lowest to the highest, all of Israel is addressed.

He issued a charge (in three separate phrases, all with the same meaning): “Hear this,” “Pay attention,” and “Give ear.” In other words, “Listen up. What I have for you must not be missed. My message is critical.

He delivered the gist of his message (two phrases with the same meaning): “The judgment is for you” and “I will discipline all of them.” “Listen up, Israel—peasant, priest, and king—the jealous love and judgment of God are upon you and they will result in your severe discipline.” What a terrifying message that should have been. And yet, as we’ve seen over and over, it fell again on deaf ears.

Hosea named his audience, he issued a charge, he delivered the gist of his message, and finally, he gave the reason for the severe warning of judgment: “You have been a snare at Mizpah,” You have been “a net spread upon Tabor,” and “The revolters have gone deep into slaughter.” The reason for the urgent message of impending judgment and discipline was, as we’ve seen many times now, the cult/idolatrous/adulterous practices of the Israelites, especially her leaders (perhaps even including child sacrifice [slaughter]).

All of this provided the big picture for Hosea’s audience. Let me try to say it again with a simple analogy.

On a certain day of every month, at 1:00pm, the city of Wyoming tests their emergency alert system by blaring a siren for all to hear. If there happens to be a real emergency, that’s how we’ll know. That’s what Hosea was doing when he first prophesied the words here. He was firing off a warning siren. He was sounding an alarm to all of the people—high and low—in the northern tribes.

But, as we all know full well, it isn’t enough to simply know there is an emergency. Once we know that there’s an emergency, it’s critical that we find out what kind of emergency it is in order to respond properly to it. It’d be silly to head to the basement if a wild fire were ripping through. And it’d be entirely unhelpful to begin putting sandbags up if we were dealing with a tornado. And again, that’s also what Hosea was doing in 5:1-3. He was letting the Israelites know they were in trouble and the particular nature of their trouble. In 5:4-7, then, building from this big picture, Hosea offers five big truths regarding Israel’s God, sin, and impending judgment.

BIG TRUTHS (5:3-7)
As I thought this week about how to continue to present Hosea to you in all its repetition and heaviness, two things occurred to me. First, I realized that it almost always takes us about 100 times of hearing something before we get it, doesn’t it? And second, I realized that Hosea is a lot like a diamond. I don’t know a lot about diamonds, but I do know that one of the most appealing qualities of a well-cut one is watching light and colors bounce uniquely off of each of its many facets.

“Facets are the surfaces of a diamond that can be polished. These facets can then refract the light within the diamond and give off the spectrum of beautiful colors. In the jewelry world this is known as the fire, sparkle or luster of the diamond… every facet has the potential to change a light ray’s plane of travel.”

Once again, Hosea’s prophecies are like that in regards to sin and judgment. The basic message is the same verse after verse and chapter after chapter (just like the form of a diamond never changes). And yet each verse and chapter displays a slightly different aspect of the holiness of God and its response to persistent sin (just as each facet of a diamond shows a unique band of color).

With that, let’s consider (in verses 3-7) five new perspectives on God, sin, and judgment.

First, God Sees All (5:3).
I’m sure you’ve all heard some version of the evangelistic strategy that asks an unbeliever how he or she thinks they would fair if his or her entire life (including every thought, desire, and feeling) were broadcast to God. The point in this strategy, of course, is to help the unbeliever recognize the reality, persistence, and shamefulness of their sin.

The fact is, however, that’s exactly what’s happening every second of every day. We don’t need to create an imaginary scenario like that; we have a real one. God truly sees all. That’s the essence of v.3.

“I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me.”

Ironically, this probably wasn’t in question for the Israelites. Their hearts had decayed to the point that they no longer felt the need to hide their sins. Their sins were public. They were in pagan shrines on top of mountains and in prominent cities.

What did God see when he looked down upon them, then? The second half of v.3 tells us that the primary things He saw in the Northern Kingdom was whoredom and defilement (5:3b).

“…you have played the whore; Israel is defiled.”

