After a bit of a pause, we do return to Hosea, Hosea chapter 12 this morning. Reminded, there are 14 chapters in the book of Hosea, and it may seem at times that, well, Hosea says the same thing over and over again. He really does. And it may seem monotonous to us, but there's a reason that he said the same things over and over again to the people of Israel. There's a reason that the Lord says it to us as well. There's always something that the Lord has to teach us through Hosea in repeating. His message of judgment, His message of destruction. And also as we see intertwined in there again and again, a message of hope, a message of mercy. And we see the two, I trust we see that this morning, the two as well in chapter 12. We'll begin reading at verse 12 of chapter 11 through chapter 12 as we consider this Word of God. Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, the house of Israel with deceit, and Judah is unruly against God, even against the faithful Holy One. Ephraim feeds on the wind. He pursues the east wind all day and multiplies lies and violence. He makes a treaty with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt. The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah. He will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. In the womb, he grasped his brother's heel. As a man, he struggled with God. He struggled with the angel and overcame him. He wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there. The Lord God Almighty, the Lord is His name of renown. But you must return to your God, maintain love and justice and wait for your God always the merchant uses dishonest scales he loves to defraud Ephraim boasts I am very rich I have become wealthy with all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt I will make you live intense again as in the days of your appointed feasts I spoke to the prophets gave them many visions and told them parables, told parables through them. Is Gilead wicked? Its people are worthless. Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Their altars would be like piles of stones on a plowed field. Jacob fled to the country of Aram. Israel served to get a wife and to pay for her he tended sheep. The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt. By a prophet he cared for him but ephraim has bitterly provoked him to anger his lord will leave upon him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt again may god add his blessing this morning to the reading preaching and hearing of his holy word beloved in the lord jesus christ in act 17 verse 30, Paul says, but now he that is God commands all men everywhere to repent. Now when we consider on the one hand the holiness of God and on the other hand the sinfulness of man, this is an amazing call that God would even bother to call such sinful creatures to repent, that he will hear them. And we know that God will only hear because of Jesus Christ, because of who He is, because of what He has done. In Jesus Christ, we are called to seek God, to seek His blessing. We are called to desire it. Not to take God's blessing for granted. Not to be content without the blessing of God. Instead, to constantly desire the blessing of God. Israel had despised the blessing of God. Israel, we know, had rejected the covenant relationship that God had established with her. And we know again that Israel was to come under judgment and Judah was not far behind. But even then, notice again, they are called to repent, to return. In the very midst of judgment, God was still reaching out to them, reminding them of himself. And here in this chapter, giving a history lesson of her very existence, calling her to return to him. And that very call is a vivid reminder of God's mercy. God's mercy in this context where Hosea indicts Israel, charges Israel. Again, in that covenantal lawsuit, that court of law, Hosea indicts Israel for covenantal rejection. And that covenantal rejection is seen in her covenant unfaithfulness. Now again, this is not new for us. We've considered this from the very beginning of this prophecy as Hosea was commanded at the very beginning to take a wife of prostitution. He goes and marries Gomer who was a prostitute and she turned out as well to be an unfaithful wife stepping out on him and she was a picture of Israel who was unfaithful to her covenant husband. Stepping out on him. Ignoring her covenantal responsibilities. And her covenant unfaithfulness, as Hosea makes clear here, is noticed through her practice of deception. And that deception included her attacking God. Notice verse 12 again of chapter 11. Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, the house of Israel with deceit, and Judah is unruly against God, even against the faithful Holy One. And verse 1 again talks about multiplying lives. But in that verse 12, Ephraim, which is another word for Israel, and then Israel itself, and then Judah, surrounding God. Now with regard to those words about Judah in that verse, where it says Judah is unruly against God, Hosea in the NIV is comparing Judah with Israel. Now, some of you may have, for example, the ESV with you, and some other versions say something to the effect, but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One. It says something quite a bit different. Contrasting Judah with Israel. Now, I believe that the NIV is the one that we ought to follow in this case. The other translation is based on the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, And even though it is true that at this point in Israel's history with Hosea's time, that Judah was not yet as unfaithful as Israel, not yet as far down the path to judgment. But we see that throughout this prophecy that Hosea also indicts Judah in other places. And especially again in chapter 12, verse 2 here, the Lord has a charge to bring against Judah. I believe we are to understand this, that altogether, the nation as a whole as it once was, is surrounding God, attacking God with her lies. But what's interesting, as we had considered some time ago, is that Israel claimed God. Notice again chapter 8, verse 2, Israel cries out to me, O our God, we acknowledge You. Israel, with all of her idolatry and all of her heathen worship, was still keeping God, Jehovah, on the line as it were, hanging on to Him just in case. We've got to have our bases covered. Yet the Lord, Jehovah, who alone was faithful to the covenant, while both Ephraim and Judah only pretended to be, the covenant God was surrounded by lies. It was as if wherever He turned, He saw deceit. He saw evasion of the truth among His own people. And he saw that through her weapons of deception and fraud. Again, Hosea alludes to them, and it's not new information for us, yet he repeats them here. Those weapons include cheating on the covenant by making treaties with foreign nations, Assyria and Egypt. Those weapons include exercising abuse against others, for example, the poor. Boys and girls, they were not loving their neighbor as themselves. They were called to behold justice and care for the poor. They were abusing them, taking advantage of them. As well, greedy materialism, as verse 8 points to. They were coveting. The more they got, the more they wanted. As well, idol worship and or the worship of Jehovah in ways that He was not happy with, that He did not prescribe. Verse 11 points to that. And then the weapons of other capital crimes. We notice Hosea mentions Gilead again and bloodshed he had in chapter 6. In Gilead, at some point in history, there was innocent blood shed, many innocent murders. But very simply, Hosea's point is that the evidence of covenant rejection was clearly against God's covenant people. And instead, they had a wicked likeness. They looked like something else. In verse 7 we read, the merchant uses dishonest scales. He loves to defraud. Now that word for merchant there is a Hebrew word from which we get the word Canaanite as well. Canaanites were known as traders, merchants. Before Israel settled in Canaan, Canaan was considered to be a wicked place. Canaan was known for commercial dishonesty and it was notorious for religious depravity and religious prostitution. In a sense, when Israel entered Canaan, Israel's task was to make Canaan Israel, as it were. But instead, what happened was Israel became a bunch of Canaanites. They looked no different than those they were supposed to drive out and destroy. And beloved, that is the danger of compromise with the world. When one compromises with the world, sooner or later, they look no different than the world. And that's why you and I are called to examine ourselves, to examine ourselves closely. Do our lives confirm our confession of Christ? Or when God looks at you and me, does He see lies? For example, does our speech build up? in a God-honoring way, or does it tear others down and hurt them? Does it promote their reputation? Or discolor it? When it comes to our clothing, when it comes to our clothing, beloved, does what we wear honor God? Or does it resemble the world and tempt others to commit adultery in their heart? When it comes to our financial situations, do our financial situations cause us to covet and to become discontent and tempt us to lie and cheat and steal? Or do we find contentment with God's provision, whether little or much? When it comes to our lifestyle as a whole, does it demonstrate confidence in God that we have no other gods before Him? Or does it demonstrate confidence in ourself and in the things of this world? Beloved, our lives are to be under our very own microscope. That we are to ask ourselves, am I truly Christ-like? As I claim to be? Or am I world-like? Hosea reminds Israel and Judah of her covenant unfaithfulness and practice of deception and then places before Israel a portrait of Jacob. First, he says, you're like the Canaanites. Look in the mirror. This is what you are. But then he places before them a portrait of Jacob, verses 3 and 4. In the womb, he grasped his brother's heel. As a man, he struggled with God. He struggled with the angel and overcame him. He wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there. Now, knowing our Old Testament history, we know what those things are talking about with regard to the life of Jacob. And I believe that Hosea is pointing there to the naming of Jacob, receiving the name Jacob, and then later on receiving the name Israel. But now to be