The Fruit of Idolatry

Series: “God Speaks”

Text: Hosea 10:5-15

Introduction: (What?)

In the last couple of messages, we have seen how Israel (Ephraim) tried to mix the true worship of God with the worship of Baal. That is kind of like drinking a glass of tea or a cola that is 99% pure, but 1% cyanide. It may taste good going down but there will be a price to pay in the end. Just as Paul wrote to the Galatians 6:7 “Don’t be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap.”

Today we will see the fruit of their idol worship.

Examination: (Why?)

1. When your “god” is captured (vv5-6)

Hos 10:5-6 “The residents of Samaria will have anxiety over the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its idolatrous priests rejoiced over it; the people will mourn over it, over its glory. It will certainly go into exile. The calf itself will be taken to Assyria as an offering to the great king. Ephraim will experience shame; Israel will be ashamed of its counsel.”

The question we should ask as we read this passage is how in the world can a “god” which is supposed to be powerful be captured and dragged away by an earthly king? The fact that a “god” can be taken anywhere against its will shows that idols have no power. Yet we find the residents of Samaria (Jerusalem) being anxious for their “calf god” and mourning its loss to the king of Assyria.

Perhaps you have heard the adage “I’ve never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul.” That is a take-off on the phrase, “You can’t take it with you.” The earthly things that we trust in and “worship” will not go with us beyond the grave. What you have stored up and treated as a god will go so someone else. If a person worships their wealth as a god, not only can wealth not keep them from dying, but it cannot reward them in eternity. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains it this way:

"Our Lord is concerned here not so much about our possessions as with our attitude towards our possessions. It is not what a man may have, but what he thinks of his wealth, what his attitude is towards it. There is nothing wrong in having wealth in and of itself; what can be very wrong is a man's relationship to his wealth. And the same thing is equally true about everything that money can buy."

If your “god” can be captured by another, then your “god” is impotent. It can’t even protect itself much less you.

2. When your king is deposed, and your house of worship is destroyed (vv7-8)

Hos 10:7-8 “Samaria’s king will disappear like foam on the surface of the water. The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; thorns and thistles will grow over their altars. They will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

Samaria was another name for Jerusalem in this day. The king who resided there and supposedly governed the 10 tribes of the Northern kingdom was an idolater who had built a temple for Idol worship. His power diminished to the point that he was totally impotent as a leader. The word “disappear” can also be interpreted as “cut off”. The house of worship that he built, called Beth Aven (here only called Aven which means wickedness) was destroyed by the king of Assyria. With both the leader and the place of worship gone, the people of Israel wandered like sheep without a shepherd.

Here in America we seem to have an impotent leader who cannot even get the central piece of his platform passed. Our “place of worship” is arguably Wall Street. If the stock market were to fail (as in the Great Depression) people would be in panic. The inhabitants of Israel preferred death by disaster rather than such a life of uncertainty.

There are two other references in scripture to people crying for the mountains to cover them and the hills to fall on them. One is in Luke 23:29-30 As Jesus was being led to Golgotha, He spoke to the crowd that was following Him and mourning. He warned them to mourn for themselves because evil days were coming. “Look, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the women without children, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’”

Another place where this verbiage is used is in Rev 6:15-17 “Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?”” This is after the sixth seal is opened and natural disasters proliferate.

We must realize that if we opt to follow an earthly leader rather than the LORD we are on dangerous ground. One day God will say “Enough!” and judgment will come.

3. Evil takes its toll (vv9-15)

Hos 10:9-15 “Israel, you have sinned since the days of Gibeah; they have taken their stand there. Will not war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah? I will discipline them at my discretion; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bondage for their double iniquity. Ephraim is a well-trained calf that loves to thresh, but I will place a yoke on her fine neck. I will harness Ephraim; Judah will plow; Jacob will do the final plowing. Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love; break up your unplowed ground. It is time to seek the Lord until he comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain. You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in your large number of soldiers, the roar of battle will rise against your people, and all your fortifications will be demolished in a day of war, like Shalman’s destruction of Beth-arbel. Mothers will be dashed to pieces along with their children. So it will be done to you, Bethel, because of your extreme evil. At dawn the king of Israel will be totally destroyed.”

I’ve used this phrase before in a message. There comes a day when you must pay the piper. One dictionary defines this phrase this way; bear the consequences of an action or activity that one has enjoyed. "we will have to pay the piper, and the price is apt to be a high one"

God warned in this passage that the time of paying for their sins was at hand. He even urged them to change their ways immediately, saying, “it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and send righteousness on you like the rain.” Since we in America are guilty of the same sins as those of Israel, should we not pay attention to this word from God? We have “eaten the fruit of lies” and we have “trusted in our own way and in our large military”. Consequently, God warned (and warns) that “the roar of battle will rise against your people, and all your fortifications will be demolished in a day of war.” God likens the result of this war to what happened when King Shalmanezer of Assyria ravaged Israel. in 2 Kings 17:7-13“This disaster happened because the people of Israel sinned against the Lord their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt and because they worshiped other gods. They lived according to the customs of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites and according to what the kings of Israel did. The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. They built high places in all their towns from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. They burned incense there on all the high places just like the nations that the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did evil things, angering the Lord. They served idols, although the Lord had told them, “You must not do this.” Still, the Lord warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commands and statutes according to the whole law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through my servants the prophets.”

However, the people did not obey so God unleashed His anger on them. 2 Kings 17:18-20 “Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel, and he removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained. Even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God but lived according to the customs Israel had practiced. So the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, punished them, and handed them over to plunderers until he had banished them from his presence.”

Application: (How should we respond to this message?)

What must we do to avoid the judgment of God upon America?

As an individual, what would God have me to do?

What steps should I take to bring revival to my life, my church and my nation?