A Hope in No Other

Introduction

“The question today is not whether you will worship, but rather what you will worship. Your glorious creator or something he created.” Paul David Tripp

the easy answer of course is, the creator

you might even be rolling your eyes a little at the thought, and thinking, we are here, what else would we be worshiping

PRAY!

Hosea 8–9 CSB

1 Put the trumpet to your mouth! One like an eagle comes against the house of the Lord, because they transgress my covenant and rebel against my law. 2 Israel cries out to me, “My God, we know you!” 3 Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him. 4 They have installed kings, but not through me. They have appointed leaders, but without my approval. They make their silver and gold into idols for themselves for their own destruction. 5 Your calf-idol is rejected, Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? 6 For this thing is from Israel— a craftsman made it, and it is not God. The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits! 7 Indeed, they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if they did, foreigners would swallow it up. 8 Israel is swallowed up! Now they are among the nations like discarded pottery. 9 For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey going off on its own. Ephraim has paid for love. 10 Even though they hire lovers among the nations, I will now round them up, and they will begin to decrease in number under the burden of the king and leaders. 11 When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning. 12 Though I were to write out for him ten thousand points of my instruction, they would be regarded as something strange. 13 Though they offer sacrificial gifts and eat the flesh, the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their guilt and punish their sins; they will return to Egypt. 14 Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has also multiplied fortified cities. I will send fire on their cities, and it will consume their citadels. 1 Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do, for you have acted promiscuously, leaving your God. You love the wages of a prostitute on every grain-threshing floor. 2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them, and the new wine will fail them. 3 They will not stay in the land of the Lord. Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria. 4 They will not pour out their wine offerings to the Lord, and their sacrifices will not please him. Their food will be like the bread of mourners; all who eat it become defiled. For their bread will be for their appetites alone; it will not enter the house of the Lord. 5 What will you do on a festival day, on the day of the Lord’s feast? 6 For even if they flee from devastation, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Thistles will take possession of their precious silver; thorns will invade their tents. 7 The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have come. Let Israel recognize it! The prophet is a fool, and the inspired man is insane, because of the magnitude of your iniquity and hostility. 8 Ephraim’s watchman is with my God. Yet the prophet encounters a bird trap on all his pathways. Hostility is in the house of his God! 9 They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins. 10 I discovered Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your ancestors like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, consecrated themselves to Shame, and became abhorrent, like the thing they loved. 11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird: no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. 12 Even if they raise children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them! 13 I have seen Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a meadow, so Ephraim will bring out his children to the executioner. 14 Give them, Lord— What should you give? Give them a womb that miscarries and breasts that are dry! 15 All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my house because of their evil, wicked actions. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious. 16 Ephraim is struck down; their roots are withered; they cannot bear fruit. Even if they bear children, I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs. 17 My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they will become wanderers among the nations.

The Lord does not allow us to sit in our false worship of Idols.

A Fasle Hope

Have you ever had a disagreement with somebody and then had to listen to a long intense explanation as to why you were wrong

we all have, I remember a football coach gently grabbing my face mask and calmly correcting my thinking

Hosea 8:1–14 CSB

1 Put the trumpet to your mouth! One like an eagle comes against the house of the Lord, because they transgress my covenant and rebel against my law. 2 Israel cries out to me, “My God, we know you!” 3 Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him. 4 They have installed kings, but not through me. They have appointed leaders, but without my approval. They make their silver and gold into idols for themselves for their own destruction. 5 Your calf-idol is rejected, Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? 6 For this thing is from Israel— a craftsman made it, and it is not God. The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits! 7 Indeed, they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if they did, foreigners would swallow it up. 8 Israel is swallowed up! Now they are among the nations like discarded pottery. 9 For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey going off on its own. Ephraim has paid for love. 10 Even though they hire lovers among the nations, I will now round them up, and they will begin to decrease in number under the burden of the king and leaders. 11 When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning. 12 Though I were to write out for him ten thousand points of my instruction, they would be regarded as something strange. 13 Though they offer sacrificial gifts and eat the flesh, the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their guilt and punish their sins; they will return to Egypt. 14 Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has also multiplied fortified cities. I will send fire on their cities, and it will consume their citadels.

Israel thinks they know God, he spends most of the chapter outlining their sin and proving they do not.