sure, there was a proud identity there, at least from Israel's side of it. Jacob was their father, and they were his namesake. And that meant, at least in their mind, that they were the recipients of God's promises to Jacob. Now some commentators would see a sad comparison here. They see Hosea comparing Jacob's deceitfulness in securing Esau's birthright and blessing and comparing that with the deceit of Israel and Jacob that we've already read about. Their deceit, for example, with regard to God. That in their minds they would think, well, if we go through the prescribed religious rituals, if we pray and we sacrifice and we observe the feast days, which they were doing, along with a lot of other stuff, If we faithfully go to church on Sunday, then God will be satisfied with us no matter what our true spiritual and moral condition is. That's what they thought. But as Paul says, God cannot, He will not be mocked. And I believe that Hosea is putting Jacob before us here not as a sad comparison, but they were to see a stark contrast. Again, he said, you're like the Canaanites. There's a stark contrast. Israel was not a chip off the old block. They were nothing like Father Jacob. Father Jacob, who sought after God. Jacob, who desired the blessing of God. Jacob, who, as the text says, begged for God's favor. Who knew that he was nothing without God and His blessing. Who, as Hebrews 11 verse 21 says, was commended for his faith. That was their father, Jacob. They were nothing like Father Jacob. And Israel and Judah must learn that they would not be saved because of the name of Jacob or Israel and their association with that name. And the same is true today, beloved. One is not saved just because that one may call himself a Christian and may do all kinds of good moral things. Salvation is found in no other than Jesus. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved than the name of Jesus and true faith in Him evidenced by a life of faith and trust. Israel was clearly lacking that and instead their life was a picture of a folly, of foolishness as Hosea exposes Israel's foolishness. In verse 1 he says, Ephraim feeds on the wind. He pursues the east wind all day long. Now, boys and girls, it's kind of a funny picture. Sad picture, but funny. It's a picture, really, of an animal that rejects nourishing vegetation, that rejects good food, and instead tries to satisfy its hunger by running after the wind and snapping at the breeze. Trying to eat it up. foolishness. There's nothing there. Maybe you've seen in a car on the road and a dog with its head out the window and the breeze in its face and the dog is snapping at the breeze. There's nothing there. And even further, the foolishness is seen is that Hosea says they do it all day long. They don't get it. They never learn. You cannot catch the wind, boys and girls. You know that. You cannot trap the wind in a jar if you try to do that and you come to mom and say, look what I've got what do you have well it's wind oh really you take the top off and you can't see it you can't touch it you can't it's not blowing anymore it's empty that's what characterized israel an empty and worthless exercise and it gets worse because he talks about the east wind the east wind in Palestine is worse than our Santa Ana's on the hottest of days. There's nothing more destructive to plants than that east wind that comes up and dries them out and burns them to death quickly. Someone has said the east wind was sought only by suicidal fools. This is the foolishness Hosea wants them to see. It's the foolishness of turning to other nations for help and security. It's a waste of time and in fact it's destructive like that east wind it'll only hurt them and not help them it is God alone who gives satisfaction God alone is our refuge and strength an ever-present help in trouble one who will not run away when the going gets tough the one who had promised covenant blessings and protection for covenant obedience and the foolishness has also seen their foolishness in their empty boast. Verse 8, Ephraim boasts, I am very rich. I have become wealthy. With all my wealth, they will not find in me any iniquity or sin. Indeed, we know it was a time of prosperity, at least for a portion of Hosea's ministry. But it wasn't because of covenant blessing. It was because of deceit and extortion, cheating. Though they thought it was the blessing of God, and worse yet, they thought that, well, if anybody does try to accuse me of sin. I can buy my way out of it. They did not recognize their sin and the guilt of their sin. They had convinced themselves that they had done nothing wrong. And sometimes when we are prospering, when life is good, sometimes we tend to take our eyes off of our spiritual life a little bit. And we must confess, beloved, that sometimes it is so easy to justify our sin. Especially our subtle sin. Sometimes it's so easy to justify cheating just a little bit on my taxes because who's it really going to hurt and who's going to know? Not a big deal, right? It's so easy to justify the sin of telling someone what they want to hear just in order to get your way. Or the sin of taking advantage of the generosity of others. It's