Hosea-5-Hearken unto the word

Hosea 4:1-6

 

“Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land:

“There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away. “But let no one bring a charge, let no one accuse another, for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest. You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with you. So I will destroy your mother— my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.

“Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.”” Amen.

 

God's Contention-God's Lawsuit

Hosea chapters 1 through 3 show God rebuking Israel, yet also giving a message of hope, saying, "Your name is Lo-Ammi, not my people. But in that very place you will again be called Ammi, my people." This reveals God's wrath alongside His grace and hope for us. Thus, the first three chapters set the overall theme of the book of Hosea.

 

Following this, chapter 4 begins to address this theme more specifically, with God saying, "I will now take this matter to court and speak about it, so listen to all of this case." In other words, God is filing a lawsuit and will deal with the contents of their sin.

 

It's as if in a heavenly courtroom, with the people of Israel standing before Him, God, through Hosea and directly, is showing Israel their sins one by one. It's interesting that this dynamic continues until the very end. God accuses us, but sometimes He also becomes our advocate. He appears as both the prosecutor and the defense attorney, defending us. The word that demonstrates this is ' charge to bring against ' (to contend or argue). There is no more appropriate word to express, "I will contend with this people." This word means 'to dispute' or 'to rebuke,' but at the same time, it also means 'to advocate for.'

 

Therefore, the phrase "I will contend with this people" is very difficult to translate. Looking at the overall flow of chapter 4, 'to rebuke' is closest to the original meaning. However, depending on the context, the same word can mean, 'I will protect them, I will speak for them.'

 

Three Things Israel Lacks

The text begins with God's accusation against Israel. The first accusation, which we have already read, is confirmed in the latter part of Hosea 4:1: "There is no truth, no steadfast love (hesed), no knowledge of God in the land."

 

It says that Israel lacks three things: first, 'truth,' then 'steadfast love,' and finally, 'the knowledge of God.' God accuses Israel because these three things are absent.

 

The Absence of Truth

The absence of truth here means that they are surrounded by falsehood. The falsehood of Israel is their belief that they are safe and prosperous, and even more, that they consider themselves righteous. This is a truly difficult problem. Jesus pointed out the same issue with the Pharisees, saying, "You think you are a chosen people and righteous, so when the doctor comes, you say you have no need of a doctor." What good is a hospital to someone who doesn't know they are sick? They consider themselves to be healthy. The Bible calls this an act of self-deception. They are not truthful about God and deceive themselves.

 

This can be a difficult area for all of us believers. When our faith life becomes familiar after 10, 20, 30, or 40 years, all of us, including myself, become too accustomed to church life. We become lazy regarding the constant command of the Bible to "always examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith" and "to look at yourselves." The time when we think, "I am doing it right, I am giving the right sermon, I am trying to teach the right doctrine, and I am still on the right path," is the most dangerous time. It is always difficult to examine ourselves. Therefore, today's text can be of great help to us. 'Do we really have truth? Are we faithful to God? Are we honest with ourselves and facing ourselves as we are?' Do you know who you are?

 

As I said last week, facing who I am is one of the most painful things, but it is something that must be done. Only then can we know God's grace, understand ourselves, and get to know God more deeply.

 

The Absence of Steadfast Love (Hesed)

The second thing, '인애' (steadfast love), is what we know as 'Hesed.' The most significant feature of this word is that it always implies a covenant, which makes it a very important word. God is saying that we lack steadfast love, which is love based on a covenant. To put it more simply, it means 'we do not have love that is shared with others because of grace.' Jesus said that loving people we like, people we get along with, people who have similar hobbies, people we can talk to, and people we feel comfortable with is what even pagans do. The next issue is with people we don't get along with. 'What are we going to do with them? How are we going to love the people God has called together in the church?'

