You Reap What You Sow
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
1 “Put the trumpet to your lips!
An eagle is over the house of the Lord
because the people have broken my covenant
and rebelled against my law.
2 Israel cries out to me,
‘O our God, we acknowledge you!’
3 But Israel has rejected what is good;
an enemy will pursue him.
4 They set up kings without my consent;
they choose princes without my approval.
With their silver and gold
they make idols for themselves
to their own destruction.
5 Throw out your calf-idol, O Samaria!
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?
6 They are from Israel!
This calf—a craftsman has made it;
it is not God.
It will be broken in pieces,
that calf of Samaria.
7 “They sow the wind
and reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no head;
it will produce no flour.
Were it to yield grain,
foreigners would swallow it up.
8 Israel is swallowed up;
now she is among the nations
like a worthless thing.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria
like a wild donkey wandering alone.
Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.
10 Although they have sold themselves among the nations,
I will now gather them together.
They will begin to waste away
under the oppression of the mighty king.
11 “Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
these have become altars for sinning.
12 I wrote for them the many things of my law,
but they regarded them as something alien.
13 They offer sacrifices given to me
and they eat the meat,
but the Lord is not pleased with them.
Now he will remember their wickedness
and punish their sins:
They will return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker
and built palaces;
Judah has fortified many towns.
But I will send fire upon their cities
that will consume their fortresses.”
Introduction
Introduction
We are slowly working our way through the book of Hosea. And it is a great and wonderful challenge to our lives, even as Christians living so many years later.
The minor prophets have such important words to speak to us, even in our own day.
The question that we must ask ourselves as we approach this text is, am I living my life in accordance with godliness, so that one day I may reap the rewards of a life lived in this manner?
The title of the sermon is, “Your Reap what you Sow.” And this is taken from verse 7 of our passage, where God says that Israel had sown the wind, and thus would reap the whirlwind. We’ll see a little bit later the specific details and meaning of that, but for now, let us consider that the decisions we make, what we do in our lives, how we conduct ourselves, what we indulge in or refrain from indulging in, all of these things have consequences.
So let us consider Israel and their ways before God, and how this would impact them as a nation. And let us do this so that we may learn for our own lives today just how important it is for us to remember in each day that we live before God.
Notice firstly with me, Israel’s...
1. Covenantal Failure (vv.1-3)
1. Covenantal Failure (vv.1-3)
1 “Put the trumpet to your lips!
An eagle is over the house of the Lord
because the people have broken my covenant
and rebelled against my law.
We have already considered previously in our study of Hosea how the trumpet was used to sound the battle cry. But here again, we find the warning by Hosea that there is a trumpet cry going to ring out as a result of the sins of the people against God. In other words, an army will approach Israel with the goal of bringing destruction. They will seek to overthrow Israel.
The warning is that the enemy would come like an eagle over the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord here refers to the nation Israel - not simply the temple. It is saying that a wild animal, a devouring animal will come over Israel and treat Israel as it’s prey.
The reason is then given in this context - it is because the people have broken the covenant of God. They have rebelled against the law that He had given them by which to live.
They repudiate the law of God.
In verse 2, God says through Hosea...
2 Israel cries out to me,
‘O our God, we acknowledge you!’
The word from Israel was that they knew God. They spoke as if they had this personal and intimate relationship with God. They invoked the name of God, they claimed to call upon Him. And yet they did not truly know Him.
God gives the true situation in verse 3...
3 But Israel has rejected what is good;
an enemy will pursue him.
Although they claimed to know God, and to be walking in His ways, they had in fact rejected that which was good. They had rejected His holy law.
We should pause to just consider some practical observations even for our own lives today.
Firstly, we must remember that Christ is the covenant keeper for those who are in the New Covenant people of God. We can never of ourselves keep the covenant of God. Christ has done that on our behalf.
But even having said that, we need to ask ourselves if we delight in the covenant of God. Do we delight to keep the Royal Law of God - loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving our neighbour as ourselves?
Is this a growing trend in our lives.
We must not think that every person who calls upon the name of Christ truly knows Him. Christ Himself said this to the disciples in the sermon on the mount.
22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’
23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Many people today will claim to know God. They will claim to have relationship with God, but they do not live in obedience to Him.
In fact, there is very little desire or effort to live in obedience. Much of their claimed relationship with Christ is for their own benefit or good, without a hears desire to serve Him.
Many churches today are abandoning the ways of God, and condoning that which is clearly contrary to His ways. These cannot rightly claim to love God, if they not only fail to walk in obedience, but they openly support that which is contrary to God’s ways.
In our day, we must recognise that the law of God, the revealed will of God through His word, is that which is good and right, and according to which we should order our lives.
As we go on in our passage, notice Israel’s....
2. Contemptuous Disobedience (vv.4-6)
2. Contemptuous Disobedience (vv.4-6)
4 They set up kings without my consent;
they choose princes without my approval.
With their silver and gold
they make idols for themselves
to their own destruction.
At least two contemptuous acts of disobedience are outlined.
