We turn again to our consideration of Hosea this morning, reading together and considering chapter 5. Hosea chapter 5. Hosea chapter 5, hear now the word of the Lord. Hear this, you priests, pay attention, you Israelites, listen, O royal house. This judgment is against you. You have been a snare at Mitzpah, a net spread out on Tabor. The rebels are deep in slaughter. I will discipline all of them. I know all about Ephraim. Israel is not hidden from me. Ephraim, you have now turned to prostitution. Israel is corrupt. Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart. They do not acknowledge the Lord. Israel's arrogance testifies against them. The Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin. Judah also stumbles with them. When they go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, they will not find Him. He has withdrawn Himself from them. They are unfaithful to the Lord. They give birth to illegitimate children. Now their new moon festivals will devour them and their fields. Sound the trumpet in Gibeah, the horn in Ramah. Raise the battle cry in Beth-Avon, lead on, O Benjamin. Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of reckoning. Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain. Judah's leaders are like those who move boundary stones. I will pour out my wrath on them like a flood of water. Ephraim is oppressed, trampled in judgment, intent on pursuing idols. I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to the people of Judah. When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his sores, then Ephraim turned to Assyria and sent to the great king for help. But he is not able to cure you, not able to heal your sores. For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces and go away. I will carry them off with no one to rescue them. Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt, And they will seek my face. In their misery, they will earnestly seek me. May God add his blessing to the reading and the preaching of his word this morning. Well, dear people of God, you can do whatever you set your mind to. The sky's the limit. Nothing is impossible for man. Well, at least that's the sermon of our humanistic, man-centered society, isn't it? But then the Word of God comes to us and says, I'm not sure if you caught it, but beginning in verse 4, their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. Is there something that you and I cannot do? Is there something that is impossible for mankind? Well, again, the world hears that, and the world says, well, that's about God, and that's relative, you see. It's whether or not you believe that kind of stuff or not. And really, that's not very important. But that attitude itself, beloved, is evidence of the truth of God's Word in chapter 4 that we considered last week, that my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. From a lack of knowing the true God by faith and of acknowledging His existence and the truth of Him in their living and in their worship. Now chapter 5 is a new oracle, yet it builds on chapter 4. It's a part of God's lawsuit. It's a part of God's charge against His covenant people. And the bottom line is that it is impossible for sinful man, A part without a true knowledge of God by faith, it is impossible for sinful man to turn to God by himself. Man cannot do it. There is something that is impossible for man. And this points to sin's destructive power. And here, notice, first of all, sin's destructive power resulted in Israel's decay. In verse 12, we read, I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to the people of Judah. That's how God describes Himself to the nation. But as well, we know that describes sin, doesn't it? It destroys from inside out, often unnoticed at first, sometimes until it's almost too late. But God knew. They did not know Him, as we considered last week. But He says in verse 3, I know all about Ephraim. Israel is not hidden from Me. Ephraim, you have now turned to prostitution. Israel is corrupt. Ephraim is a designation for Israel. We need to understand that. But what horrible words for the sinner. Terrible words that the Lord knows. The Lord knows all about us. And what horrible words in particular here that Israel is corrupt. And God knew it all along. And the idea behind the word corrupt there is defiled. Israel was unable to enter into the presence of the Holy One. Israel was an impure thing, and there was only two options for an impure thing. Either it had to be purified, or it was to be destroyed. And Israel's decay and corruption is demonstrated, we notice, with arrogance. Verse 5 begins, Israel's arrogance testifies against them. They were guilty. There's no doubt about that. We've considered that already. Her guilt was crystal clear. But you couldn't tell it by looking at her face. There was no shame written all over her face. Because she was filled with pride. We are God's people. We have the history. We have the wealth. We have the land to prove it. We are God's people, and therefore we have nothing to worry about. But her decay is demonstrated with arrogance, the arrogance of the whole nation. Notice how verse 1 begins, Hear this, you priests. Pay attention, you Israelites. Listen, or royal house. It's pretty important if our God begins with three commands. Hear. Pay attention. Listen. And notice the audience is unmistakable. Priests. Israelites. Royal house. It covers the whole nation. The nation was given leaders, indeed, governmental leaders, to protect them. and priests to teach them, to instruct them, to lead them in the ways of God. The leaders were given great responsibility, but ultimately all the people, all the Israelites, like you and me, they were responsible for the state of their own hearts. The arrogance shone throughout the nation and is shown in her sacrifices. Verse 6 begins, when they go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, they will not find Him. You see, they were good at going through the proper motions, at least sort of. They did the sacrifices. And when they did so, they brought a huge