 

The Bible doesn't say, 'You must love them, so love them unconditionally.' Instead, it says, 'Go into God's grace.' We cannot handle it on our own. Who could? Whenever such things happen, we are shaken, we find it difficult and hard, sometimes we spend our time in tears and sighs, and we feel so uncomfortable that we don't know what to do. At that time, it is grace that comforts us, helps us start over, and helps us endure and persevere. 'Ah, I have come this far, and even being in this trial is something I don't deserve, but because God is here, because God is making me new, and because God is leading me this way, I am now seeing and experiencing all of this in my life. And that is God's grace.' The more deeply we understand this, the more our hearts are comforted in all matters. This is because God makes all of us realize what it means for believers and saints to be together and to love one another.

 

The Knowledge of God Personally

Compared to the first two (truth and steadfast love), the third, 'the knowledge of God,' is a kind of prelude. The reason our faith and lives are shaken is precisely because we lack this knowledge. 'The knowledge of God' is such a broad concept, so let's try to understand its meaning more clearly through the context of today's passage.

 

Up to now, we have dealt with 'truth or integrity' and 'steadfast love,' which are both words referring to character. Therefore, we expected the third one to also be a word about character, but suddenly, 'the knowledge of God' appeared. Therefore, we must fully recognize that this 'knowledge of God' is related to our character. The Bible is not just saying, 'The people of Israel didn't know much about God,' but it is specifically saying, 'They don't know much about God's character or disposition.' To be more specific, it means that they do not know God's heart, that is, who God is, in a personal way.

 

When we hear the phrase 'not knowing someone personally,' we often think of a deeper something we feel and know through a deep fellowship or relationship with God, prayer, and reading the Bible. But what I am trying to say now is a little different from that. This is not about fragmented knowledge but about God's character or disposition.

 

My father was from North Korea. Perhaps because of that, I have never had a long conversation with him in my life. My father was a quiet man who didn't talk much. I respected and loved my father deeply because he had many things to learn from him in faith, but I didn't know what kind of person he was. Then one day, my father suddenly began to tell stories about his hometown, and for the first time, I learned why he had hardly ever said a kind word to me.

 

My father told me for the first time that the kinder he was to me, the more he missed his parents he had left behind in North Korea, and the more he thought about how happy his parents would have been to see their grandchild, the more his heart ached, and that it had always been hard for him to talk to me. I was so surprised by that and thought to myself, 'What have I known about my father until now? I really have no knowledge of my father.' What I didn't know was my father's life. I hadn't been interested in his life, which was hidden behind the image of a father. He must have been through a lot, born and experienced the difficult Korean War, then came down to South Korea alone through bomb explosions during the retreat on January 4th, settled down, and went to the army, but I wasn't very interested in his life itself. I had never asked him, 'Dad, how did you get here?' On that day, I repented of many things.

 

A One-on-One Trip: The Process of Getting to Know Each Other

I want to tell you about my experience of going on a trip with my son alone. I especially recommend that fathers, instead of going on family trips with all your children, go on a one-on-one trip with one of your children. This was a method used by Pastor Jonathan Edwards. Despite having 11 children, Pastor Edwards would take one of his children with him whenever he went on a meeting or an evangelism trip, making time from his busy schedule of ministry and sermon preparation. He would spend a week, or sometimes up to a month, with them and tell them stories about his faith and his personal life. How precious must those times have been that he even recorded them in his diary?

 

I also followed his method and went on a trip with my son, and we talked a lot. I learned for the first time how much my son had tried to hide the fact that he was 'a pastor's son' at school. He told me about the difficult and hard times he had when the truth was eventually revealed, despite his efforts to keep it a secret. He told me that when he heard, "You're a pastor's son, aren't you?" he had nothing to say and had to be careful with every action, which was difficult.

 

Besides that, for the first time, I told my son in detail about how my wife and I met and dated, got married, and had children. I also told him in detail for the first time about my faith, how I came to believe in Jesus, what my life was like before that, and what happened after I believed in Jesus. I don't know how much of that long story my son remembers, but I was also able to hear about how my son came to believe in Jesus. This is the process of getting to know each other.