Firstly, they were setting up kings, and choosing princes without the consent of God. The leaders that were being put into power were not those whom God had desired and said they should appoint. Rather, they were doing there own thing.
The king of Israel was supposed to be Yahweh’s representative. This was not supposed to be someone chosen by the people without God’s word - often through a prophet who would anoint the next king.
The people of Israel were living without trust in God; without seeking God’s directing and leading. They had drifted away towards an autonomous way of living, not relying on God.
The second thing that they were doing was that they were making idols for themselves.
God says through Hosea, “With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction.” Verse 5 and 6 go on to say…
5 Throw out your calf-idol, O Samaria!
My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?
6 They are from Israel!
This calf—a craftsman has made it;
it is not God.
It will be broken in pieces,
that calf of Samaria.
Idolatry as a way of life had proliferated in Israel. Even as far back as Solomon - the one who was a wise king - the people started to go the way of accepting idols. You will recall how Solomon’s many wives from other nations led him astray.
5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.
God also speaks about the calf-idol that they are to throw away.
Look with me at 1 Kings 12 to see just something of what was happening here...
25 Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel.
26 Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”
28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin; the people went even as far as Dan to worship the one there.
31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.
King Jeroboam was concerned only with himself. He was took counsel from wicked men (certainly that counsel wasn’t from God, or from godly men!). He did according to his own thinking, for his own benefit, in order to suit himself.
He professed this to be for the good of the people. He claimed that this was for the good of the people, and for the glory of God. He even went ahead to establish a feast of celebration… Everything was according to His own making. But what foolishness!
But God’s response to this was rightly that His anger burned against them.
God’s response to their actions is that their idols would be destroyed, and they would receive the just punishment of their sins.
In this regard, notice thirdly from the passage, Israel’s....
3. Coming Disaster (vv.7-8)
3. Coming Disaster (vv.7-8)
It is not merely the idols that God will destroy. Rather, the people Israel will reap the consequences of what they had sown...
7 “They sow the wind
and reap the whirlwind.
The stalk has no head;
it will produce no flour.
Were it to yield grain,
foreigners would swallow it up.
Here God gives an in indication of the destruction that will come upon them because of their unfaithfulness.
This is a fascinating picture that Hosea uses. When the people of Israel would sow their seed, it would usually be done in a slight breeze so that the seed was thinly spread over the tilled soil in order to have proper growth.
But there is also another meaning behind this. He does not say here that they sow seed in the wind, but that they sow the wind.
Sowing of the wind was a picture of the sowing of worthless things, that which is intangible, of no value.
Solomon spoke extensively in Ecclesiastes of a “chasing after the wind...”
In Proverbs we read...
29 He who brings trouble on his family will inherit only wind,
and the fool will be servant to the wise.
And so in this case, they are sowing those things that are worthless.
Well what do they reap in this instance? They reap the whirlwind.
For the crop farmer the whirlwind, or the storm, was that which brought destruction to the crop.
In the context of Israel, they would reap their own destruction because of the fact that they had worshiped vain idols; they had engaged in futility by trusting in the nations around them. Ultimately, they had forsaken God, and thus their pursuits had become worthless.
We should pause and consider that this instructive, even to us.
To sow the wind is to fail to live according to the ways and wisdom of God in His word. It is the folly of living, acting and worshiping in vain. Every time we live and act outside of the wisdom of God, we are sowing folly, that which is worthless.
To sow wind is to live with no good or godly purpose. It is to live as though there were no divine plan for your life, no divine standard for your own spiritual life.
It is to take life like a handful of precious seed that had the potential to bless many people with food and sustenance, but to simply throw it into the wind, and to waste it.
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
8 He who sows wickedness reaps trouble,
and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
Friends, let us consider carefully how we are living our lives, and if we are making the best use of our time. Are we sowing well. Are we using that which God has entrusted to us - our talents; our contexts; our finances; all that we have - are we using them well? Are we using them with determined effort to bring glory to God?
Notice fourthly with me, Israel’s...
4. Conflicted Relations (vv.8-10)
4. Conflicted Relations (vv.8-10)
8 Israel is swallowed up;
now she is among the nations
like a worthless thing.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria
like a wild donkey wandering alone.
Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.
The phrase at the end of verse 8 literally means that Israel is a despised vessel…
Consider that Israel had been called by God in order to be a nation that represented Him among nations. The nations surrounding Israel were to look at Israel and see that God was their God, and that He was the true God.
They were to be a holy nation, so that the nations around them would see their distinctiveness.
But they had become despised vessles. They had become common. They were much like the nations around them.
Verse 9 says...
9 For they have gone up to Assyria
like a wild donkey wandering alone.
Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.
Israel had gone up to Assyria and to the surrounding nations in order to enter into political alliances with them. They were also taking on the customs of the people around them.
God says that they have sold themselves to lovers. They have loved the ways, the customs, the practices of the people around them. They have given into those ways, and have forsaken the way of God. They have refused obedience to God, and have instead sought to live life as they saw fit, as they say best.
