When God Sends A Subpoena

Sermon Title: Beyond Belief Pt 1: When God Sends A Subpoena (Suh-pee-nuh)

Main Text: Hosea 4:1-3

Hosea 4:1–3 ESV

1 Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; 2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.

For the next few moments I want to speak under the subject entitled:

When God Sends A Subpoena (Suh-pee-nuh)

Prayer

Father, we need a word from the Lord. Just one word from the Lord, will move all doubts

And cause the sun to shine And give peace of mind Speak Lord.

Open up our ears that we may hear your word,

Open up our eyes that we may see your word,

Open up our minds that we may understand your word,

And open up our hearts that we may receive your word.

It’s your time father, do what you do, in Jesus name, Amen.

Introduction

Before 2017, most people had not heard of Equifax. See Equifax is one of the three major U.S. credit bureaus that collects, aggregates, and sells consumer credit information to businesses.

Equifax isn’t a company you choose. You don’t sign up, you don’t download an app, you don’t give it permission. But they have you.

Equifax has your name, your Social Security number, your birth date, your address, and your financial history. And here’s the interesting thing.. Equifax exist to protect that information.

They are the gatekeepers, they are the watchers, They are the ones trusted to keep what matters most, secure.

However, in 2017, something happened. A breach took place. There were unauthorized access to your sensitive information.

Now, understand this didn’t take place because of a sophisticated cyberattack. It didn’t take place because hackers were smarter than everyone else. This happened because there was a known vulnerability in their system.

See in 2015, an internal audit revealed a significant backlog of unresolved vulnerabilities. The report outlined actions to improve security measures, but by the time the breach took place many of those measure had not yet been implemented.

The breach started May 12, 2017 and was not detected until July 29, 2017. By the time the breach was discovered, the damage was already done. 147 million people had their most sensitive information exposed to the world.

And here it is church family, People didn’t suffer because Equifax lacked information. They suffered because those entrusted with knowledge failed to act on it. The system didn’t collapse from ignorance. It collapsed from negligence.

Transition

And here in the book of Hosea, we find an eerie similarity between Equifax and Israel, who is God’s people. The book of Hosea gives us insight into the Northern Kingdom where he (being Hosea) is believed to live in. So, when we read the book of Hosea we must understand that this prophet is not speaking from the outside looking in, Hosea is speaking as someone who is in the situation.

See you must understand that the Northern Kingdom was politically unstable had com-pro-mised worship. They mixed covenant faith with cultural convenience. In other words, their worship was being influence by culture rather than connection.

It is believed amongst scholars that Hosea’s preaching ministry lasted decades and during the reign of several kings. And during the leadership of Jeroboam the 2nd, Hosea was a pivotal voice of truth because during this time, the Northern Kingdom (Israel) experienced military success, economic prosperity and expanded borders .

In other words, outwardly, Israel looked strong, successful, and blessed. But Hosea exposes the truth… are you ready church family?

Hosea revealed that the nation was spiritually collapsing while appearing to thrive. And what he warned soon became more evident.

After the death of Jeroboam the 2nd, Israel entered a period of extreme instability… Kings rose to power through assassination, leadership became violent, short-lived, and self-serving.

There was dishonesty and deception, violence and bloodshed, exploitation of the poor, corrupt courts and perverted justice, religious leaders fully participating in sin, and adultery was framed as devotion.

Here in Hosea we enter a straight up mess. And in this mess, God positions Hosea to be the mouthpiece and example to reveal to Israel, God’s people, that there is a breach.

And what we find is that the breach is not because of intellectual hackers, it is not because of sophisticated attacks. What we find in Hosea is that the breach takes place because of unresolved spiritual vulnerabilities.

Transition

And before you judge God’s people here in Hosea, you might want to look in the mirror. Because the truth be told, on this first Sabbath of 2026, God is revealing to us, that there is a breach as well..

No, it’s not a data breach, no it isn’t a material breach… It’s a spiritual and relational breach.

Now, let me be clear. This type of breach isn’t one where a violation is broken, or someone has access to sensitive information. This type of breach we are talking about is the type of breach when there is a crack or rupture in the foundation of something that would cause the structure to fall down.

And like what we see in Hosea, outwardly we can look strong, successful, and blessed, however, if we be honest with ourselves, many of us are structurally waiting to fall apart because our foundation have cracks in it.

And church family, for the year 2026, God has led me to lead us into a deeper relationship with God this year. This year God wants us to go beyond believing in Him, and start knowing Him intimately.

And in order for us to begin this process, we have to repent or make a u-turn from self-reliance to God dependence.