 

Interest in God: Personal Knowledge

Do you know God personally like that? Do you have a really deep interest in God? Are you interested in what God's heart was like when He gave His Son to us? We often only think, 'He saved me, my sins are forgiven, I am now free, thank you, Lord, for letting me go to heaven.' Of course, this is not a bad thing or something to not be grateful for. But are we truly interested in God? Do we truly love Him so much that we want to know Him? Have you ever thought about who He is, what kind of heart He has, how much His heart ached, and how much He loved us that He was willing to give up all that?

 

If God is a Father who would change and dismantle this entire universe to save one person like you, have you ever thought about what kind of heart that Father would have? Are you truly interested in that heart?

 

This is the first thing I am telling you today about the knowledge of God. It is the knowledge of His heart and His character. Thousands of years ago in human time, how did God create the world, and how did His heart and thoughts come to love me this much? We are too interested in our own lives. Like an immature child, we often only care about ourselves.

 

However, the knowledge of God is when you read the Bible and realize that God thought of you from that moment on, that He waited and worked for thousands of years. It is knowing that even in the moment when He took His last breath on the cross and said, "Father, my Father, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" your name was also in the names He was thinking of. Doesn't that mean He thought of me even then? What kind of heart did the Lord have?

 

We don't seem to be used to treating others as persons. It's the same with our children. We often only think of them as 'my children' rather than as persons. While it's true that a child is always a child no matter how much time passes, they are also persons. When we go to heaven, they will not be your sons or daughters, but God's children who will enjoy the kingdom of God with you. If we don't think about treating and respecting them as God's image, then we don't truly know them.

 

A Heart to Know God's Sincere Heart

You cannot fully know the heart of a child. Don't you also wish that others would know your heart that way? How much do you wish for someone to look deeply into your heart and know your true feelings? If so, have you ever thought about God's sincere heart? What is the main focus of our lives? Hosea especially uses the relationship between a husband and wife to tell this story.

 

What should we think about in the relationship between a wife and husband? As the logic of truth, steadfast love, and the knowledge of God continues from before, another aspect of knowledge appears. It is in the latter part of today's passage, Hosea 4:4.

 

The Ones Who Oppose the Word and the Words That Please Our Ears

Let's read Hosea 4:4 together.

"But let no one contend or rebuke; for your people are like those who contend with a priest."

 

This sentence can seem ambiguous even when read in Korean. When read plainly, it looks like, 'You should not fight with anyone. My people are now contending with the priests.' However, according to the Korean Revised Version of the Bible, this verse means, 'The people do not listen to the words of the priests and are fighting with the priests. Therefore, you are not receiving the knowledge of God.'

 

To put it in today's terms, when you listen to God's Word through a sermon or a Bible study, this 'priest' plays the role of delivering the Word. The text says that the people do not listen to the one who delivers the Word. Then who is at fault now? The people are at fault. But surprisingly, the word 'people' does not appear even once in the original Hebrew text of this verse. Why did they translate it as 'people'? This is because the Korean Revised Version of the Bible interpreted the pronoun to be referring to 'the people' in the preceding context. It simply translated the pronoun 'they' as 'people.'

 

This translation is not a wrong translation because it is not incorrect in the context. According to this translation, it is not strange at all to think that because the people are not trying to listen to and draw close to God's Word, the knowledge of God is gradually becoming unstable and weak. This is also related to what Paul said in 2 Timothy chapters 3 and 4. Paul wrote, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."

 

He then told Timothy to continue in the things he had learned and become convinced of and expressed it this way:

"For the time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."

 

Such a time is also among us now. In other words, people listen to many words that sound good to their ears.

 

The Word of God, Not the Word That Sounds Similar to My Thoughts

Please do not misunderstand this part. Let me explain with an example. Many people who come to our church and listen to the sermon say, "Pastor, I listened to the sermon, and how can your thoughts be so similar to mine?" That might not be wrong, and I fully understand what they mean. It's because the words taught in this Reformed church are so consistent with what you normally think that you might feel this is truly God's Word. I fully understand.

