All Noise, No Power

When I was prepping this sermon on Hosea 6, a random childhood memory came to mind—me talking into a fan like Darth Vader. You remember those old metal fans, right? The ones with the shiny silver blades that sounded like a small helicopter taking off in your living room?

When I was a kid, we didn’t have cell phones, to keep us entertained 24/7, i’d be somewhere and I’d stand right in front of one of those fans, lean in close, and start talking just to hear my voice bounce back all deep and distorted—“Luke… I am your father.”

I learned at the Game Day that Brother Al. Has not watched Star Wars.

But I would- i’d stand in front of the fan and I am your father. Then I would try to use the force to choke out my younger brother. It made me feel powerful for about ten seconds… until I realized it didn’t work. It was just noise. Chopped up and empty words.

And as I was sitting with Hosea 6, it hit me—that’s exactly what Israel was doing spiritually. They were making noise, saying all the right things, but it was hollow- powerless.

In chapter 6 they cry out, “Come, let’s return to the Lord!” Sounds good, right? But by the time you get to chapter 7, Hosea says, “They turn, but not to what is above.” Same word—“turn”—but a totally different direction. One moment they’re speaking the language of repentance; the next, they’re chasing after gods that don’t even exist.

Hosea 6:4 says, “Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.” It’s here, then it’s gone. Just like that fan—making noise, stirring the air, but not actually changing the temperature. Israel’s devotion was surface-level. It looked spiritual for a moment, but it lacked staying power.

And if we’re honest, that same kind of spiritual oscillation shows up in our own lives. A teenager goes to camp and comes back on fire for Jesus—but a few weeks later, that fire cools. A believer leaves church on Sunday determined to live for the glory of God it typically doesn’t last very long.

Senator John Kennedy recently talked about how he wakes up in the morning.

“Kennedy, today you're gonna follow Jesus. And by 10 o'clock I still want to follow Jesus but I also wanna slap the hell outta somebody”

Thats probably a lot of us.

We talk like we’re all in for Jesus, but when the wind shifts, someone cuts us off in traffic, the team I wanted to win didn’t, work is a mess, country is falling apart, and when all that stuff comes at us and we just want to force choke people- our devotion does too.

The problem isn’t that we don’t speak; it’s that our hearts aren’t steady.

We don’t need more spiritual noise—we need steadfast love. God isn’t impressed with how loud we sound when we talk into the fan; He’s after hearts that remain fixed when the air gets still.

Lets just read Hosea 6 together and lets see if we can make sense of this

Hosea 6:1–4 ESV

“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.

What Does God Say About Spiritual Oscillation?

When you look at Hosea 6 and 7, you see what God really thinks about a heart that can’t stay steady. There are five things that show up when people start living this way — and the first one is simple: it always involves unfaithfulness.

Of course it does. That’s what spiritual oscillation is — faithfulness, then unfaithfulness. Obedience, then disobedience. One minute you’re worshiping, the next you’re wandering.

That’s exactly what Israel was doing. In Hosea 6:7, God says, “But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.”

Now some translations say “Adam,” others take it to mean a place — a town called Adam, near the Jordan River.

Either way, the point’s the same: Israel broke their promise to God. They violated the covenant that defined who they were.

🩸 Two Basic Types of Covenants

Conditional Covenants

These depend on both parties fulfilling certain terms.

Usually expressed by “If you will… then I will…”

Example: The Mosaic Covenant, where Israel’s blessings depended on obedience to God’s law.

Unconditional Covenants

These rest entirely on God’s faithfulness.

They are promises He fulfills regardless of human response.

Example: The Abrahamic Covenant, where God swore to bless Abraham and his descendants.

📖 Major Covenants in Scripture

Adam / Creation Covenant (Genesis 1–3)

Sometimes called the Covenant of Works or Edenic Covenant.

God commands Adam and Eve to be fruitful, rule creation, and not eat from the tree of knowledge.

Condition: Obedience brings life; disobedience brings death.

Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9)

God promises never again to destroy the earth by flood.

Sign: Rainbow

Unconditional—based solely on God’s mercy.

Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12, 15, 17)

God promises Abraham land, descendants, and blessing to all nations through him.

Sign: Circumcision

Unconditional, fulfilled ultimately in Christ (Galatians 3:16).

Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19–24; Deuteronomy 28)

Made with Israel at Sinai.

Contained laws, sacrifices, and blessings/curses.

Conditional—obedience brought blessing, disobedience brought curse.

Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7; Psalm 89)

God promises David an eternal throne through his offspring.

Fulfilled in Jesus, the Son of David, whose kingdom has no end.

Unconditional—God’s promise stands even when David’s descendants fail.

God had made a binding agreement with His people- a conditional covenant— a relationship sealed in faithfulness —blessings for obedience/ cursings for disobedience and they treated the covenant like it was optional.

