Fickle Love for a Faithful God
Notes
Transcript
4 “What can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears.
5 Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
I killed you with the words of my mouth;
my judgments flashed like lightning upon you.
6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
7 Like Adam, they have broken the covenant—
they were unfaithful to me there.
8 Gilead is a city of wicked men,
stained with footprints of blood.
9 As marauders lie in ambush for a man,
so do bands of priests;
they murder on the road to Shechem,
committing shameful crimes.
10 I have seen a horrible thing
in the house of Israel.
There Ephraim is given to prostitution
and Israel is defiled.
11 “Also for you, Judah,
a harvest is appointed.
Introduction
Introduction
Have you ever felt the pain of being seemingly deeply loved and appreciated one moment, but the next moment you are disliked, perhaps even despised by that same person?
Sometimes things are going smoothly and the sun is shining brightly, but suddenly something changes, and its all darkness and gloom.
Fickle love is never appreciated. It is never helpful; it does not build trust; it certainly does not encourage us or motivate us to give of ourselves when someone gives us a fickle love.
I’m sure we can all relate to this and understand it.
But what then of fickle love that is given to God? How should He respond to fickle love? If anyone is worthy of deep and consistent love, it is God almighty!
And yet, how fickle is the heart of man towards God.
In this passage, we get just a glimpse of the fickle love that Israel was demonstrating towards God.
1. The Charge of Fickle Love (v.4)
1. The Charge of Fickle Love (v.4)
In verse 4 we read...
4 “What can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears.
4 “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah?
Here Hosea demonstrates who this complaint is addressed to
It is to both Ephraim and Judah
Notice the cry - it conveys a sense of anguish, pained sadness and concern.
“What can I do with you?”
It is almost as if God has come to a place where he has tried every avenue, every possible route to draw the people back to him, and yet they refuse.
They simply do not want his love - they simply do not accept or appreciate what he is doing for them.
Know for sure that God never runs out of “ideas”
He always has every means at his disposal… he can change hearts as he chooses.
And yet, for the most part, God doesn’t force or push us to do things.
God had the power at this time to work as He pleased, and yet chose, in his great wisdom and understanding, not to...
Ultimately, this would be to our good - the Lord Christ would come and bring true salvation, the perfect revelation of God.
Thus even here, we see the purposes of God at work.
...Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.
Here is the key complaint that God has against Israel and Judah.
Their love is like the morning mist.
That morning mist appears early in the morning, but as the sun comes out, the mist disappears without a trace.
It’s here and then it’s gone.
The people’s love for God has a showing of reality - it certainly does appear.
There is an apparent turning to God, and apparent walking after Him, but not much longer thereafter, it has vanished without a trace, and the people have gone back to their idols and their shameful ways.
2. The Response to Fickle Love (vv.5-6)
2. The Response to Fickle Love (vv.5-6)
Firstly in terms of the response, God outlines how he deals with people who have a fickle love such as the Israelites did...
5 Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
I killed you with the words of my mouth;
my judgments flashed like lightning upon you.
God speaks here about the prophets that he has used to confront the nation Israel with their prostitutions.
He sent prophets to speak to them; to warn them; to tell them that their walk away from God will lead to destruction
He sent prophets to convict them of their waywardness.
The prophets came with sharp words in order to rebuke them - to cut them with the truthfulness of their own ways.
12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
So it was that God sent these prophets in order to bring their hearts to recognise their sinfulness and waywardness.
Having said how he treats them, he reminds them about what he is seeking in His people...
6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
God here shares his desires with Israel, and shows really where their shortcomings are
He desires mercy, not sacrifice.
There is a deep love toward other people that flows out of a genuine love for God, and a heart that is led by Him
“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8, NIV84)
Furthermore, the people should acknowledge God in their lives and conduct, rather than merely go through the motions of presenting burnt offerings.
Think about our modern situation. How often are we going through the motions of worship - coming to church, participating in communion, perhaps even reading the Scriptures, praying… but our hearts are distant from the Lord.
Our relationships are in turmoil - because we are not cultivating the fruit of the Spirit through deep trust in Him.
This is very important, and something that we should keep striving for in our lives as Christians.
3. The Evidence of Fickle Love (vv.7-9)
3. The Evidence of Fickle Love (vv.7-9)
Hosea will now demonstrate to Israel three different evidences of their fickle love for God. As he does this, he’s going to refer back to events or people in their Scriptures, and liken the people Israel to those events and people.
7 Like Adam, they have broken the covenant— they were unfaithful to me there.
These people are covenant breakers.
The reference is evidently to Adam, in the Garden of Eden, where he disobeyed God - this is the essence of covenant breaking.
“Although God created man upright and perfect, and gave him a righteous law, which secured life for him while he kept it, and although God warned him that he would die if he broke it, yet man did not live long in this honour. Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to subdue Eve, seduced Adam by her, and he, without any compulsion, wilfully transgressed the law of their creation and the command given to them by eating the forbidden fruit. And this act God, according to His wise and holy counsel, was pleased to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory.” (BCF Article 6.1)
Ever since then, man was a covenant breaker, and lived with a natural inclination to break covenant with God.