 

However, you must change your expression. As long as you think that a word, no matter how good it is, is a word that suits your own heart, it can please your ears. This is because many people who like Reformed sermons also want to please their own ears. If you strongly talk about the injustices and wrongdoings of this world, and the things that need to be changed, and even curse them, you might feel a sense of vicarious satisfaction and great relief. You might think, 'Yes, that's wrong. How can a pastor do that, how can deacons do that, how can such a thing happen in the church? Yes, that's the right thing to say, I feel so relieved,' and think that this church is standing upright and proclaiming the right Word.

 

Why You Must Confirm if It's Consistent with God's Word

Again, that is not the right standard. You should always think, 'The Word I heard is consistent with God's Word,' and be grateful and receive grace. The common sense, conscience, or righteousness you think of is because we are all made in the image of God, so we are bound to seek justice, even if it is not perfect. Such a tendency is prone to manifest as, 'I can't do it, but you should.' You might think that a church should be at this level and that because our church proclaims the Word in that way, it is right, but what's important is that you must check if all of it is consistent with God's Word. Of course, you might feel that there isn't a big difference, but you must change your way of thinking. This is a very different matter.

 

To know if you are consistent with God's Word, you must constantly draw near to the Word. And one of the most important reasons for constantly drawing near to the Word is to listen to the Word correctly. You must remember that so that you can think, 'This church is still proclaiming the right Word,' and prevent yourself from unconditionally accepting the Word delivered through the pastor. You must confirm whether the Word proclaimed from the pulpit is consistent with God's Word. If it is not consistent with God's Word, you should think that it might be wrong. If you misunderstood something, you should, of course, ask. You should ask me or other church officers whenever you have time, "I heard this word, but I don't understand it well," or "I think differently," or "Why is this interpretation like this?"

 

The Power of the Word That Should Not Be Taken Lightly

You sometimes take sermons too lightly. Charles Spurgeon solved the biggest problem in his life through a sermon at a service. He listened to the sermon and put down the heavy burden that had been pressing on him for his entire life. The sermon was a single phrase, "Look to Jesus," preached by a deacon who had to get on the platform because the senior pastor was absent. Spurgeon was changed by that word.

 

If you believe in the power of God's Word, do not pass by each word lightly. It is important to think about whether it is consistent with God's Word and whether it is right. The attitude of constantly trying to listen to what is pleasing to our ears is like what the Bible says, that because the people took the priests' words lightly and did not follow them, the knowledge of God gradually disappeared. This is the first translation of Hosea 4:4.

 

God's Rebuke Directed at the Priests, Not the People

However, there is another translation that is believed to be much closer to the original meaning than this translation. The same verse can be translated like this: 'But let no one contend, nor rebuke (or blame). O priest, am I not contending with you?' In this translation, the pronoun refers to 'the priest,' and the subject 'I' is God. In other words, God is contending with the priest.

 

In the previous translation, the pronoun referred to 'the people,' but in this new translation, it refers to 'the priest.' It is saying that the problem is with the priests, not the people. The reason this second translation is much more convincing is that most of the content that follows is about the priests. Contextually, the story of the priests is mentioned most often, so it is appropriate for the pronoun to refer to the priests.

 

Right after today's passage, it continues, "The more priests there were, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame. They feed on the sin offerings of my people and set their hearts on their iniquity." Only priests eat the sin offerings. God is talking about the priests doing that.

 

You might think, 'Oh, it wasn't the people, it was the priests. I thought this was a message for me, but it was for the pastor.' However, if you think that way, the truth is that this word applies to both me and you. They keep falling. The priests fall in the day, and the prophets fall at night. They all fall. In the end, verse 5, "I will destroy your mother," means 'I will destroy Israel.' This is what the Bible is telling us.

 

The People Who Perish for Lack of Knowledge

How did this happen? Hosea 4:6 explains why Israel, who had received God's grace and abundance, reached the brink of destruction. Let's read just the first sentence of verse 6 together.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."

 

God states it clearly once again. The knowledge mentioned here is a little different from the knowledge of God's character mentioned before. The knowledge here is more historical knowledge. That is, it's like God is saying, 'What have I done for you, and what things have I accomplished for you? How can you forget that?'