They didn’t just mess up; they betrayed Him. That’s the weight of that word. And it’s a good reminder for us: 99% faithfulness is still unfaithfulness.

You can’t halfway keep a covenant with God. He doesn’t want part-time loyalty. He wants your whole heart.

Here’s some good news- we are under the last covenenat- the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31–34; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8)

God promises to forgive sins, write His law on our hearts, and give His Spirit.

Fulfilled through Christ’s death and resurrection.

Unconditional—secured by the blood of Jesus.

Spiritual Oscillation Manipulates the Truth About God (Hosea 6:1–3)

The second thing we see is that spiritual oscillation manipulates the truth about God.

Israel knew the right words to say. They said, “Come, let us return to the Lord… He has torn us, that He may heal us… He will revive us after two days; on the third day He will raise us up.”

Now, that sounds good, doesn’t it? That sounds like revival language. But here’s the problem — they were saying all the right things with all the wrong motives.

They weren’t repenting; they were just trying to reset. They thought if they said the right words and went through the motions, God would fix everything and bless them again — even though their hearts hadn’t changed.

And honestly, we still see that today. I’ve heard people say, “Well, things are rough right now, so I guess I need to get back in church,” or, “I need to start reading my Bible again so God will help me with this situation.”

And don’t get me wrong — those are good things. I want people in church. I want people reading their Bibles. But the danger is when we start treating those things like a quick spiritual reset button.

We think, “If I show up for a few weeks, God will smooth things out.” But that’s not repentance — that’s negotiation. That’s trying to get God to bless the same heart that refuses to change.

Israel wanted the benefits of God without the burden of obedience. They didn’t want revival; they just wanted relief.

That’s what spiritual oscillation does — it twists the truth about God to make us comfortable in our sin. It says, “God’s gracious. God’s forgiving. He’ll understand.”

And yes — God is gracious. God is forgiving. But that’s not a free pass to live however we want. Grace isn’t permission to sin; grace is power to stop.

When we use the truth of God to excuse our disobedience, we’re not honoring Him — we’re mocking Him.

Spiritual Oscillation Often Includes Religion (Hosea 6:6)

The next thing we see is that spiritual oscillation often hides behind religion.

God says in Hosea 6:6,

“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

In other words — you’re doing church, but you’re not doing covenant.

Israel was still going through all the motions. The priests were still offering sacrifices. The people were still showing up. They were checking every religious box. But their hearts weren’t in it.

They thought if they kept the ritual, they could ignore the relationship. If they offered the sacrifice, they could excuse the sin.

And God said, “I don’t want your performance; I want your heart.”

That same verse shows up again in the Gospels — twice. Both times, Jesus quoted it to religious folks who thought they had it all together. They followed all the rules, but they didn’t love people. They worshiped with their mouths, but their hearts were cold.

That’s what spiritual oscillation looks like today — showing up on Sunday but living for self the rest of the week.

Singing loud, taking notes, maybe even serving — but no repentance, no surrender, no faithfulness.

Religion without relationship is rebellion dressed in church clothes.

and we should be asking why that is.

Because for some of us, the moment we walk out of church, it’s like Clark Kent heading into the phone booth — only in reverse. We walk in on Sunday with a Bible in hand, halo shining bright, looking like a Super hero in the faith but the second those doors close behind us, we rip that thing off like a costume and go right back to their old self.

If you act differently inside these four walls than you do outside them — that’s not worship, that’s religion.

God doesn’t want ritual. He wants real. He’s not impressed by how loud we sing if our hearts are far from Him. He’s not looking for us to check boxes — show up, stand up, sit down, take notes, drop something in the plate — and then go right back to living like He’s not Lord. What He desires is steadfast love — hearts that are steady, not swinging back and forth between obedience and rebellion, worship and wandering.

See, God’s not after a performance; He’s after a person. He wants you. He wants a heart that stays anchored when life gets hard, a faith that doesn’t just flare up on Sundays and fade out by Monday. He wants love that lasts when the feeling fades — a covenant kind of love, the same kind He’s shown us from the beginning. Because while we’re prone to drift, He’s constant. While we change, He doesn’t.

God’s saying, “Stop bringing Me empty motions and start bringing Me honest devotion.” He’s not looking for perfect people — He’s looking for faithful ones. Hearts that stay fixed on Him, no matter what.

Spiritual Oscillation Sometimes Includes Slavery to Fleshly Pursuits (Hosea 7:4–5)

Another thing we see is that spiritual oscillation often leads right back into slavery to sin.

Hosea 7:4 says,

“They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven whose baker ceases to stir the fire.”

That’s God saying, “You’re burning with passion—but not for Me.”

