The Consequence of Compromise | Sunday, June 16, 2024

Hear the word of the LORD, you children of Israel, for the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed... (Hosea 4:1–3)

When a nation loses truth, mercy, and the knowledge of God, the consequences of compromise come due—and the blame often begins with those called to lead.

A Divided Time, Then and Now

I tried hard this week to put together a light and encouraging Father's Day message, but we're in the book of Hosea—so I had to scrap that. As I considered this text and looked at the culture around us, you don't have to look hard to see that there is a significant amount of division in our country.

The first presidential election I voted in was in 2000, and over the last 24 years our campaigns have become an increasingly constant mudslinging contest pitting right against left, red against blue. Congress is perpetually divided, and the established media on both sides often amplify the separation in caustic and toxic ways. Every cycle we are told this is the most important election of our lifetime, that our republic is in danger of collapse.

People have asked me over the years, "Do you think we are on the verge of a civil war?" Every time, I think, I surely hope not. But we should be concerned, and especially as Christians we should be stirred to pray when we see what is happening throughout Western culture—populist risings on the right and the left that, if you look at history, don't tend to go in good directions.

The World of Hosea

In the 8th century BC, conflict was exactly what was happening among the children of Israel. The nation had already been divided by civil war about 200 years earlier, in the 10th century BC. When Solomon—the great wise king who wrote the Proverbs and is known for Ecclesiastes—died, his son Rehoboam took over with a low approval rating. The greater part of the nation went with the northern kingdom, called Israel, under their king Jeroboam, and the nation remained divided.

Hosea lived 200 years later, and conflict was stirring again, largely because of outside influences. Hosea lived in the second half of the 8th century, as did Isaiah, Amos, Micah, and Jonah. The biggest movement of that era was among the Assyrians. Almost everything we know of secular history from that time comes from the Assyrians, who kept great records found in the ruins of Nineveh in modern-day Mosul, Iraq.

The Assyrians were on the move under one of their first great kings, Tiglath-Pileser III—so good a name they used it three times. He doubled the size of Assyria's holdings, led south to take Babylon, and continued along the Fertile Crescent, the habitable lands wrapping from the Tigris and Euphrates around the Arabian desert into Syria, Lebanon, and toward Israel and Egypt.

Ahaz and the Confederacy

Seeing this bulldozer coming, the king of Syria knew he needed an alliance, so he joined with the king of Israel, the northern tribes, to fend off Assyria. They realized they needed more land and more men, so they decided to go down and overtake Judah. You can read this in 2 Kings 16, 2 Chronicles 28, and Isaiah 7:

It came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it. (Isaiah 7:1)

Ahaz had less power, fewer people, and less wealth than his cousins to the north. Isaiah 7:2 says that when it was told to the house of David that Syria had deployed in Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and his people "was moved like the trees of the woods are moved with the wind." Many cities of Judah fell to the northern tribes and Syria.

So what did Ahaz do? Instead of listening to Isaiah, who came and said, in effect, "You have not been a good king or a good man—repent and trust in the Lord, and God will protect you," Ahaz sent a message to Tiglath-Pileser asking for help against Syria and Israel. He became a tributary, paying the Assyrian king to save him. It was a bad idea—Tiglath-Pileser was already coming that direction, and Judah was the next stop—but Ahaz figured if he paid, they'd be friends. The Assyrian was glad to take the money for something he intended to do anyway.

A Prophet in the Middle of It

Where was Hosea in all of this? Right in the middle, living in Samaria, the capital of the northern tribes, watching the geopolitical chaos. Wouldn't you like advance knowledge of what's coming next in a time like that? Enter Hosea.

How did Hosea get his message? He didn't have a red phone to God's office. Most likely he had the Torah—especially Deuteronomy—and eyes to see what was happening among his own people. He saw the similarities between what God said would happen if Israel was unfaithful and what was unfolding, and the Holy Spirit gave him inspiration to declare it.

Picture a courtroom. Israel sits at the defendant's table, and Hosea is the prosecuting attorney on behalf of God. The charge: there is no truth, no mercy, and no knowledge of God in the land. The evidence: swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and committing adultery, bloodshed upon bloodshed. The verdict: the land will mourn and everyone in it will waste away.

Can you see why the prophets were not always well liked? The people wanted to hear, "Don't worry, God's got your back, you'll weather this." Instead Hosea said, "This is happening because of your sin, and you will be laid waste." Point one: sometimes God's messengers deliver a message His people would rather not receive.

No Truth, No Mercy, No Knowledge

The message was simple. First, the people had departed from truth—there was no true faithfulness to God. Israel had divided affections, living with an adulterous heart. That same concept appears in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery in his heart. Israel lusted after the false gods around them—Baal, Asherah, Molech—and the immoral practices tied to them: debauchery, drunkenness, and sexual immorality.

Second, the people had departed from mercy. The Hebrew word chesed speaks of loyalty, loving kindness, goodness, graciousness, and favor shown to others. Hosea says they were no longer kind or good to one another—a breakdown of civility. Sound familiar?

Third, they had lost the knowledge of God, which is hard to imagine because these were the people of God. They were meant to be His priests to the nations—going to God on behalf of the people and to the people on behalf of God. But they had abandoned that role for centuries. The evidence of all this was unrestrained lying, killing, stealing, and adultery, an amplifying compounding of sin.