And here in our sermonic text found in Hosea chapter 4, I believe we can address the breach that many of us have unaddressed or ignored in our spiritual journey’s with God.

See Hosea chapter 4 marks a major turning point in the book. Up to this point, God has been speaking largely through Hosea’s personal story. You’ll learn more about that throughout this month. But, in chapter 4, God speaks directly and publicly to the nation.

This chapter is written in the context of a courtroom scene. God calls Israel to attention, lays out formal charges, presents evidence, and explains the consequences. Now, I want you to understand that this position God is taking, isn’t an emotional outburst. It is a covenant lawsuit. God is holding His own people accountable for a broken relationship.

Let me say it like this… What we find in this chapter is a God who is speaking with authority, while grieving deeply. Chapter 4 is a broken-hearted prosecution. God is not merely condemning His people, He is pleading through accusation.

At the heart of the problem is not politics, economics, or foreign enemies. God says the real crisis is spiritual… It is within. In this lawsuit, God pleads with us that when knowing Him becomes optional, everything around us is headed toward total collapse.

Pause…

Now, church family, I want you to see the depth of God’s love for us. See, at first glance, Hosea 4 does not sound loving. There is no warm introduction, no soft invitation, and no gentle encouragement.

God opens with a summons, then He speaks like a prosecutor, not a Shepard. Charges are listed. Evidence is presented. Consequences are announced.

While the scene appears to create a harsh position of God, what we find is instead of God being quiet about what is happening, God shows up, He speaks and He argues His case. This is interesting because in this chapter we oddly find God’s love in His litigation.

Hear me church family, God files charges, because the relationship still matters to Him. You don’t confront when you’ve given up… You don’t plead when you’re indifferent. This trial is not the absence of love, it is the evidence of it.

And church family, here is something I need you to recognize, God loves us too much to cater to our spoiled spiritual disposition. In other words, God will not ignore our relational decay. He cares too much about you and I to watch us go into ruin.

See many of us love to praise God for his niceness and motherly nurturing. We love His grace. However, many of us need to spend more time appreciating His mercy!

See grace is God’s unmerited favor, love and forgiveness freely given to us. See Grace is giving you what you don’t deserve.

But God’s mercy is God not giving you what you do deserve. And I wonder are there any saints in this place who don’t mind giving God a praise not because of His grace, but because of His mercy!!

See mercy calls us out, but gives us another chance! See God’s love isn’t always a massage on the back or a laying on His chest. God’s love is also revealed when He has to expose us and call us out!

Pause…

And here it is church family. Here is the Central Truth or the whole sermon in a sentence. I want you to write this down…

Central Truth: God is willing to take us to trial and litigate our love and allegiance back to Him in order for us to address our relational breach before it permanently damages us and others.

Let me try that again…

God is willing to take us to trial and litigate our love and allegiance back to Him in order for us to address our relational breach before it permanently damages us and others.

God will go the necessary length to reveal to us the potential collapse we are going to experience if we continue to undervalue our relationship with Him.

Subject

So, church family, the question must be asked today. What does God’s lawsuit teach us about the dangers or vulnerabilities of our spiritual and relational breach?

One more time…

What does God’s lawsuit teach us about the dangers or vulnerabilities of our spiritual and relational breach?

I believe what we find here in the first 3 verses of chapter 4 is one primary lesson we can gather from God’s lawsuit. I invite you to take notes as we seek to understand the lesson God teaches us through His litigation.

So, What does God’s lawsuit teach us about the dangers or vulnerabilities of our spiritual and relational breach? My one and only point is this… It teaches that…

Complements

Point #1: The Relationship Framework with God has broken down.

Hosea does not say Israel lacked religion, he says they lacked relationship. (4:1)

As we open up the lawsuit against us, the filings reveals to us an interesting breach. Look at verse 1 of Hosea 4:1

Hosea 4:1 ESV

1 Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;

Notice here that God starts by exposing that there are three missing realities that He has a problem with that is a result of the breach.

God says, there is no faithfulness, no steadfast love and no knowledge of God. God articulates in His lawsuit, that His people are not living in the way they claim to be living.

God’s people have substituted self-determining preferences over the agreement to be in relationship with God. And here’s the damaging part… God’s people are doing what they want to do while still claiming to be in relationship with God.

Don’t miss me here…

Let’s look deeper into this God’s broken-hearted prosecution. He lays out first that there is no faithfulness.

Say Faithfulness…

In the Hebrew the word is (e’met) this word means “Truth.” It is to be reliable, have integrity and be trustworthy. Now understand this truth isn’t just about being truthful verbally. What this means is being dependable, consistent, and being the same person privately and publicly.