Israel wasn’t cold. They were on fire—just for the wrong things. They were burning with lust, pride, greed, drunkenness. The oven was hot, but the bread was rotten.

That’s what sin does. It stirs the fire of the flesh until it controls you. And you start mistaking intensity for intimacy. Just because you feel something deeply doesn’t mean it’s holy.

Verse 5 says,

“On the day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine.”

In other words, they were partying while the kingdom was burning. Their passions had mastered them.

That’s what happens when we oscillate between God and the world. We think we can manage sin, but sin always ends up managing us. We think we’re free—but we’re just slaves with better excuses.

Spiritual oscillation isn’t just lazy faith—it’s dangerous faith. Because every time you drift toward the flesh, the pull gets stronger, and the fire burns hotter.

And before long, you’re not in control anymore. You’ve gone from worshiping the Lord to serving the very thing He died to set you free from.

Spiritual Oscillation Makes People Pathetic and Useless in Serving God (Hosea 7:8–16)

This last one stings a little — spiritual oscillation doesn’t just make us weak, it makes us useless in serving God.

In Hosea 7, God gives four pictures that describe what His people had become. And every one of them is meant to wake us up.

1. A Flawed Cake (7:8)

“Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned.”

That’s a pancake somebody forgot to flip. Burned on one side, raw on the other.

You know what God’s saying? “You look done from one side, but you’re still dough on the inside.” That’s what half-hearted faith looks like. It’s half-baked.

We know the verses. We know the songs. We know how to talk the talk. But when the fire hits, we fold. God says, “You’re not consistent, you’re not steady — you’re cooked on one side and cold on the other.”

A half-baked Christian is one who’s hot on Sunday and cold by Monday morning.

2. The First Gray Hairs (Hosea 7:9–10) “Foreigners devour his strength, and he knows it not; gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, and he knows it not.”

God’s saying, “You’re getting weaker, and you don’t even see it.” You’re losing your strength, but you’re pretending you’re fine. You’re spiritually aging, but you refuse to acknowledge it.

Now look — I’ve started finding gray hairs myself. The first one popped up and I thought it was lint. Tried to brush it off, but nope… that bad boy was rooted in there like it paid rent. So I asked Blair, “Hey, do you see this?” and she said, “Honey, that ship has sailed. You’re not getting gray hair — you got gray hair.” Oceanway translation: it’s too late for ‘Just for Men,’ you’re officially in the wisdom years.

But that’s exactly what God’s saying here. Israel was showing signs of wear, losing their strength, but pretending everything was fine — just like we do when we see those first gray hairs and act like nothing’s changed. The scary part is, spiritually, you can get older and weaker and not even notice.

It reminds me of Samson. Judges 16:20 says, “He did not know that the Lord had left him.” That’s terrifying — to lose the presence of God and not even know it. When you oscillate long enough, you stop noticing the absence of His power.

3. A Flustered Bird (7:11–12)

“Ephraim is like a dove, silly and without sense.”

When I read that, I can’t help but think back to when we had parakeets growing up. Those little birds were always nervous and mean- but they could whistle and every bird we had could whistle the Andy Griffith Theme Song— you’d open the cage to clean it, and they’d flap around like the sky was falling. One minute they’d try to land on the curtain rod, the next they’d crash into the window. They didn’t know where to go.

That’s the picture Hosea’s painting here. Israel was just like that — flustered, frantic, and faithless. When they got scared or desperate, they’d fly to anyone for help.

One day Egypt, the next day Assyria, anybody but God.

That’s what happens when you stop trusting the Lord — you start flapping in every direction, chasing things that can’t save you. You’re restless, looking for something to fill what only God can.

And just like those parakeets, every direction you fly ends up taking you further from where you belong — home, resting in the care of the One who’s been faithful all along.

4. A Faulty Weapon (7:16)

“They return, but not upward; they are like a treacherous bow.”

God says, “That’s what you’ve become — unreliable.”

In Hosea’s day, a soldier’s bow was only useful if it worked when you needed it most. You didn’t want to pull it back and have it snap in your hands mid-battle.

That’s what God’s saying to Israel — “You’ve lost your dependability.” When the fight came, they weren’t ready. When the enemy showed up, they couldn’t stand. Why? Because they’d spent too long oscillating — too long compromising — to build up any real strength to fight.

Let me put it in our world. If you’re a gun owner, you know what it means to be prepared.

I’m not here to debate your stance on the Second Amendment — but I’ll tell you mine. I’d rather have it and carry it and never need it, than need it and not have it. And Lord forbid if you ever need it and it doesn’t work— that’s going to be a bad day.

That’s exactly what God’s saying here. Israel had the weapon — they had the truth, the covenant, the promises — but they let it rust. Their bow was warped. Their aim was off. When the moment came to stand, they failed because they hadn’t stayed ready.