so easy to justify our sin and to convince ourselves we've done nothing wrong. Here, Israel trusted in herself, not in her covenant God. And the warning is that we too are not to put our trust in ourself, in our own success, which is temporary, it will fail. But we are called to be thankful in prosperity and to recognize God's provision. And even more than that, to recognize that God does not bless sin and unfaithfulness. We sang that, if in my heart I sin regard. We sang that together. God will not hear my prayer. It may seem that God blesses sin and unfaithfulness in this life, but He does not bless it. He blesses obedience to Him. He blesses living for Him. Though Israel was blinded by her own foolishness, it was clear to God that her covenant unfaithfulness and rejection was in the second place against her covenant God. She had forgotten whom she was rejecting. And here I believe Hosea is trying to drive home that point to her, remember Him. Remember Him. He calls Him the faithful, holy one. The only God there is. The only one who is faithful to His covenant. And in verse 9 it begins, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. At the very same time, Hosea is reminding them of who the real God is. It's not money, it's not power, it's not prestige, it's not Baal. But their real covenant God is the God of election, the God of their election, and that is seen through Jacob. Verses 4 and 5 again, He struggled with the angel and overcame him. He wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there. The Lord God Almighty, the Lord is His name of renown. That election is seen in Jacob's new name. You recall that on the way back to his homeland, after he already had his wives and children on his way to meet Esau, Jacob wrestled with the angel. And as he was doing so, he pleaded with the angel for blessing. And his name was changed to Israel. And then after meeting Esau, the Lord appeared to Jacob at Bethel. Remember, Bethel meant house of God. In Hosea's day, it had been changed to Beth-Avon, house of wickedness. But Hosea is beautifully reminding Israel here that Jacob did not go there and meet the golden calf like you guys are doing. He went there and met the Lord. And notice what happened in Genesis 35. After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob. Your name will be Israel. The second time he says that now. So he named him Israel. And God said to him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. This was the process of election. naming was symbolic of a new relationship. Jacob, in a particular way, was to become the servant of the Lord, and the Lord then revealed His divine plan for a special nation. And what a vivid reminder to Israel, you are that special nation. You are the ones whom God elected. Hosea is reminding them and wants them to remember her origin, her identity, who her God is. The very one who gave her her very existence. And this God is also a God of redemption. Verse 9 again, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. A vivid reminder of the law of God that God gave to Moses for the people of Mount Sinai. A flashback to Egypt. A flashback to their days of captivity. A reminder of their freedom from slavery by the hand of the Lord, whose name, whose might, whose wonders, you recall, preceded Israel throughout the nations on the way to Canaan. Remember what Rahab said? We have heard all that, what, you've done? No, all that the Lord your God has done for you to Egypt and to Sihon and all of those great kings, what He's done for you. We've heard it. Our hearts melt. Hosea says His name is the name of renown. And Hosea wants them to understand, to see once again that this same God is Israel's covenant God, that He is changeless. He is still powerful. That same power that the nations recognize is still His. They need to understand the one they are rejecting is the one who gave her her very life. And He is also the God of providence. Verse 9 continues, I will make you live in tents again as in the days of your appointed feasts. I spoke to the prophets, gave them many visions, and told them parables through them. Now you recall that one of the feasts that Israel was called to observe was a feast of booze, a reminder of their wilderness wandering days. To remind them that a clear reminder of the God who provided all that they needed in the wilderness. He provided all their food, the manna and the quail. He provided all their water. He provided all their protection. Everything they needed. But along with all of their physical protection and necessities, He provided His Word. He gave them His prophets. His prophets, that was a gracious act of God giving His Word, His Word of life to guard, to guide, to direct them. In a subtle way, Hosea is reminding them that Israel is without excuse for her covenant rejection because God revealed His expectations through the prophets. Yet also the prophets served to condemn the people for their disobedience and to call them back to God. But that too, beloved, is an act of mercy. The warning of judgment, calling to repentance, is an act of mercy. Now, you and I don't see it that way always, do we? In our pride, we don't like to be told that