number of animal sacrifices. They did more than what was required, boys and girls. They put a lot of extra offering in the offering plate. And they boasted about the fact that no one was as faithful to their gods in sacrificing like Israel was to her God. And certainly, he must be pleased with us. Yet her arrogance clothed her decay with deceit and unfaithfulness. Verse 7 begins, they are unfaithful to God. And that very word unfaithful that is used there should have brought their minds right back to Gomer. Because that word points to the unfaithfulness of a wife who dealt deceitfully with her husband, thinking, he will not know, she will not get caught. Israel had become like the wicked of Psalm 73, of whom we read, they say, how can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge? You see, beloved, that is the arrogant question of those who reject God, those who do not know who God is, what He has done, His greatness, His majesty, His omnipotence, His omnipresence. And it's a dangerous question because sin's power of decay is also seen in ignorance. Israel's ignorance is clear to see in her arrogance, to be sure, but also in her empty sacrifices. She did not see her relationship with God correctly. Yes, she brought the sacrifices. She brought many sacrifices, but it was not the quantity that was the problem. But it was the quality, we might say. Israel spared no expense in trying to gain access to God, but the text says they will not find Him. Why? Because her heart was not in it. The second part of verse 4 says, a spirit of prostitution is in their heart. They do not acknowledge the Lord. See, it's not the volume of sacrifices that would appease or please God. The problem is they were not wholly devoted to the covenant God alone. Their sin was idolatry and rampant heathen worship with all the fixings, including cultic prostitution, which we learned last week was a family affair. She had given her heart to another. Her heart was filled with a spirit of prostitution which caused her decay. That spirit of prostitution which enslaves one deep in sin, in the sin of heathen worship. There's possibly an allusion here to child sacrifices with the word slaughter in verse 2. But we do know that that word comes from the word shittim, and shittim was also a place. In Numbers 25, shittim is the place where the men of Israel indulged in sexual immorality with the women of Moab. And where they began to worship and sacrifice to the gods of Moab, and God sent a plague. It's very possible that this is to be a reminder to them of a low point in their history, And this is you, he says. You remember what went on way back then. You've got the history records. It was terrible. And this is exactly what is going on today, he says. They were filled with that spirit of prostitution that prevented her and kept her from returning to God and instead led her in exactly the opposite direction, away from the covenant obedience to which knowing God leads. They failed to heed the words of David in Psalm 51 when he says, You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it. You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. O God, you will not despise. They brought the farthest thing from a broken and contrite heart. They brought tons of sacrifices with a heart filled with arrogance. And they were trapped. They were ensnared in syncretistic worship. Boys and girls, that means a mixture. They took the worship of the true God and they took heathen worship, Baal worship. They tried to put them together and come out with what they thought was best, like mixing a bad batch of chocolate chip cookies. It was terrible. It was disgusting. Verse 1 says again, Hear this, you priests. Pay attention, you Israelites. Listen, O royal house. This judgment is against you. You have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor. The leaders did not protect the people from heathen influence. They did not lead the people in obedience to God alone. Instead, there was a wicked fabric of society that covered the entire nation. It was like a bird net, and the people were gullible. And they became entrapped in sin and in wicked ways. And they treated God as if He did not exist by treating Him as just another God. And their worship, which they thought was pure, the Bible says really, in verse 11, they were intent on pursuing idols. What we need to know there is what they were looking for was, they were seeking that which was filthy. They were going after scum. Their worship was empty and meaningless. Their ignorance was seen in their empty sacrifices, but also in their hypocrisy. And their hypocrisy was evident not only in that they thought that God was pleased with them, that they thought that He heard them and accepted their sacrifices, but they sought other help. We see that in verses 8-13, in particular, verses 12-13, I am like a moth to eat through Ephraim, like rot to the people of Judah. When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his sores, then Ephraim turned to Assyria and sent to the great king for help. but he is not able to cure you, not able to heal your sores. We know during this time in Israel's history, as we have already considered, the last six kings that they went through, a lot of assassination, a lot of bloodshed, a lot of wickedness. And as the Lord, as it were, pulled his hand away from them, it was like rot, it was like decay. They went down further and further, and part of this history includes the fact that there was a bit of a civil war between Israel in the north and Judah in the south. And it took its toll on both nations. And in the midst of that, Judah's guilt, Judah is also included here, notice. Not just Israel now, but notice Judah too. And Judah's guilt was seen in the fact that the Bible says she moved the boundary markers, the boundary stones. At one point, she tried to recover a portion of Benjamite territory that the Israelites had taken some generations earlier, but the problem is, she tried to take more than what was rightfully hers. Theirs. And in Deuteronomy 27, verse 17, we