That’s what spiritual oscillation does. It dulls your edge. It drains your power. It clouds your judgment. You can’t live half-devoted to God and expect to stand strong when life hits hard.

God doesn’t want half of you — He wants all of you. Because He can’t use half-baked, half-ready, half-strong believers to do full-strength Kingdom work.

If your love for Him keeps fading like morning dew, it’s time to stop oscillating and start surrendering.

II. How Does God Respond to Spiritual Oscillation?

Even in Israel’s back-and-forth, God didn’t walk away. That’s the grace of this whole passage. God doesn’t ignore sin, but He doesn’t instantly abandon sinners either. He calls, warns, and pleads — because His heart is still for His people.

There are three things we see here in how God responds to our spiritual oscillation.

A. God Sees Our Sin (Hosea 7:2)

“But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.”

Israel thought God didn’t notice. They thought they could sin in private and still look holy in public. But God says, “Everything you’ve done is right in front of My face.”

They forgot that God doesn’t miss anything. He’s not distracted. He’s not looking the other way.

And if we’re honest, we forget that too. We act like God can’t see the texts we send, the words we speak, or the thoughts we keep hidden.

But every bit of it is before His face.

The verse says, “They do not consider…” That means they never even thought about it. They never stopped to remember that the all-seeing God was watching.

You want to guard your walk with God? Learn to live with that awareness: He sees me. When I speak, He hears. When I move, He’s there.

That kind of holy awareness doesn’t produce fear — it produces faithfulness.

B. God Sends His Truth (Hosea 6:5)

“Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.”

That’s strong language. God says, “I’ve cut you down with My Word.”

That’s not cruelty; that’s mercy. When God sends His truth through a prophet — or through His Word, or through a sermon — He’s doing surgery.

His Word cuts like a sword because He’s trying to remove what’s killing us. He wounds to heal. He confronts to restore.

We live in a world that hates truth because truth hurts before it helps. But a wound from God’s Word is better than a hug from sin.

When the Bible convicts you, don’t get defensive — get grateful. That’s proof that God hasn’t given up on you. He’s still speaking. He’s still calling you back.

C. God Is Ready to Heal and Redeem (Hosea 6:4; 7:1, 13)

Even after all their sin, listen to the heart of God:

“What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud…” (6:4)

“When I would heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed.” (7:1)

“Though I would redeem them, they speak lies against me.” (7:13)

God’s basically saying, “I want to heal you, but you keep running away.”

That’s the tension we see all through Scripture — God’s readiness to forgive and our stubborn refusal to repent.

It’s not that God can’t redeem; it’s that we won’t surrender. He’s standing there with healing in His hands, and we’re too busy chasing idols to reach out.

That question in 6:4 — “What am I going to do with you?” — sounds like a frustrated father, doesn’t it? Not angry, but heartbroken.

It’s the sound of a dad who’s watched his child run head-first into destruction over and over again. He’s saying, “I’ve disciplined, I’ve warned, I’ve loved, I’ve pursued — what more can I do?”

And yet even then, His mercy is still available.

That’s the gospel in miniature: A holy God watching a faithless people, saying, “I should give up, but I won’t. I still want to heal. I still want to redeem.”

Closing Challenge

Spiritual oscillation breaks God’s heart — but it doesn’t break His promise. He still loves. He still calls. He still offers healing.

But the question is: will we keep turning back and forth, or will we finally stay faithful?

If you’re tired of the back-and-forth, come home. Stop oscillating and start abiding.

Because the God who saw your sin is the same God who sent His Son — not to condemn you, but to redeem you. And the same grace that called Israel home is calling you today.

Closing Transition into Prayer Time (Wednesday Night Service)

As we close out our study tonight, I can’t help but think how much Hosea’s message sounds like us sometimes. We say we love the Lord, we want to be faithful — but if we’re honest, we drift. One day we’re fired up for Jesus, and the next we’re running on fumes.

But here’s the good news: while we’re back and forth, God’s not. He’s steady. He’s constant. He hasn’t moved. And He’s still saying to His people, “Come back to Me.”

That’s the heart of Hosea — not a God who’s waiting to punish, but a Father who’s longing to heal.

So before we share prayer requests tonight, let’s just take a quiet moment and do what Hosea said: “Let us return to the Lord.” Bow your head and close your eyes. Lets get into a posture of prayer.

Maybe this week you’ve felt that back-and-forth pull — faith and fear, trust and control, worship and worry. Ask God right now to make your heart steady again.

Ask Him to help you stay faithful, even when life pulls you in different directions.

(Pause briefly)

Alright, church family, let’s move into our prayer request time. Who can we lift up tonight? What needs or praises do we need to share?

Because the same God who calls us back is the same God who hears us when we pray.