The consequences of this are in verse 10...
10 Although they have sold themselves among the nations,
I will now gather them together.
They will begin to waste away
under the oppression of the mighty king.
God is saying here that judgment will come upon them.
By gathering them together, it will not be for a sacred purpose, or to restore them. But rather, the gathering together will be with the purpose of bringing judgment upon them for their sinfulness.
God says that they will begin to waste away, under the oppression of the mighty king. The mighty king here is the king of the nations into which they will be taken captive, whose power over them will lead them to great oppression. They will become subjects to this king, and so begin to waste away.
Again, we should ask ourselves how we are living our lives in this world.
Are we as Christians, are we as the church, living as lights? Are we living as pure vessels in the midst of an impure world?
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
Again, Christ is the perfect redeemer. He is the perfect light in this dark world. And we rest in His perfections.
But we are called, by the power of Him who lives in us, to exercise our responsibilities and to live distinct, pure, holy lives.
Notice fifthly with me the...
5. Corruption of the Cult (vv.11-13)
5. Corruption of the Cult (vv.11-13)
11 “Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings,
these have become altars for sinning.
Now we must recall that the altar on which the sin offerings were to be offered up was in Jerusalem. This was the only place that altars should have been.
It was Jeroboam that had instituted this multiple-altar system. This was something that was common among the Canaanites. But this became a part of Israelite life. But further to this, their altars became places of worship even to false gods. They also indulged in unbiblical worship practices as they sacrificed on these altars, including gluttony, drunkenness, and even worse.
God says to them in verse 12...
12 I wrote for them the many things of my law,
but they regarded them as something alien.
God had clearly revealed to Israel the stipulations and requirements that He had for them. He had given them His law. It had been clearly outlined and articulated. It was recorded for them, and they had been diligent to study it.
But how they had failed to keep it!!
God says that they regarded His law as something alien!
13 They offer sacrifices given to me
and they eat the meat,
but the Lord is not pleased with them.
Now he will remember their wickedness
and punish their sins:
They will return to Egypt.
Notice that although they offer up these sacrifices, the Lord is not pleased.
How often to people today, even those who profess the name of Jesus Christ, regard the law of Christ as something alien.
Even today, God’s word has been under attack from churches, and they are turning away from the ways of God, saying that the culture should define what is true. What is truth for one culture, or one period of time, they say, is not necessarily truth for another.
But friends, God’s law is trusted and true. And the Word of the Lord endures forever.
The church must stand firm on the law of God - the revealed will of God in the Scriptures. Most of the ways in which men are sinning are clearly demonstrated in Scripture. It is thus needed that the church of Jesus Christ stand firm on the Word!
We should not fool ourselves into thinking that merely because we are doing things that we think are pleasing to God, that we are in fact pleasing to God. We need to be very careful to consider that we are doing things truly in accordance with the word of God, and ensure that our lives are being lived to His glory.
God is not mocked!!
Finally, notice with me, that Israel will be...
6. Consumed by Fire (v.14)
6. Consumed by Fire (v.14)
The punishment that will come to them is outlined in verse 14...
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker
and built palaces;
Judah has fortified many towns.
But I will send fire upon their cities
that will consume their fortresses.”
Israel has forgotten God. They have forgotten His revealed truth. They have forgotten that living for the honour and glory of the Almighty Creator of the World, means living according to His laws and Standards.
Israel had built palaces, Judah had fortified her towns. They had built up these places of strength in which they sought their own protection. But God is not stopped by walls, and strong buildings. Refuge cannot be found in these places.
God says that he would consume their fortresses.
The destruction that will come upon them will be complete.
Application / Conclusion
Application / Conclusion
In what are you placing your trust? Where is your confidence? As you live your life, day to day, what are you sowing?
Is what you are sowing according to the law of God. Is it in accordance with God’s revealed ways and purposes?
We should be careful not to offer lip service to God, but rather to truly consider our lives, and to determine if they are lives that please the God that we serve.
Christ is a perfect redeemer. In Him we are secure, if we are indeed in Him.
But this world is a battle ground for the souls of men, and if we are not intentional and determined in our walk with the Lord, we may quickly be led to beliefs and practices that lead us away from Christ.
Dear friends, we have been given the revealed will of God. We have been given the perfect revelation of God - His own Son. That Son has lived the life that we could never live. He has died to pay the debt for our own sin that we could never repay. But His life is an example for us to follow.
To live in obedience to the law of God, is to look at the life of Jesus Christ, and to say that I want to live like that! I want to be like Christ. That is my goal. I want to sow a life according to the life of my Saviour.
Yes, I am saved by His grace. I will only enter glory by His grace and mercy in Christ. But I am empowered by His spirit. And I have a responsibility now to no longer live for the passions, pleasures, desires of this world, but rather for Jesus Christ my Lord.
Am I sowing in this vain? Is this what drives my every day of life?
May the Lord grant us wisdom and grace to live each day in this manner, so that we may one day, by God’s grace and goodness, reap the eternal rewards.
Amen.