recurse it as the man who moves his neighbor's boundary marker. God had given them their inheritance, that the land was split up and the people were not to give it away, they were not to sell it, It was not to be taken unlawfully. Judah was guilty as well. And the bottom line is, when all of this wickedness, when all of this rot and decay took its toll on both nations, when they began to realize their suffering, their wounds, they only saw it as external. They only saw it in terms of political problems, social problems, not spiritual problems. They didn't turn to the Lord. They went to other nations. They didn't see their sickness and their sores as wounds that would not heal by themselves. They didn't see that they were debilitating and mortal wounds. They didn't see it as a problem with their soul, an internal problem. They didn't see that all of this was the possibility of being God's doing, which it was according to verse 2. And instead of turning to God, they tried to save their skin. They forgot their soul. They turned to the nations of this world to find relief from the symptoms, but not to seek a cure for the disease. They were ignorant, beloved, of God's promise of punishment. In Deuteronomy 31, the Lord had said that they would be visited with disasters and difficulties, but they were ignorant of that because they had, in a sense, moved the boundary markers of worship. They had made God's territory of their lives smaller. by giving Baal the land of their heart. And in the process, they were ignorant of the fact that God sees it all. Verse 3 again says, I know all about Ephraim. Israel is not hidden from me. Again, words that should have been terrifying to them, but were not because of their arrogance and because of their ignorance. In Psalm 33, we read, From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind. From His dwelling place He watches all who live on earth. He who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. They didn't consider the words of Psalm 139, which clearly talks about the omnipresence and the omniscience of God, that He is present everywhere, that He knows everything. He knows our thoughts before we think them. He knows our words before we say them. He knows our path even before we take one step on it. Nothing is hidden from His sight. Israel's decay was demonstrated with arrogance. It was seen in ignorance, but it was also proven with evidence. Indeed, all that we have said so far, their heathen worship, their spiritual and their cultic prostitution that led to their arrogance and ignorance, it's all evidence against them, but the people did not see it. And therefore, their eyes are directed to what we might call the proof in the pudding, and that proof was their children. Sin's decay produces illegitimate children, according to verse 7. The sins of the fathers were not only handed down, not only passed down, but they were actually caught by the children. And the next generation became non-Israelites religiously, those who also did not know God. The children were evidence, beloved, of spiritual treason. Israel's decay, which was unquestionable, was proof of the destructive power of sin that eats away and defiles. Beloved, sin's produce indeed includes arrogance. And arrogance that says, I don't need God. Things are going just fine for me. What could He give to me that I don't already have? I don't need Him. Or an arrogance that claims God and claims to believe in God, but yet lives the way I want. And that only points to ignorance, doesn't it? The produce of ignorance that God doesn't see. Or at the very least, He doesn't care if He has the only place or the top place in my life in worship. Just include Him somewhere. Just attach Him somewhere. It'll be okay. Or an ignorance that thinks that one can use God like a lucky charm. If I get in a bind, then I'll call on Him. Ultimately, sin's produce is foolishness that only leads one further away from God and that which is pleasing to Him. And indeed, it's clear to us that sin's destructive power is evident in society today. It's everywhere we look, isn't it? You can think of examples just as well as I can. We see it on the TV. We see it in the newspaper. We see it on the streets. We see it in the mall. It's all around us. It's right before our very eyes, the wicked, those who outright reject God and take pleasure in it. Those who have corrupt hearts that suppress the clear evidence of God. Those who desire to engage in lifestyles that are godless and that contradict the clear teaching of Scripture. And along with that, we know that there are many in our society today that claim Christianity. There are many of the citizens of our country, for example, who claim to be Christians. But they have no clue who Jesus Christ is. The fruit is clearly missing. They never darken the door of a church. Or they might throw the name of God or Jesus around a little bit if it's convenient, if it'll get me something. But their standard of life is not the Word of God, but themselves. And sadly, we must also consider modern evangelicalism today. We know there's a decay. For example, modern evangelicalism is becoming tolerant with gods of false religions. Oh, how can we say that the God of Islam is not really true? How can we say that the God of the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons is not really the same as our God? How can we be so arrogant, you see, to say that? Modern evangelicalism is becoming tolerant in that way as well. The worship of modern evangelicalism is dictated by the desires and the interests of people, their felt needs. Give them what they want, you see. Not going after the root of the problem, sin. And we've seen this decay throughout history. We look back over the last number of years in this country, we think of the great universities like Harvard and Princeton that at one time began as theological schools, God-fearing schools, and in many ways have decayed from Christian to godless. And even some of our Christian colleges today have become inclusive in a sense, accepting the practice of the