And what happens is God calls His people out and expresses that they are not who they say they are. Essentially, God calls His people liers, frauds, and phony.

Now, understand why God is so direct with His people. See He also says, there is no steadfast love and knowledge of God.

Don’t miss this…

This steadfast love is actually the word covenant love. In the Hebrew, it is the word (he-sed) meaning loyal, commitment and mercy shaped by relationship. Knowledge here means to know which in the Hebrew is the word (Ya-da) which means relational intimacy, allegiance and embodied obedience.

In other words, God identifies that because His people lack covenant love and knowledge, they are approaching their relationship with Him as transactional and their commitment has been replaced by convenience.

Not only that, but its deeper, God people are actually living life dismissing God as the control system of their lives. In other words church family, God says, the relationship that my people have with me, is about information rather than relationship.

Don’t miss this church family, God’s people here in Hosea are still practicing and taking part in religion. They are worshipping, they are still going to church, they are still going to Sababth School, they are still going to prayer meeting… But what God points out in His lawsuit, is that we don’t lack religion, we lack relationship.

God says, my people look like they are connected to me, but in reality they are not.

Illustration: LOUIE Vuitton Bags Counterfeits

And church family, this is a warning for you and I today. God is not calling us to look like we are in relationship with Him, He is calling us to actually be in relationship with Him. And what God calls relationship with Him is not actually what you and I have prioritized as being in relationship with God.

It’s not about how much Bible we know,

It’s not about our church attendance,

It’s not about how long our skirts are how many buttons are on our suits,

It’s not about if you read through the Sabbath School lesson,

It’s not about if you prayed early in the morning…

God isn’t looking for relationship based on convenience or information… God says, I want relationship. I want you to be with me, not know everything about me.

Pause…

See the reality is that many of us have minimized God to worship services and bible study, but a relationship with God is so much deeper. And here is where God reveals how much deeper it is…

Look at your bibles at verse 2 and 3… Hosea 4: 2-3

Hosea 4:2–3 ESV

2 there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.

God was no longer shaping how they lived. When the knowledge of God disappears vertically, relationships collapse horizontally. (4:2-3)

God’s lawsuit exposes that His people are not being truthful when they say they are in relationship with Him. And He presents evidence of His claim.

Don’t miss this…

Notice in verse 2 that God uses Hosea to highlight five violations of the Decalogue. Now the Decalogue is just another name for what we call the Ten Commandments. So, God reveals the evidence of our fake claims of being in relationship with Him by highlighting, catch this… the relational commandments.

I’m preaching better than yall responding…

Remember, in the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20, we have the first 4 commandments that focuses on our duty to God and then we have the final 6 that focuses on our duty to humanity.

And here in God’s lawsuit God reveals in verse 2 of Hosea chapter 4, that the proof that we don’t know God is in the way we treat others.

God reveals, that as a result of the fact that we lack faithfulness, steadfast love and knowledge of Him, there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

In other words, God reveals that when we lose or neglect an intimate relationship with God, it produces moral collapse, and creates social chaos.

Ok let me say it this way…

When our relationship with God disappears vertically, relationships collapse around horizontally.

And we see this in our realities today. So many wonder how is it that Christians are so mean… How is it that Christians are so evil… How is it that Christians can say Happy Sabbath at the start of worship service and then be talking about you at the Sabbath dinner table.

Philosopher and civil rights leader Ma-hat-ma Gan-dhi famously stated the quote…

“I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

In other words, Gandhi echos the sentiments that God reveals in His people, that we are not connected like we think we are! You can’t claim to be in deep relationship with God and not treat people with love.

You can’t claim to be in deep relationship with God and not treat people with respect… You can’t claim to be in deep relationship with God and not be an advocate for the downtrodden and the overlooked.

In a world, where many people are hopeless and depressed… In a world where people are being taken advantage of… In a world where people human rights are being stomped on… We can’t claim to be in relationship with God and be no where to be found in relation to humanity.

Pause…

Many of us are wondering why we are struggling to hold our marriage together… Many of us are wondering why we are struggling to navigate our jobs… Many of us are struggling to understand why the people we are connected to always seem to be fountains of chaos and mess.

And the truth of the matter is that as a result of our lack of priority to be in deep relationship with God, we struggle to be in relationship with humanity.

Once again, God reveals that when we lose or neglect an intimate relationship with Him, it produces moral collapse, and creates social chaos.

But thats not all… Don’t forget verse 3…

Hosea 4:3 ESV

3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.

