Uncommon Love Part 3

Hosea 4:1 NLT

Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel! The Lord has brought charges against you, saying: “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land.

Introduction:

Have you ever done something you weren't supposed to and your Mama reprimanded you? If that wasn’t bad enough, she said, “You just wait till your daddy gets home.”

When your father walked through the door, you saw Mama talking to him telling him what she has had to deal with. Then he started out towards you with a certain look on his face. He looked mad! You knew you were done for.

We read this passage and it reminds us a little of that. We might say to Israel, “ooh, he’s gonna get it.”

But why is God so mad?

He sent Hosea to tell Israel that He loved them. He used the wife and kids as living illustrations, but they refused to listen. We continue to see God deal with His people.

What did they do? What was it that God was having to deal with?

Ignorance

Hosea 4:6 “My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children.”

Intellectually Israel was advanced

Buildings

talents

gardens

cattle

riches

But they were ignorant, forgetting their God.

They forgot all about what God had done for them -

Red Sea,

provision,

made them a nation,

gave them kings,

made them prosperous

They had been warned not to forget, yet they did

Deuteronomy 6:12 NLT

be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.

Where is your knowledge?

Today’s kids and even adults are smart but don’t know the Bible.

I’ve seen a lot of video reels of people asking questions on the street

I’ve done it a few times myself

Thankful for Tiffany and crew

America is ignorant today because they have rejected God

He’s not allowed in schools - no prayer, no Bible, no mentioning Jesus

Instead school shootings are rampant

crime is high

we have forgotten why our country was even founded - to enjoy religious freedom from a king who forced his brand of religion

We need to ask for forgiveness as a nation

because others won’t — we must!!

Not only did Israel suffer from IGNORANCE but they also lived in Idolatry

Idolatry

Hosea 4:12–13 NLT

They ask a piece of wood for advice! They think a stick can tell them the future! Longing after idols has made them foolish. They have played the prostitute, serving other gods and deserting their God. They offer sacrifices to idols on the mountaintops. They go up into the hills to burn incense in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars, and terebinth trees. “That is why your daughters turn to prostitution, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

Hosea 4:17 NLT

Leave Israel alone, because she is married to idolatry.

God is a jealous God — the very first commandment God gives Moses is about Him. Exodus 20:3 ““You must not have any other god but me.”

Has God been given a lower priority?

Many nations have multiple gods — India, Haiti

What about America?

What about Christians?

We have secret, seemingly small idols — money, possessions, jobs, family, vacations — anything we place above God

Let us carefully search our hearts and not just rush past this!

TV - David Wilkerson said that TV is the biggest idol Americans face - He didn’t watch, he prayed hours each night

Israel made a trade. They traded the holy for the unholy or profane.

Ezekiel 22:26 “Your priests have violated my instructions and defiled my holy things. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not. And they do not teach my people the difference between what is ceremonially clean and unclean. They disregard my Sabbath days so that I am dishonored among them.”

Has America done the same!

We must beg God for forgiveness as a nation and for our nation.

Not only was Israel full of Ignorance and Idolatry but they also capitalized in Immorality.

Immorality

Hosea 5:3 “I know what you are like, O Ephraim. You cannot hide yourself from me, O Israel. You have left me as a prostitute leaves her husband; you are utterly defiled.”

God has been so upset with the human race that He has cast judgement on them twice in the past.

Noah’s Ark — the people were wicked

Sodom & Gomorrah - the people were so wicked, the men of the town wanted to have relations with the angel visitors

It has been said that if God does not bring judgement on America, He will have to apologize to Sodom & Gomorrah.

We live in a time when filth doesn't even bother us anymore.

we laugh at sin and call it other names to soften how it sounds -

TV, internet, social media glorify adultery, casual sex, homosexuality, transgenderism and many other things

call it whatever you want it is still sin and its just plain wrong - It offends God

People are more upset about offending another person rather than offending God

Israel sold her self — even paid her lovers

Many other nations have done the same

Has the church sold herself as well

America is at a tipping point!

We must repent as a nation

Church, let it start with us.

Let us cry out for our country, recognizing we are not above any of it

Altar