 

This actually goes back much further, to the time of Moses. In Deuteronomy, Moses commanded, "Now when you are comfortable and full, when you enter Canaan and enjoy and are abundant with all things, do not forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." But what did the people of Israel do? They forgot even though they had been warned beforehand.

 

The Traces of God's Grace

In front of the main text of Deuteronomy, there are many beautiful promises. 'You will have houses full of good things that you did not fill, you will drink from cisterns that you did not dig, and you will eat the fruits of vineyards that you did not plant.' This all means God's grace. You eat what you didn't plant and drink from a cistern you didn't dig. It is a word that says all things in your life will be received by God's grace.

 

I know that you have had a hard time coming here as an immigrant. But no one would think that you came this far because you had a hard time or because you did well. This is because God's hand that protected and guided you is so clear. We are now worshiping together in a place of worship in a place where we knew no one and knew nothing about, but is this really the result of our efforts? Isn't it amazing? We are always next to it, so we are no longer surprised, but if we think carefully about how God guided us, we know very well that it was simply grace.

 

The History of God's Salvation That We Must Not Forget

The people of Israel forgot God. In Deuteronomy, Moses explains what knowledge we must not forget. 'You must never forget that you were slaves of Pharaoh. I delivered you from that place, I saved you in a place where it was impossible with miracles and wonders, and you are now forgetting all of this: that I brought you into the land I promised to your ancestors and made you live there.' In other words, 'You have forgotten all of God's history of salvation.'

 

We should not forget that fact, but we have forgotten the knowledge of God. Do you feel the conviction, 'I am living too easily, forgetting the story of how God found me in my sin, delivered me, and saved me'? We forget this too often.

 

You, have you ever truly cried out to the Lord and prayed when you faced a difficult time in your life? Have you ever had the thought, 'Lord, I am not worthy of all of this, and I can't do anything unless you hold me at every moment'? When a car suddenly cuts in front of you while you're driving, do you thank the Lord, or do you start swearing first? In our lives, is there a prayer from you that says, 'Lord, I cannot live for a moment without your grace'? We know that the Lord never forgets the history of salvation, but do you live every day with conscious gratitude to God in your life?

 

Why do we pray before meals? The Bible actually does not say to pray before meals. Then why do we do it? It is to remember God. We do it not as a ritual before eating, but to remember once again God's grace and how He truly loves us and how this food came to me. However, gradually, that gratitude in our consciousness may have become unfamiliar, and only a habitual mealtime prayer may have become too familiar.

 

God and 'Our' Story

Now I will take one step further. Today, I first explained to you about the knowledge of God in relation to His character and what it really means to know Him. Secondly, I made it clear that the content is that we must not forget the story of how God was with me and saved me. But there is one more thing in the end. Originally there were two, but if we subdivide it further, there is a third one. It is what we realize through the story of Moses.

 

In Deuteronomy, the people asked Moses, "How are we supposed to remember what God has done for us?" Moses answered like this: 'In the future, when your son or descendants ask you, "What are the testimonies, statutes, and laws that the Lord God has commanded us?" that is, why He gave the Law, why He gave the sacrificial law, and so on, you shall say to them, "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with His mighty hand, and the Lord showed great and fearful signs before our eyes, and He brought us to enter the land that He promised to our ancestors and made us live there, and He commanded us to keep all these statutes, and the Lord has made us live as we are today."'

 

What is the word that appears most often in this word of Moses? Yes, it is 'we.' The people of Israel that Moses is talking about are all people who crossed the Red Sea. But when their descendants ask, he tells them to say, "We crossed the Red Sea." Do you understand what that means? This is not just saying, 'Praise that God because such a thing happened in the past,' but it is saying, 'You are the ones who experienced that very thing, and you are also the ones who participated in that salvation.' That is your knowledge.

 

The History of God That Has Entered My Life

It is the same for you and me. We do not just believe that Jesus died on the cross 2,000 years ago. We believe that we were also crucified with Christ on the cross, and when the Lord received God's wrath, we escaped God's wrath because of Christ within Him, and we were given all of Christ's righteousness at that time. That is the practical knowledge of Jesus Christ that we experience and know. It means that history, time, and the events that happened have entered our lives.