Grace, you and I cannot escape the knowledge or eye of God. There is no conversation you’ve ever had that he wasn’t privy to. There is no internet site you’ve ever visited that he’s unaware of. There is no penny you’ve ever spent that he doesn’t know about. There is no lustful glance you’ve ever cast that he didn’t catch. Kids, there’s no fight you’ve ever gotten into with your brother or sister that God wasn’t there for. There is no careless (or mean) word you’ve ever uttered that he hasn’t heard.

If you are a non-Christian this ought to terrify you. Your life continually displays your treasonous guilt to God. The beginning of knowledge, though, is fear of the LORD (Proverbs 1:7). Let this fear and knowledge drive you to Jesus. And if you are a Christian, this ought to spur on your holy reverence for God (who is this King of glory that can see everything?), motivate you toward holiness (how can I continue on in sin with my holy Father watching?), and make you increasingly grateful for grace (who is this King of Mercy that would forgive a sinner like me?).

Another facet of sin is that not one sin has ever been committed that God has not witnessed.

Second, Sin Keeps Us From God (5:4).
As we saw last week, 4:16 says “Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn…” That is, Israel was persistently sinful. The verse ends, therefore, by asking the question, “Can the LORD now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?”. In other words, if God’s people live in ways that are dishonoring to God (breaking the terms of the covenant), we can’t expect him to treat us as if we were? Our sin—in a certain sense—keeps us from God. Look at 5:4.

“Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD.”

Again, for non-Christians, this means living as God’s enemies (Romans 5:10), outside of his pleasure and blessing. A non-Christian’s deeds do not permit them to come to God at all (Romans 8:7)…but that is precisely what makes the gospel such good news—God has come to us!

And for Christians, while our sins do not affect the reality of our salvation, they do affect our ability to enjoy it. When we walk in disobedience, God’s love for us does not waiver, but its expression often changes dramatically.

In the case of the Israelites, Paul’s words in Romans 1 get right to the heart of their experience with God.

Romans 1:21-25 although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. ²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Again, the sinful deeds in question here are familiar: acts of spiritual and literal whoredom. Likewise, the causes of their sinful deeds are familiar: they are filled with a spirit of whoredom and emptied of knowledge of God. And the result too is familiar: they have cut themselves off from God, having brought his jealous love down upon themselves.

Grace, once again, do not think that you can live in sin without it affecting you. It will keep you from God…either from looking to him at all or from experiencing the pleasure of his fellowship. Sin blinds us to the glory of God, it alters our taste buds for God, it keeps us from experiencing his love, and it makes the things of God seem foolish…and all of these things together will keep us from looking to, trusting in, and loving God (they do not permit us to return to our God).

Let us be a people, then, who look to God’s word to know what sin is, who look to develop friendships where honesty and rebuke are seen as loving, who are quick to repent, and who, above all, look to Jesus to deliver us from our sin and lead us to righteousness. That’s another facet of sin.

Third, Pride Is the Root of All Sin (5:5).
At the heart of all of Israel’s disobedience and evil was her pride. The sin that ultimately kept Israel from God was her pride. The root of the cause of Israel’s (and Judah’s) eventual destruction was her pride.

The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them.

Because of God’s blessing upon her, Israel had become prideful. She had pridefully come to believe that her life and abundance and fruitfulness were her own doing; that she earned and deserved them. And this pride, Hosea said, was the chief witness against her before God; it testified to her rebellion and sin.

At its most foundational level, pride is that which puts one’s self in any place that belongs exclusively to God. Israel had done so in countless ways and so have we. Grace, I want to say this really clearly: if we imitate Israel’s unrepentant pride, we will share her unpleasant fate.

Identifying pride in ourselves, therefore, is absolutely critical. I found the following nine statements to be particularly helpful as we consider where pride is in us and how to kill it.

1. Pride is self-satisfaction (Hosea 13:4–6).
2. Pride is self-sufficiency and self-reliance (Deuteronomy 8:11–17).
3. Pride considers itself above instruction (Jeremiah 13:9–10)
4. Pride is insubordinate (Psalm 119:21).
5. Pride takes credit for what God alone does (Daniel 4:30–32).
6. Pride exults in being made much of (Matthew 23:6).
7. Pride opposes the very existence of God (Psalm 10:4).
8. Pride refuses to trust in God (Proverbs 28:25).
9. Pride is anxious about the future (Isaiah 51:12-13).