we're doing something wrong. I don't. We don't like to be corrected. But you see, beloved, it's for our good. It's to keep us from danger, to keep us from trouble. It's for our improvement. In verses 12 and 13, Hosea reminds Israel that father Jacob was a shepherd. And that Moses, the great prophet, also shepherded Israel in the wilderness. And that just as Jacob went to the foreign land to receive his wife, Jehovah went to the foreign land in the person of Moses to deliver his wife. And now there was Hosea, who himself is a prophet of God who was sent to shepherd God's people. And a shepherd's task is not always easy. He was sent with a task to call them to repent of their sins. To call them to return to the Lord. To call them to recognize their true God. To call them to realize that her whole history was due to Him. To recognize that her whole life depends on Him. And the same is true for you and me as Paul clearly reminds us in Ephesians, especially chapter 1, that our election, our redemption, our provision is all in Christ Jesus. We are hopeless without Him. Our entire history is due to Him. Our whole life depends on Him. Israel needed direction for life and living. She needed it from above, not from the world. She needed it for her protection, for her benefit. And Hosea was a representative of the word of God, a representative of his mercy. Yet again, God and his covenant was rejected in the third place, resulting in her covenant punishment. Again, the second part of verse 9, I will make you live in tents again as in the days of your appointed feasts. In verse 14, But Ephraim has bitterly provoked him to anger. His Lord will leave upon him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt. Beloved, Jehovah's covenant punishment upon Israel was according to his justice. If we were to take the time to look back in Deuteronomy where Moses rehearses God's blessing for obedience, we would see now that Israel had rejected all those things for which God promised blessing. And where Moses talks about curses for disobedience, they had embraced all those things for which God said He would curse them. It was according to God's justice. Plain and simple, they deserved death. In verse 14, he talks about the guilt of his bloodshed. Remember that God had set forth a provision that if one had shed blood innocently, if one had accidentally killed another, that one's life might be spared. But when one purposefully killed another, his blood was to be shed. And therefore Israel must understand that the crimes of God's covenant people, her disobedience, point to deserving death. And she would endure the loss of everything. I will make you live in tents. Again, that reminder of the wilderness when they had nothing. And here we can consider it, on the one hand, as a word of judgment. Her wealth would be taken away. Her standard of living would be reduced to the barest of anything. She would dwell in tents because of her misuse of the resources that God had given. Her worship would be demolished as he says that the altars would become nothing but a pile of stones. And this was coming upon Israel by way of exile, which was a picture of hell. And that, dear people of God, is a picture of what is to come on all who reject God's salvation through Jesus Christ. Israel needed to understand, mankind today needs to understand, that our sin is wide open. Our sin is exposed before God. Not one can hide it. And for those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be stripped of all of God's favor that they may have enjoyed in this life, and they will suffer naked and empty for eternity. Our only hope is in Jesus Christ. But again, as we have seen throughout Hosea, that's the beauty here. That hope is still alive. That hope is still real. Even here in chapter 12, As even in the declaration of this judgment, of this covenant punishment, this declaration is tempered with mercy. There is the call to repent and believe, verse 6, but you must return, just as Jacob returned to Bethel to fulfill his vow, you must return to your God, maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always. There is a call to return to the God who elects, the God who redeems, that God who provides with the promise, He will hear, He will forgive. And we are told here, too, that He will lead some to return. Again, I will make you to live in tents again. We can think about that in more than one way, not only as a word of judgment, but it's also a word of hope. It wouldn't feel like it to them, it would feel like discipline to them, but it's a word of hope as God would bring them to the point where the only place they could turn is to God alone. as they would be reminded of the powerful lesson that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. He would bring his people to the realization that they have nothing to offer him, but he provides all that we need for this life and the life to come. Beloved Israel's situation was as she was headed for judgment. The evidence was against her. She deserved death. Yet every step of the way, God's mercy was poured out. As he reminds them of their only hope in him calling to repentance, to return. God commands all men everywhere