 

It is not that you and I are just watching a past event, but that this mysterious and amazing history of God is poured into us, and God breaks through the moment of His glory into our lives and says, 'This is yours. This is what happened to you.' That is why we do not just read the Word, but we live the Word.

 

You are not just people who read the Word and get good stories and lessons. The Bible is not a book that gives lessons like the Mingxin Baojian. The Analects of Confucius and Mencius also give you countless good lessons, and Buddhism also has the teaching, 'Treat others as you want to be treated.' The Bible does not just end by giving you lessons and making you know them. If that were all, why would Jesus have come to this earth and died Himself? This is so that God can make you and me know the things that Christ experienced and the things that Christ gives us as God's knowledge, so that it can become mine, and so that you can be in Christ. This is so that you can enjoy all of Christ.

 

The Victory We Gain Because We Are in Christ

Your salvation is in that. Do you know why you don't need to fear Satan? It is because Christ overcame the temptation of Satan when He was on this earth. And since you are in that Christ, the word, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" actually happens. You and I can win because we are in Christ.

 

While we live on this earth, we cannot overcome all the temptations and all our weaknesses, but we gain victory through God and the history of Christ and the events that happened. When we are baptized, we know that it is symbolically enjoying the same thing as crossing the Red Sea. When we drink the Lord's body and blood, we know that it is on one hand eating the bread that came down from heaven, that is, the bread that saved us in the wilderness. It is not just a symbol, but through the mysterious union with Christ, which only Christ can do, and which only God can provide, the One who cannot promise anything else unites with you and makes you enjoy all of that.

 

You are living the Word. Not only do you live according to the Word, but because the Word itself is working in you, you can win and fight. You can rely on Christ when you are in conflict with someone, when you fall into temptation, or when you are in a difficult event because Christ is in me and I am in Christ. Christ becomes my shield and my armor. He fights for us and gives us the victory that He won, so we do not give up, despair, or get tired and rely on the Lord.

 

We do not rely on some event, special ability, or our own strength, but we rely on God. This is the knowledge of living with Christ, and that is the knowledge of God.

 

Eternal Life and the Knowledge of God

Hosea says that Israel missed and forgot this very knowledge. They forgot the amazing grace of knowing that they and their descendants who had participated in the Exodus and should have learned from their parents, were so much a part of God's history that no one could snatch them away from God. Because of that, their lives became insecure and fearful, and they began to look for other things.

 

It is the same for us. The moment that the fact that you are in Christ—that your life, despite its weaknesses and difficulties, is actually alive because of Christ—ceases to be a source of strength, we will very easily create our own idols.

 

Jesus said this is what eternal life is. What is eternal life? It is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. He did not say to believe, but to know. The knowledge of God is ultimately the knowledge of living with a living Lord. Do you have that knowledge? After teaching from Hosea's message, I'd like to end with a prayer from Calvin.

 

Calvin's Prayer

Calvin prayed like this:

"Almighty God, have mercy on us. Today we confess that we have committed the same sin before you as the Israelites who rebelled against your prophets in ancient times. Although you have gently called us to yourself many times, we have not responded and have stubbornly persisted, bringing about your wrath. So, O God, have mercy. May our hearts be moved to hear your warnings. May we humbly prostrate ourselves before your face. And at the same time, may we believe that God has already prepared this reconciliation for us in Christ, and may we run to Christ, our Mediator. Relying on His intercession, may we never doubt that you will forgive us, and may we finally shed all our sins and reach that blessed glory prepared for us by the blood of your Son."

 

Let us pray.

Lord, when we forget that we are in the knowledge of God, we forget You even while living in Christ. We are startled by the fact that we can live as if we have no Lord, and we desire to hold on to You again. We desire to remember again and not forget that I am in Christ, living with Christ, and dying with Christ, and to rely on that Lord. So, grant us to know and rely on the fact that our lives, not only in this world but also for eternity, are truly lives that enjoy amazing glory with God. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.