Hosea 6-8

Symptoms of:

Forgotten God Syndrome

Hosea 8:14a• For Israel has forgotten his Maker…

Hosea 13:6• When I fed them, they were satisfied;

when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me

Deuteronomy 8:11-19• Be careful that you do not forget the LORD

your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and

your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery…

Deuteronomy 8:11-19• He led you through the vast and dreadful desert,

that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may

say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God…

Deuteronomy 8:11-19• , for it is he who gives you the ability to produce

wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.

Hosea 13:6• When I fed them, they were satisfied;

when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me

Prosperity Pride Forgetfulness

Prosperity Pride Forgetfulness

Hosea 7:9• Strangers devour his strength, and he

knows it not; gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, and he knows it not

G. Campbell Morgan

Signs of decadence, which are patent to others, are undiscovered by ourselves; and we go on, and on, and on, the victims of ebbing strength, spiritually and morally becoming degenerate, without knowing it! We are blind to the signs which are self-evident to onlookers. There is no condition more perilous to our highest well-being than this of unconscious decadence

John• (Jn. 14:15) – "If you love me, you will keep my

commandments• (Jn. 14:23, 24) – Jesus answered him, "If anyone

loves me, he will keep my word,… Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.

• (1 Jn 2:3-5) – And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

Hosea 4:1• 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;

Symptoms of FGS…

• Fickle Love

Hosea 6:4• What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away

Hosea 6:8-9• a city of evildoers, tracked withblood…they

murder on the way to Shechem; they commit villainy

Hosea 7:1• …the thief breaks in, and the bandits raid

outside

Hosea 7:1• …for they deal falsely….

Hosea 7:4• They are all adulterers; they are like a

heated oven whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened

Hosea 8:4• With their silver and gold they made idols

for their own destruction

Matthew 22:35-40• And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question

to test him. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.

And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

John 21:15-17• When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to

Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you."

He said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?“…

John 21:15-17• …and he said to him, "Lord, you know

everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

Symptoms of FGS…

• Fickle Love• Empty Worship

Empty Worship(Hosea 6:6) – For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

(Hosea 8:13) – As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the LORD does not accept them.

Amos 5:21-23• "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no

delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of

your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen

Psalm 51:16-17• For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I

would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise

Matthew 15:7-9• You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he

prophesied about you: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"

Psalm 27:4• One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I

seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

Psalm 42:1• As the deer pants for streams of water, so

my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

Symptoms of FGS…

• Fickle Love• Empty Worship• Sinful Presumption

Hosea 7:1-2• When I would heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim

is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria; for they deal falsely; the thief breaks in, and the bandits raid outside. But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face

Matthew Henry(They act) as if God could not see it, though he is all eye, or did not heed it, though his name is Jealous, or had forgotten it, though he is an eternal mind that can never be unmindful, or would not reckon for it, though he is the Judge of heaven and earth. This is the sinner’s atheism; as good say that there is no God as say that he is either ignorant or forgetful, that there is none that judges in the earth as that he remembers not the things he is to give judgment upon. It is a high affront they put upon God; it is a damning cheat they put upon themselves

Psalm 94:3-11• O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall

the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; and they say, "The LORD does not see;

Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?...

Psalm 94:3-11• …He who teaches man knowledge—the LORD—

knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.

2 Peter 3:3-4,9• … scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing,

following their own sinful desires. They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." …The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count

slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Matthew HenryPreservations from present judgments, if a good use be not made of them, are but reservations for greater judgments

James BoiceWe are never in greater danger than when we assume that He will always forgive us as long as we go through the outward forms of repentance

Symptoms of FGS…

• Fickle Love• Empty Worship• Sinful Presumption• Misplaced Trust

– Trust in Other Nations– Trust in False Gods– Trust in Themselves

Security – Other Nations

• (7:11) – Ephraim is like a dove, silly and without sense, calling to Egypt, going to Assyria

• (8:9-10a) – For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers. Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up….

Provisions– False Gods• (7:14) – They do not cry to me from the

heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me

Direction – Themselves• (8:4) – 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

Hosea 8:4• 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

Hosea 7:4• …Ephraim is a cake not turned.

Hosea 7:16• They return, but not upward; they are like a

treacherous bow

Hosea 8:7b• …The standing grain has no heads; it shall

yield no flour…

Hosea 8:7a• For they sow the wind, and they shall reap

the whirlwind

The Whirlwind(7:12) – As they go, I will spread over them my net; I

will bring them down like birds of the heavens; I will discipline them

(7:16) – their princes shall fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

(8:10) – 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.

(8:14) – … I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds

Hosea 14:1-2• Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you

have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, "Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.