They have installed kings and leaders

Not just that they have kings, but they are not seeking the Lord in who they are selecting as kings and prophets but picking people they think will do what they desire, not what the Lord desires

He references the golden calves, going all the way back, nine kings earlier to the first Jeroboam, when two calves were made and he told the people they no longer had to go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, these two idols were the God that brought them out of Egypt.

when the Lord brings charges, who can stand

Short answer, nobody

We need to be honest with ourselves about our relationship with God

Can he line out with us why we do not know him

not simply name sins, but our false worship and idols

he can lay out the case for sin for each and every one of us, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

But Christ pays the debt of that sin and those who have submitted to Christ now stand clean, for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

“In Christ” is the key phrase.

There are a lot of people who believe that they are saved because of

false hope of a church,

pastor or

somebody else who simply told them that if they prayed this prayer, walked this isle they would be saved for the wrath to come

That was not the command of Christ to the disciples, go and get people to pray this prayer

Go and make disciples, people who follow Jesus

we tell people to ask Jesus into their heart and say that he will never leave, as if we can order Jesus where to go and put him into a corner

They are still sinful and love the world, but they prayed that prayer, I guess I have to go

The Lord demands discipleship… to know the Lord and submit to him.

Not just once, but a lifetime of day to day submission

What we see with the people if Israel is that they played the religious game of worshipping what they thought would serve them best

Give them the best crops and family

How they enjoyed the worship

now after being told they are committing spiritual adultery, they proclaim, “We know you, Lord!”

I hear this echoed in Matthew 7.

Matthew 7:21–23 CSB

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’

we need to be honest about where our friends and neighbors are as well

we cannot proclaim an easy gospel or assume because they’re good neighbors they are saved

No Other Hope

76% church goers believe god wants them financially blessed

Hosea 9:1–9 CSB

1 Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do, for you have acted promiscuously, leaving your God. You love the wages of a prostitute on every grain-threshing floor. 2 Threshing floor and wine vat will not sustain them, and the new wine will fail them. 3 They will not stay in the land of the Lord. Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria. 4 They will not pour out their wine offerings to the Lord, and their sacrifices will not please him. Their food will be like the bread of mourners; all who eat it become defiled. For their bread will be for their appetites alone; it will not enter the house of the Lord. 5 What will you do on a festival day, on the day of the Lord’s feast? 6 For even if they flee from devastation, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Thistles will take possession of their precious silver; thorns will invade their tents. 7 The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have come. Let Israel recognize it! The prophet is a fool, and the inspired man is insane, because of the magnitude of your iniquity and hostility. 8 Ephraim’s watchman is with my God. Yet the prophet encounters a bird trap on all his pathways. Hostility is in the house of his God! 9 They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins.

We will never find the hope our hearts desperately desire in any man or anything man has made.

I am guilty of this far too often.

I cannot count how many times I have gone to the Lord with a prayer of, “I have tried everything else…” as if he is the last resort, instead of the first and only line of defense.

maybe I do not pray to other gods or idols, like Israel is doing here, but I have my own, we all do

Israel is looking for security in everything

They are sleeping with prostitutes on the threshing floor, in the wine vats

This is for the god Baal, a fertility god, with the belief that he will bless their crops and new wine by sleeping with the cult prostitute

They are trying to make a treaty with Assyria who is over running everyone and if they make a treaty with them before then maybe they will be safe

All the while, also making a back ground deal with Egypt just in case

Never seeking the Lord

None of it will work

They do not even see the Babylonians coming, who will ultimately exile them out of the land and take them captive.

our hearts long for security

why many pray the prayer for salvation

to avoid hell;

We do not have to work hard to convince people that they are sinful, they are not perfect

Sure we can argue over what sin is, but everyone knows they are not perfect

so people will pray a prayer if they believe that will keep them from punishment

Yet never leave the sin, never actually submit to the Lord

So they pray… not out of a love for the Lord, recognize our sin, and submission to him

we look for it in different things

money, things - homes, guns

We act like these things will save us

I have some of all of these things… maybe not a lot, but I have a savings, I have a home, I own guns how do we know if they are idols, if we are trusting in them

We can tell because we trust in these things to do what only God can do

I do not care what kind of weaponry you have, if God allows you to be taken captive, it will happen

Hosea 9:3 “3 They will not stay in the land of the Lord. Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.”

