Hosea 8

December 7, 2025

FBC Baxley

Pm svc

Hosea 8

1 Set the trumpet to your lips!

One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord,

because they have transgressed my covenant

and rebelled against my law.

2 To me they cry,

“My God, we—Israel—know you.”

3 Israel has spurned the good;

the enemy shall pursue him.

4 They made kings, but not through me.

They set up princes, but I knew it not.

With their silver and gold they made idols

for their own destruction.

5 I have spurned your calf, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them.

How long will they be incapable of innocence?

6 For it is from Israel;

a craftsman made it;

it is not God.

The calf of Samaria

shall be broken to pieces.

7 For they sow the wind,

and they shall reap the whirlwind.

The standing grain has no heads;

it shall yield no flour;

if it were to yield,

strangers would devour it.

8 Israel is swallowed up;

already they are among the nations

as a useless vessel.

9 For they have gone up to Assyria,

a wild donkey wandering alone;

Ephraim has hired lovers.

10 Though they hire allies among the nations,

I will soon gather them up.

And the king and princes shall soon writhe

because of the tribute.

11 Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning,

they have become to him altars for sinning.

12 Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,

they would be regarded as a strange thing.

13 As for my sacrificial offerings,

they sacrifice meat and eat it,

but the Lord does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity

and punish their sins;

they shall return to Egypt.

14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker

and built palaces,

and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;

so I will send a fire upon his cities,

and it shall devour her strongholds.

-Pray

“Sowing the Wind, Reaping the Whirlwind”

Introduction —

Years ago, Reader’s Digest published a short story about a Midwestern farmer who tried to “beat the system.”

Every spring he sowed just enough seed to get by—never the full amount the agricultural experts recommended.

“Why waste?” he would say.

He cut corners on fertilizer, refused to rotate crops, and ignored every warning from the county agricultural office.

For two or three years, things looked fine.

But slowly, the soil grew thin, the crops grew sparse, and weeds overtook the fields.

One fall, standing in the middle of his dried-up acreage, he muttered, “I guess I’m just reaping what I’ve been sowing.”

What was true for that farmer is eternally true spiritually.

That truth is so clear in Hosea chapter 8.

Hosea 8 is God blowing the trumpet of warning over a nation that had sown seeds of rebellion and was now about to reap a hurricane of consequences.

Warren Wiersbe writes, “When we sow to the flesh, we can’t expect to reap a harvest of righteousness.”

Hosea announces that Israel’s problem was not ignorance—but intentional disobedience.

Their worship was counterfeit, their alliances were idolatrous, and their trust was misplaced.

Sermon in a Sentence: Rejecting God’s Word Always Leads to Ruin, but Returning to Him Always Leads to Restoration.

I. A Trumpet of Warning — Because Israel Has Broken Covenant (vv. 1–3)

“Set the trumpet to your lips!”

Hosea begins with military imagery.

The Hebrew word for “trumpet” is שׁוֹפָר (shofar)—the ram’s horn blown to signal danger or battle.

God is saying, “Sound the alarm—judgment is at the gates!”

Why?

Verse 1 says Israel has “transgressed my covenant” and “rebelled against my law.”

The word transgressed is פָּשַׁע (pashaʿ)—meaning willful rebellion, not accidental wandering.

In other words, Israel didn’t stumble into sin—they marched into it with purpose.

Their Cry Was Empty

In verse 2 they cry, “My God, we—Israel—know You!”

But their confession was superficial.

****Their lips claimed God, their lives denied Him.

Vance Havner once said, “The devil is not fighting religion; he’s too smart for that. He’s producing a counterfeit Christianity.”

Israel had the counterfeit version.

Illustration

It’s like a person who calls the fire department only after the entire house is engulfed in flames—yet refuses to admit they ignored the smoke alarm for hours.

The NICOT says that Israel “invoked God’s name without submitting to God’s rule,” revealing a “covenant relationship in name only.”

II. A Religion of Rebellion — Because They Invented Their Own Worship (vv. 4–7)

Unauthorized Kings (v. 4)

God says, “They made kings, but not through Me.”

Israel didn’t consult God—they consulted their politics.

Leonard Ravenhill said, “God doesn’t ask for our vote; He asks for our obedience.”

Idolatry From Their Own Silver and Gold (v. 4)

They used God’s blessings to build God-replacements.

The Calf of Samaria (vv. 5–6)

Verse 5 calls their idol “the calf of Samaria.”

This goes back to Jeroboam’s golden calf worship (1 Kings 12).

28 So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.

Hosea’s language is cutting:

“It is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God.”

The Hebrew grammar is sharp—“it is NOT God” literally reads “God—He is NOT!”

Sowing the Wind, Reaping the Whirlwind (v. 7)

One of the most famous lines in Hosea:

“For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”

Wind = emptiness, futility

Whirlwind = destruction, consequences multiplied

The law of sowing and reaping is one of God’s unbreakable spiritual laws.

Illustration

You can plant tomato seeds and pray for oranges—but you’re getting tomatoes.

The Tyndale Commentary States, “What they sowed was emptiness; what they reaped was devastation on an unimaginable scale.”

III. A Nation of Misplaced Trust — Because They Ran to Everything Except God (vv. 8–10)

Israel tried to solve their national crisis by foreign alliances.

Swallowed Up by the Nations (v. 8)

Israel wanted to be like the nations—so God says the nations will swallow them.

Like a Wild Donkey (v. 9)

A “wild donkey” in Hebrew culture symbolized stubborn, irrational independence.

Israel ran to Assyria for help—but Assyria would become their captor.

Matthew Henry writes, “Those who forsake God become their own worst enemies.”

Illustration

It’s like ignoring the doctor’s prescription and instead taking random pills from the kitchen cabinet.

The cure becomes worse than the disease.

The ESV Study Bible notes that Israel’s alliances showed “a deep failure to trust Yahweh, replacing faith with diplomacy.”

IV. A Heartless Religion — Because They Offered Worship Without Obedience (vv. 11–14)

Altars On Every Corner

Israel multiplied altars—but they multiplied sin.

Religious activity cannot replace relational obedience.

Verse 12 says,

“I wrote to them the many things of my law.”

The phrase רֻבֵּי תוֹרָתִי (rubei torati) means “countless instructions of my law.”

God had spoken clearly—but they treated His Word “as a strange thing.”

Sacrifices Without Surrender (v. 13)

God says He rejects their sacrifices.

Why?

Because worship without repentance is worthless.

Adrian Rogers said, “The heart of the problem is always the problem of the heart.”

Judah Also Warned (v. 14)

Even Judah, the southern kingdom, “forgot his Maker” and built fortified cities instead.

Illustration

It’s like updating the security system on your house but ignoring the fact that you left every window unlocked.

The Baker Commentary observes, “Their rituals were abundant but their repentance was absent.

God desires the heart, not hollow ceremonies.”

Conclusion — Three Life Applications

**1. Return to God’s Word as Your Final Authority.

Israel’s main sin was ignoring the Word they already had.

We must not read Scripture casually or selectively.

God’s Word is not a suggestion—it’s a standard.

**2. Examine Whether Your Worship Is Genuine or Just Routine.

Is your worship heart-deep or habit-deep?

Are there idols—of comfort, identity, money, approval—that compete with your devotion?

**3. Be Careful What You Sow—Because You Will Reap It.

Your private choices today become your public harvest tomorrow.

Sow obedience, reap blessing.

Sow sin, reap sorrow.

Sow Christ, reap eternal life.