Where you find pride, kill it. Otherwise, it will kill you. That is a third facet of sin that we see in this passage.

Fourth, Sin Is Primarily about the Heart (5:6).
The heart of all sin is pride and pride always begins in the heart. Indeed, both righteousness and sin are primarily about the heart. This is a principle that we find constantly and consistently throughout the entire time of God’s interaction with mankind. It’s also a principle that mankind has constantly and consistently missed throughout the entire time of his interaction with God. It is so easy for us to wrap our hearts—hearts that find pleasure in everything but God—in a veneer of obedience and try to convince ourselves that we are honoring God.

That’s precisely what the Israelites were doing. While sleeping with prostitutes, leaving love, walking in ignorance, swearing, lying, murdering, stealing, committing idolatry of every kind, feeding on sin, spreading sin, getting drunk, sacrificing children, and worshiping other gods, the Israelites believed that if they simply continued to bring the prescribed sacrifices to God, He would be pleased with them. Hosea told them that they were in for a rude awakening.

With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.

The flocks and herds of v.6 were offered without true love or devotion. They are the sacrifices of which 4:19 says they will be ashamed. They were simply manipulation tactics. “Maybe if we get the combination right, God will do what we want.” They would bring their sacrifices to God, but God would not be there to receive them. He had pulled back, withdrawn from them.

We saw earlier that sin will keep us from God in the sense that it will keep us from wanting God. Here we see that when we persist in sin it will keep us from God in the sense that God will hand us over to it.

Grace, let us learn from the treachery of Israel and Judah. Let us learn that our affections, even more than our actions, reveal the true condition of our souls. What we delight in, rather than what we’re able to will ourselves to do, is the best indicator of our relationship with God. That which we look to for satisfaction, far above our works of religious obligation, tells the true tale of our salvation.

How many of us have treated church attendance or bible reading or prayer or helping others or putting money in the offering as the Israelites did their sacrifices? How many of us have had hearts that were far from God, but tried to make up for it by slapping on some type of “religious” or “spiritual” veneer—as if we could fool God?

What then do we do if we find that our joy is in the world rather than the One who made it? Consider Hosea’s answer at the very end of this book.

Hosea 14:1-3 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. ² Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. ³ Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands…”.

Christian and non-Christian, this means acknowledging that you have sinned against God—that you have failed to do and be and think and feel that which he created you for—and look to him to wash you and make you clean in Jesus. Stop looking to yourself or your works to save you and trust in Him who did what you could not. In his power and grace, turn from your sins and walk in his ways. Cry out to God to do away with your blindness, broken appetites, and corrupt thinking, and give you sight of, taste for, and knowledge of Him—who alone can truly satisfy. He will hear and heal you in Jesus.

Grace, let’s learn from this. God is not primarily after our actions or performance. He’s after our heart. He’s after the obedience that flows from allegiance. He’s after actions that flow from satisfaction. And that is another facet of sin.

Finally, Fifth, Unrepentant Sin Always Ends in Destruction (5:7).
We’ve seen this over and over so I won’t belabor the point. When we continue on in sin, when we persist in dealing faithlessly with the LORD, we, like Israel, will be devoured. We will be destroyed.

“They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.”

Israel’s pride and now their children born of adultery definitively demonstrate their faithlessness and guilt. Thus, when the time was right (“the new moon”) God would wipe them out…and so He did.

In this life we will either receive God as King, Jesus as Christ, and everlasting life and joy, or we will acknowledge God as King, Jesus as Christ, and the rightness of our everlasting death in the next. If we do not turn from our sin, the end is always destruction.

CONCLUSION
Hosea provides us with a big picture of what Israel was up against. He also provides us with big truths (facets) of sin. Once again, the point for Israel was primarily the reality of their rebellion and ruin. The point for us, though, is sufficient warning.

Just a few moments ago we read the end of Hosea (14:1-3), where God told his sinful people what He requires of us (trust and repentance). Let’s end, then, with God’s promised response when we do. His promises offer undeserved hope and unimaginable grace—hope and grace that Israel didn’t even know was possible, but that we have in front of us in Jesus Christ.

If my people will turn from sin to me…

Hosea 14:4-9 I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. ⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; ⁶ his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. ⁷ They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. ⁸ O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit. ⁹ Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.