Or how well you can defend yourself, if your appointed day is that day, it will be

does not matter how rich or big your house is, if God brings judgment on us and strips us of all our comforts, we will lose all that God desires us to lose so that we learn to rely on him

I am not saying any of these things are bad

God has blessed us with these things, but not so that they could become idols, but so that I can serve him

Israel was looking for security everywhere

buying security from neighboring nations; Assyria and Egypt, would worship and pray to Baal for great crops and fertility

would pray to the Lord as a cover everything else

A Vanished Hope

Hosea 9:10–17 CSB

10 I discovered Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your ancestors like the first fruit of the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, consecrated themselves to Shame, and became abhorrent, like the thing they loved. 11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird: no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. 12 Even if they raise children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them! 13 I have seen Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a meadow, so Ephraim will bring out his children to the executioner. 14 Give them, Lord— What should you give? Give them a womb that miscarries and breasts that are dry! 15 All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my house because of their evil, wicked actions. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious. 16 Ephraim is struck down; their roots are withered; they cannot bear fruit. Even if they bear children, I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs. 17 My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they will become wanderers among the nations.

Again, a lot of the Bible assumes you know your OT history

There are two OT stories that are mentioned in the last part of our text

Baal-Peor - Found in Numbers 25, we have Israelite men taking Moabite women as wives

This is before they are in the promise land,

As they take these women in, they are enticed to take their gods as well and they begin to worship Baal-Peor

God purged the sin from the people and 24000 people were killed.

Gibeah - found in v9, where a man entered Gibeah and the men of that town wanted to have sex with him, but raped his concubine instead and left her for dead

The man cut her into 12 pieces and sent her to all the tribes of Israel and they came together against their brother tribe Benjamin

what we are seeing is that this sin that Israel is committing is not new

They have been doing this ever since God delivered them out of slavery in Egypt

They doubted his power to save them

They doubted his love to provide for them

They doubted his holiness as the only god

The covenant made with Abraham has been broken. Now they no longer life in God’s blessing, will have numerous descendants or a land.

In Genesis 12 we see the covenant given to Abram, Abraham.

That God would bless him, and those who blessed him, curse those who cursed him

that he would be a mighty nation, with descendants as numerous as the sand on the sea shore

That he would be given a land to put them

That land is still being fought over today

but after centuries of spiritual adultery, they are going to see what life is like without the covenant

Israel was the apple of God’s eye; or grape and fig of his eye (v10)

he loved them

blessed them

strengthened them

They immediately went to Baal-Peor

Now generations and centuries later they are still committing spiritual adultery and will see the opposite of the covenant promise

No blessing

Food will be unclean

Hosea 9:4 CSB

They will not pour out their wine offerings to the Lord, and their sacrifices will not please him. Their food will be like the bread of mourners; all who eat it become defiled. For their bread will be for their appetites alone; it will not enter the house of the Lord.

they will not have a lot of descendants

Hosea 9:11–12 CSB

Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird: no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. Even if they raise children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!

they are losing their land

Hosea 9:3 CSB

They will not stay in the land of the Lord. Instead, Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.

Once again they are going to be slaves

A Realized Hope

Where does this leave us

We can recognize the sin of Israel, and see that it points to the sin in our lives

If we simply say that we are going to do better we fail

If we get rid of the idols in our lives, it will be easy to replace them with others

we must realize there is only one hope in life and death, Christ alone!

It is him that we seek, him that we trust, him that we worship

when we seek him out, he will be there

Psalm 34:4–10 CSB

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and rescues them. 8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him! 9 You who are his holy ones, fear the Lord, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10 Young lions lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.

I sought the Lord and he heard and answered me

Not another entire sermon over this passage, but allow the Psalm to bring your heart to worship, and trust the Lord; why

Because he sought the Lord,

The Lord answered

The Lord delivered from all fears and troubles

the Lord encamps around him for protection

he will lack nothing

For the people of Israel, judgment is coming

Hosea is clear about that

they will lose, for a time the blessings of the covenant

they are going to be exiled out of the land of promise

for us, we have been warned of Christ’s return

1 Thessalonians 5:2 CSB

2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

we need to be prepared

not certain steps to fix ourselves

not a certain prayer

If we seek him he will answer

Taste and see that the Lord is good! Come, exalt his name with me!

Memory Verse

Psalm 34:8 CSB

8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!

Discussion Questions

What does the passage teach about the nature of true worship and the consequences of false idols?

How can we apply the lessons from Israel's rebellion in our contemporary context?

How can you identify and confront modern-day idols in your life?

In what areas of your life might you be relying on false hope instead of trusting in God?

What role does prayer play in seeking refuge in God during difficult times?

How can you actively share the hope found in Christ with those around you?

What practical ways can you implement the call to honesty about your relationship with God?

What parallels can you draw between Israel's reliance on idols and today's societal distractions?

How can reflecting on Israel's mistakes guide you in your personal faith journey?

How can you encourage your community to seek a true understanding of God instead of superficial religion?