Israel too had broken covenant with God. The covenant entered into at Sinai as God had led Israel out of captivity and bondage - with all its covenant blessings and curses… They had become covenant breakers - law breakers - as Adam had been.
And thus the need for a perfect Saviour - a covenant keeping saviour that did what no other man could do.
8 Gilead is a city of wicked men, stained with footprints of blood.
What is the importance of the place name? Gilead....
In speaking these words, if one understands the background and the original language here, he is evidently alluding to the account of Jacob in the Old Testament.
Recall that Jacob was the Father of Israel - patriarch. His name was changed to Israel - he had 12 sons - became the 12 tribes of Israel.
Recall - Jacob fled from Esau… stole his blessing and his birthright - ran away.
When he reached Bethel - house of God - had a dream there.
Went on to his uncle Laban.... spent many years there working, marrying Rachel and Leah, building a family...
But then he would return to his homeland from where he had come.
Ran away from his uncle…
It was in Gilead that Jacob wrestled with God… at the Jabbok… Gen 32:22-32...
It was also the place that Jacob wrestled with God, and had his name changed to Israel.
Now how does what Hosea says in verse 8 link with Jacob?
There are two things of note
Firstly, the phrase “stained with the footprints of blood” is a very strange one, and clearly deliberate.
In this verse, the word “footprints” is the same root of the name Jacob.
But there is another link. The word “Wicked men” in this verse uses the same word wicked in the Hebrew as Hosea had used when speaking of Beth-Aven in Hosea 5:8
You will recall that Beth-Aven was actually Bethel - the place where JAcob had laid down, had a dream, and named it “The house of God.” But Hosea instead calls it Beth-Aven, house of wickedness.
And so we have these subtle links to Jacob that Hosea brings across, showing that where Jacob had encountered God in a positive light, the Israelites are promoting wickedness.
One commentator summarizes...
The point here appears to be that the Israelites have taken on the worst characteristics of Jacob—selfishness and cunning—without having his redeeming experiences—encounters with God. They had no knowledge or experience of God comparable to Jacob’s, who had a vision at Bethel and was renamed Israel in the region of Gilead. His descendants, instead of being transformed into Israel, into people of God, remained Jacob, a name that Hosea has transformed into the grim phrase, “stained with footprints of blood.” (Garrett, D. A. (1997). Hosea, Joel (Vol. 19A, p. 163). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
Third Example...
9 As marauders lie in ambush for a man, so do bands of priests; they murder on the road to Shechem, committing shameful crimes.
Here is the third example - priests as marauders on the road to Shechem
This examples looks back to Genesis
1 Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. 2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and violated her.
Obviously this infuriated the family of Jacob and his sons...
8 But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife.
13 Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob’s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor.
15 We will give our consent to you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males.
And so they did that - Shechem and all the males in the region were circumcised...
25 Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male.
Simeon and Levi deceived the people of Shechem, and then lay in wait like thugs.
Notice that Hosea alludes here to a place where Levi, who was the father of the priesthood, was guilty of treachery and mass murder.
When Hosea says here that they “commit shameful crimes,” - certainly it was Levi who committed shameful crimes - carried out wicked plans (as some translations).
And so it is that God says Israel are guilty even of shameful acts and crimes, and this coming even from the priests.
They have continued in the worst of practices that had been demonstrated in history.
As a summary...
“At Adam they broke faith with God as did Adam; at Gilead the people, unlike Jacob, are entirely without grace; and at Shechem the sons of Levi renew the history of treacherous slaughter.” (Garrett, D. A. (1997). Hosea, Joel (Vol. 19A, p. 164). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
4. The Consequences of Fickle Love (vv.10-11)
4. The Consequences of Fickle Love (vv.10-11)
10 I have seen a horrible thing
in the house of Israel.
There Ephraim is given to prostitution
and Israel is defiled.
11 “Also for you, Judah,
a harvest is appointed.
In summary - apostasy and defilement. Something horrible...
11 “Also for you, Judah, a harvest is appointed.
This refers to judgment that will come - a harvest of judgment.
13 But you have planted wickedness,
you have reaped evil,
you have eaten the fruit of deception.
Because you have depended on your own strength
and on your many warriors,
Fickle love by the people of God. Fickle love towards an ever-faithful God.
Application and Conclusion
Application and Conclusion
May there be no charge of fickle love against us.
Our God, who is faithful, sent His Son into the world in order to perfectly demonstrate His own great love towards us. We have beheld God in His Son, as revealed to us in the Scriptures.
And it is the Spirit of Christ that lives and works in us to draw us to Himself, and to keep us in Christ.
But we must be testing ourselves dear friends. We must test ourselves, and see if we are indeed living a life that is true to God, or perhaps living a life that is more fickle in its love towards God than it is faithful.
This is important for us today...
Recall with me the parable of the sower...
15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
What soil describes your heart?
The New Testament is filled with warnings and cautions to Christians, that they are to be careful, that they are to ensure that they remain faithful to Christ.
Just listen to the warnings to various churches as penned in Revelation...
The church in Ephesus:
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Let me ask you a question...
Do you hear the Word of God penetrating you? Cutting you deep with its power as God convicts you thereby of your own sin in life?