open practice of homosexuality and gay marriage and leaning toward evolutionary ideas and saying that there's nothing wrong with it, that we ought to be accepting of it. In modern evangelicalism today, beloved, the Bible is no longer the source of faith and life. It's just a good reference book. Decay and rot is eating away at the distinction and the distinctiveness that is supposed to divide the church and the world. But what about us? We must also ask ourselves, what does the evidence say about us? I said it before a few years ago, something I heard on the radio. If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? I pray that there would be for me, but sometimes I'm scared. Would there be for you? Have we become those who in prosperous times, we don't think about God, everything is fine, and just we'll leave well enough alone? But when the hard times come, even then we worry more about our physical life and our physical well-being than our spiritual well-being. Jesus said, don't store up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy. Are we those who desire to increase the borders of God's influence in our own lives and in the world around us? Or do we limit His influence? And so we lock Him up in one little corner of our life and say, well, okay, He's here, but as for the rest, as for my business, as for my recreation, as for this or that, He really doesn't have any say-so. Do our lives and our worship, beloved, show the existence of God and the truth of God in all things? For example, do our lives really demonstrate that He is omnipresent. That He is omniscient. Boys and girls and young people, think about that. We claim that. Do you really believe that? That God is present everywhere by His Spirit? Do you really believe that He knows all things, that He sees all things, that He sees and hears everything you do or say? Do you really believe that? Because if we do, beloved, but our lives ought to show it in a marvelous way. Israel's sin resulted in her decay, but also, secondly, it earned the Lord's discipline. Sin never, ever earns God's favor. It only ever deserves punishment. Again, Israel and Judah, they could not blame God. They could not even blame their enemies for their downfall. They could only blame themselves. The text says they stumble into their sins. And their sin, sin earns the Lord's discipline. And that discipline includes, as we see here, that He will not be found in false worship. Verse 6 says, When they go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, they will not find Him. He has withdrawn Himself from them. He will not be found in false worship. Their worship was unacceptable, not because it was imperfect. Our worship is imperfect. But it was unacceptable because it came with a wrong spirit in their heart. It was not exclusively to Him. It was not according to His Word. In the same way, beloved, He will not be found in worship that comes with unconfessed sin in the heart. That's the testimony of the Bible. I didn't just make that up. Psalm 66 says, I cried out to Him with my mouth. His praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. Deuteronomy 31.18, there Israel's rebellion is predicted and the Lord says, and I will certainly hide my face on that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods. God withdraws Himself. He removes His hand of blessing and protection and that is worse than an attack by any physical enemies. Jesus said, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. God's discipline includes the fact that he will not be found in false worship, but he will be the enforcer of misery. I am like a moth to Ephraim, like rot to the people of Judah. You see, he will be the enforcer of misery. That's the result of him withdrawing himself. How terrible that is. When God lets mankind have their way. When He lets sin have its way. And for Israel, God uses means for you and me. For Israel, He used means. He used the means of their self-desires. He used the means of their civil war with Judah. He used Assyria. But it is God who disciplines. And misery comes when God allows man to have his own sinful way. Oh, man might not notice it at first. Man might have fun in his sin. Our nation, the world, has a good time in having its own way. And therefore that misery may come in a subtle way. Again, moth and rot. And that subtle misery may be in a variety of ways. It may be physical or emotional or mental or financial. but sin is the rot that deteriorates all of these aspects of life. And even for the believer congregation, unconfessed sin festers, it irritates, and it prevents true peace and assurance. But without true faith, sin decays. It eats away these things in one's life from inside out and only leads one further away from God. And God's punishment for sin is certain. Verse 9, he says, I proclaim what is certain. He's talking about judgment against his people. It is certain. Answer 10 of the Heidelberg Catechism said that sin is punished now and in eternity because God's justice demands that sin be punished. It cannot be overlooked. And his punishment is unstoppable. No one can deliver from it. Verse 13, but he is not able, that is the great king, is not able to cure you, not able to heal your sores. And Deuteronomy 32, verse 39 says, There is no God beside me. I put to death and I bring to life. I am wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. And ultimately, you see, it leads to serious destruction. Verse 14, for I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces and go away. I will carry them off with no one to rescue them. Boys and girls, a lion was considered to be an animal that was unchallenged. It was unstoppable, and you would never dare to try to take its prey out of its mouth. The Lord's vengeance against sin is terrible and unstoppable. And up to this point, you're probably asking, wow, this is terrible. Where's the hope here? But there is hope. Because we notice that the Lord's discipline, though He will not be found in false worship, though He will be the enforcer of misery, at the same time for His