to repent. That word is still good today. And in that day, what hope for the faithful remnant that God would preserve for himself, that faithful remnant who would also suffer desolation. They would also suffer captivity. They would also be reduced to tents. But what encouragement for them to call. They were called to wait upon the Lord to trust that He would act and God has acted through Jesus Christ. And therefore, you and I today, we live in the light of the cross. We live in the light of that cross where Jesus Christ suffered the death penalty for our sin and our disobedience against the Lord God Almighty that we might be reconciled to God forever. That whosoever believes on Him, as John says, should not perish but have eternal life. Again, this indictment is an indictment against you and me. This deserving of death includes you and me. But Jesus Christ has taken it all that we might have eternal life. And as we wait for Him to come again one day, we live in the midst, indeed, we live in the midst of a wicked world, a world that rejects God, a world that lives in all disobedience without any thought to God's commands, a world that is headed for eternal death, a world whose sermons about me, myself, and I seek to drown out the Word of God. But even as we wait for Jesus Christ to come again, He has not left us alone. He has given to us His Word and His Spirit. He has given to us His Word that we need constantly, not just in the Lord's Day, but every day of our lives. That Word by which He constantly reminds us of our election, of our redemption, and of our provision for time and eternity all through Jesus Christ. He reminds us of our history, of who we are and why we are who we are. And we need that constant reminder of God's blessing to us in Christ Jesus. He's given to us His Word to shepherd and guide us by His Holy Spirit in all obedience. We are called to maintain love and justice, as verse 6 says, the very opposite of what Israel was doing. To maintain love and justice. In other words, to resemble our Heavenly Father. And that love and justice is pointing to obedience to the commands of God. Obedience that flows from love to God and is demonstrated in our love for our neighbor. And there again we ought to ask ourselves, do we really love our neighbor? I struggle with this one. Do I really have a heart for the lost? Do we love the soul of our neighbor? Do we care if our neighbor is an unbeliever? Do we care that they are headed for everlasting punishment? Or do we love them? Beloved, may we give a demonstration of love for our neighbor. Our love for God by loving our neighbor, by sharing the gospel with them. Even in simple conversation, by inviting them to the fellowship of the church. By inviting them to family ties that we look forward to in July. By teaching them that God is merciful, that God will forgive, that that hope is still alive today. There is hope. It's not too late. At the same time, beloved, as we wait for our Lord to come, we face temptation. Every day you and I face temptation on the news and the newspapers from our society around us. We face the temptation to forget God. To forget Jesus Christ. To forget our dependence upon Him. Our government wants us to trust in it, in its stimulus packages, which don't seem to be working. Forget God. And beloved, the truth is sometimes what we need most is for God to remove what we have, to reduce us to tents in order to lift our eyes to Him. Our prayer is to be that God would withhold from us, that He would keep from us that which would destroy us or draw us away from Him. And therefore, may our prayer be that God would deprive us of the things that we are tempted to boast of and take confidence in apart from Him. May our prayer be that He would deprive us in order to drive us in His way. And beloved, if He does hear that prayer, And if He does do that, as He has caused some of us to suffer economically, for example, can we thank Him for that? Can we thank Him for hardships faced? Boys and girls, can we thank God for punishments received? Can we thank Him for suffering loss? Can we thank Him when we know, as the Bible says, that He works it all for our good? Can we thank Him? Like Jacob, we are called to crave God's blessing. To desire God's constant presence and to live consciously in it. And dear people of God, may that be evident by more than just a fish symbol on your car. Or a bumper sticker with a Bible verse. But may it be evident by responding to God's love poured out in Jesus Christ. Responding with love for God above all and our neighbor as ourself. and living according to God's Word. Like Jacob, we are called to remember to whom we belong, and that's Jesus Christ. He says, you belong to me. Don't forget it. With God's blessing in Jesus Christ, we are able to go forth in His service and to be strong in His might. And those who wait for the Lord, those who trust in Him and find their hope in the Lord, They are promised renewed strength, as Isaiah says. And as David says, they shall not be put to shame. Instead, they will reign with him forever and ever. Beloved, praise God for his grace of calling us to repentance and granting forgiveness for Jesus' sake. Amen.