Before we move too fast, don’t miss the implication of the first word here, which is “therefore.” Therefore just simply means, because.

Don’t miss this…

This word therefore matters because it tells us this verse is not isolated. It is the result of what came before.

In other words, because there is not faithfulness, no steadfast love, no knowledge of God, the land suffers. God reveals in the lawsuit, that this is cause-and-effect, not random punishment.

Now, understand, the context when you understand the verb in this verse helps us to read it as future-oriented. In other words, God uses Hosea to show us that the suffering of the land is not merely describing present hardship, but God is announcing what is inevitably coming if nothing changes.

Now if you remember in Leviticus 26, and Deuteronomy 28, God clearly told Israel that obedience would bring life and fruitfulness and covenant rebellion would bring drought, scarcity, and decay. So, when we see what God calls out here in Hosea we are able to align it with what He has already warned previously.

And here is what you and I have to understand about the importance of deep relationship with God and why God is calling us out. See God is not saying that he is angry at trees, or animals are being judged for human sin…. What is reveals is deeper. God reminds us, that creation is connected to human covenant faithfulness. The land suffers because the relationship that sustained order has been broken.

See, creation isn’t separate from God’s ordered world, it’s a part of it. When humanity live in deep relationship with God, it impacts the world around us. Justice begins to flow, mercy governs relationships, truth escorts society…

But when we are out of order with God, when we believe that we have everything under control, when we think we are in charge of our lives, natural order collapses with our moral order.

Perhaps that’s why we are living in a world that is full of chaos. Every where we look things are a mess.

People out here have no regard for human life. We are living in a Me, Myself and I world. Look at our goverment, look at our court systems, look at our policing, look at our cities, look at our neighborhoods, look at our churches, look at our family systems!

We are a mess!!!

And the reality is that God throws a lawsuit at us to reveal to us that all of this mess is due to the fact that you and I are not who we say we are! We don’t know God like that!!!

Closing

So, what do we do? Is there any hope in the text? Is there any hope that you and I can leave today with.

Well church family, the answer is yes!

See the hope in the text is that when I checked my Bible to see was there any hope. I found out that though we failed to step up to the plate and be faithful… though we failed to step up to the plate and be steadfast… though we failed to step up to the plate and have knowledge of God…

God was and is not caught off guard due to our false claims. See God sent us a Subpoena. And He didn’t send it to punish us, but He sent it to reveal to us, that we still can choose Him.

For if God was done with us, He would’ve have let us go along time ago. But instead He calls us out. The blessing of the text is that God cares so much, that He will call us out when we are wrong. He will go as far as throwing a lawsuit out at us, to show us that we still have a chance to get it together.

Not only is that good news, but if you look a little deeper, even though God sent a subpoena, when you and I showed up in court, we recieved a guilty verdict, however, there was something else sent with the subpoena, it was the Son of God.

For the Bible says,

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

You and I are guilty, but thanks be to God, that the text says, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

For over 2000 years ago, my Jesus took our place… They put nails in his hands, nails in his feet, a spear in his side, a crown of thorns on his head. And he hung there and died for you and for me.

They laid him in a borrowed tomb and he stayed there all night Friday, he stayed there all day Sabbath, he stayed there all night Saturday night…

But EARLY, SUNDAY MORNING!!! HE GOT UP WITH ALL POWER IN HIS HANDS!!!

And Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living just because He lives.

Cap City, God cares so much about you that He is willing to call us out and give us another chance to know Him more deeply.

Don’t be fooled by this world, thinking that you can handle everything. Don’t be fooled by this world, tricking yourself into thinking you know God by looking the part.

It’s time to know God more deeply. It’s time to know God intimately.

It’s time to know what it means when the song writer said, I was sinking deep in sin, Far from the peaceful shore, Very deeply stained within, Sinking to rise no more; But the Master of the sea Heard my despairing cry, From the waters lifted me– Now safe am I.

It’s time to know what it means when the song writer said, When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, "It is well, it is well with my soul."

It’s time to know what it means when the song writer said, what a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear; what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

It’s time to know God so deeply that we know what it means when the writer said “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to presentfaultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,:

It’s time to know God so deeply that we know what it means when the writer said, Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. 2 Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. 3 But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

It’s time to know God so deeply that we know what it means when the writer said, no weapon form against me shall be able to prosper,

It’s time to know God so deeply that we know what it means when the writer said, if God be for me, than who can be against me,

It’s time to know God so deeply that we know what it means when the writer said, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as an eagle. They shall walk and not be weary, they shall run and not faint.