people, those whom He has called, those whom He has redeemed in Christ Jesus, He will move toward correction. That's what He has done. There is hope. In verse 2, He says, I will discipline. And the idea with that word discipline there is interesting. It has the idea of an educational suffering. An idea of instruction. In Jeremiah 30, verse 14, the Lord says, I have struck you as an enemy would. And in verse 24, He says, In days to come, you will understand this. His discipline of His people comes with instruction, corrective instruction meant to curb and to bring an end to the undesirable and the sinful tendencies, to replace those things and to bring about true repentance. Boys and girls, when your parents discipline you for something you have done wrong, it's because they want you to learn. They don't want you to do that again. Because it's not for your good. And therefore, the punishment that your parents give you is a blessing and you are to see it as a blessing and the same is true with god's discipline his chastisement in your life and my life there is hope verse 15 then i will go back to my place until they admit their guilt and they will seek my face in their misery they will earnestly seek me and beloved that is god's sovereign work verse 4 again says their deeds do not permit them to return to their god their deeds prevent them sin prevents us beloved from turning to god but god will work that spirit of repentance through judgment you see in israel we are to see ourselves that by nature we are lost in sin. Jesus says in John chapter 8, everyone who sins is a slave of sin and a slave of sin for that slave, it is impossible to turn from that sin and to do good. Just as impossible as Jeremiah points out when he says, can an Ethiopian change his skin? Can a leopard change his spots? The answer is no. For one who is a slave of sin, we are filled with arrogance and ignorance and evidence of sin's destructive power. But unlike the Israelites who turned to others, we are called to look to Jesus Christ. Because in Jesus Christ, who took God's judgment against our sin, we have been transformed. We are crucified with Him and made alive with Him. In Jesus Christ, God heals all of our diseases. he removes the rot and the decay of sin we are new creatures in him and beloved praise god that he brings us to our knees to see the truth of our sin and misery only then to lift our eyes to see jesus christ who suffered the fullness of god's destructive wrath so that we might be restored when it comes to salvation jesus says in matthew 19 with man this is impossible But with God, all things are possible. You see, it is God who works that spirit of repentance in your heart and my heart through the judgment that Jesus Christ took upon Himself. In Him, we are given a spirit that is able to turn to Him in repentance and faith. We are given a spirit that is able to trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. We are given a spirit that desires God, desires to know Him, and desires to give evidence that He is the God of my whole life. And apart from Him, the day of judgment is coming from which there will be no escape. The end of sin's destructive power when the unbeliever will be carried off to hell with no possibility of rescue. But for those who turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, in Christ, beloved, we are confirmed in His righteousness. Remember, that's how God sees us, as perfectly righteous in Christ. In Him, we are free from all condemnation that we had earned. In Him, we can be confident that He not only saves, but the Holy Spirit sanctifies. He removes more and more the arrogance and the ignorance of sin, And He helps us more and more give evidence of knowing God and of living lives that clearly show the world that we belong to Him. But we still live in a world that's bound for judgment. We live in a world over which Satan is the chief, as the Bible says, the prince of this dark world. We live in a nation that we see that in. In fact, our nation, like some of you have said in the context of this study so far, you've said to me, the United States is a lot like Israel. Same thing. It's true, it's filled with the destructive power of sin, like much of the world. And that's seen especially in the majority vote or in the courts that dictate what is ethically or morally acceptable, and not God, because He's been eliminated. Yet we need to understand, beloved, that our country, for one, is not beyond hope. God's power, His is sovereign power. And therefore we must pray for our country that so desperately needs God's mercy. We are to pray that many would come to know and believe and experience the truth of the Word of God that whoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. Indeed, while we are in the true church on this earth, we are like the remnant of Israel. There was a remnant. It was always a faithful remnant who themselves never turned from God. But they suffered along with the nation. They went into captivity. They suffered problems with other nations overpowering them. But they stayed faithful to God. And the church in the midst of this wicked world is like that remnant of Israel. therefore we too will suffer the effects of this decay. And even as we struggle because of our own sin, God will discipline us as children He loves. He will restore us. That's His promise. That's His grace of sanctification. And we are to praise Him that He gives us not what we want all the time, but He gives us what we need. Even when we don't like it very much. Even when it's rather unpleasant. Yet we know that it is His blessing for our good. Yet in all of this, beloved, our confidence is in Christ, that our ultimate judgment has been met in Him, that we can face the trials of this life through Christ who gives us strength. And therefore, praise God for His impossible work for us, through Jesus Christ, who is the truth alone who sets us free. Praise God for Jesus Christ alone. who makes us able to return to God and as the psalmist in Psalm 100 says, to know that the Lord, He is God. Amen.