As a result, destruction and mourning are expected—not necessarily because God comes in to bring them, but because these are the natural outcomes of disregarding God's command. Deuteronomy 28 and Proverbs 14:34—"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people"—make this clear. Our Maker has given us the manual; use the tool outside its prescribed usage and you void the warranty and break the product. Point two: God's message is consistent, Genesis to Revelation—sin brings separation, death, and destruction.

Who Is to Blame

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (Hosea 4:6)

When we are challenged or called out, our inclination is to cast blame elsewhere. Adam said, "It was the woman You gave me." So who is to blame for Israel's sinful adultery? Though the language is difficult, other translations make it clear. The Christian Standard Bible renders Hosea 4:4, "Let no one dispute; let no one argue, for My case is against you priests." The New Living Translation: "Don't point the finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! My complaint, you priests, is with you."

God's appraisal was that Israel's sinful separation was caused by bad priestly leadership. The people were unfaithful because the priests never led them to faithfulness. They lacked loving kindness because the priests never taught them. They had a deficient knowledge of God because they received no instruction in wisdom from the priests. As a religious leader, that is a heavy word—and I see the connection to our time.

Point three: sometimes those who are supposed to be God's messengers deliver the wrong message, or no message at all, and the people suffer destruction. I saw this in living color this past week. I watched an individual given the title "pastor" deliver a message to 150 or 200 people that was outright shallow, absurdly unbiblical, and wrong. I won't name names. And I thought: is it not possible that our nation is in the state it's in, at least in part, because those ordained as God's ministers have failed to rightly divide the word of truth? I think the answer is yes—just as it was 2,800 years ago.

The More the Priests Increased

The more they increased, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame... They eat up the sin of My people; they set their heart on their iniquity. (Hosea 4:7–8)

This seems strange—wouldn't more priests mean less sin? Here's what happened. When the nation split, Jeroboam king of Israel had a problem. God had commanded that the people worship at one place, the temple in Jerusalem—the capital of Judah. Jeroboam feared that if his people went to Jerusalem to worship, their hearts would turn back to the house of David and they would kill him.

Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem... they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah." (1 Kings 12:26–27)

Imagine leaders in Sacramento noticing everyone drives to Las Vegas to gamble and taking all that tax revenue—so they change the law to keep it here. That's the move. First Kings 12:31 says Jeroboam "made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi." He built many temples and ordained anyone who looked the part. The more the priests multiplied, the more the people's sin multiplied as they worshiped idols under them.

And the priests ate it up—literally. They lived off the offerings, and people brought offerings when they sinned. So sin meant more meat on the priest's table, more money in his pocket. God's verdict: "Like people, like priests; I will punish them for their ways and reward them for their deeds." One of the most sobering verses I encountered as a 19-year-old beginning to teach was James 3:1: "Let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment." You don't get a pass because you're a priest.

A People in Bondage

Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart. My people ask counsel from their wooden idols... For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, and they have played the harlot against their God. (Hosea 4:11–12)

Unlike Judah, which seemed to try to hide its sin, Israel paraded it. They lived large and wanted everyone to see, completely given to sexual immorality and drunkenness, not realizing the bondage it brought. "Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart" is almost an ancient idiom for addiction—being in bondage to lustful arousal, alcohol, or sex, unable to escape. There was no chastity, no purity, no value on virginity any longer. Sound familiar? The temples to Baal and Asherah were the OnlyFans and PornHub of that ancient world.

Strikingly, in verse 14 God shows compassion on the women led or pushed into this:

I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go apart with harlots... Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled. (Hosea 4:14)

There would be no PornHub or OnlyFans without men seeking these things, and no temple prostitution 2,800 years ago without a market for it. It is disgusting when you see a four- or five-year-old girl scantily clad and twerking on social media—that comes from a culture that has no problem with such things and amplifies them. That was the culture of Israel, and God holds the men specifically responsible. Point four: sometimes the message is more caught than taught, and it sets people on the path to disaster. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."

More Caught Than Taught

Many people today are on a path that leads to ultimate disaster, individually and as a culture, because they have followed the way of the culture and know no different. What message are our lives sending? It's less about what we say and more about how we live. Our attitudes and actions transmit to others; they will follow our patterns far more than our words.

This is so important for dads. If you have a half-hearted commitment to honesty and integrity, to God and His church and kingdom, don't be surprised if your kids and grandkids mirror you with even less. If you speak with disrespect and unkindness to your spouse, don't be surprised when your children do the same. Your pattern of life speaks louder than your words. And if you spend the bulk of your time with people and in places that dishonor God, you will fall into that pattern too. You've heard, "You become the average of the five people you spend the most time with." That's an old idea—Paul said it in 1 Corinthians: "Evil company corrupts good morals," and "a little leaven leavens the whole lump."

Let Him Alone

Though you, Israel, play the harlot, let not Judah offend... Do not swear an oath, saying, "As the LORD lives"—for Israel is stubborn like a stubborn calf. (Hosea 4:15–16)

God says, in effect: you do this openly and parade it, but don't drag Judah down with you, and don't pretend to follow Me while you bow to Baal and Asherah. Don't be a hypocrite. If you're stubborn and stiff-necked and want to go this way, I'll let you. Then comes one of the most sobering verses in all of Scripture:

Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. (Hosea 4:17)

They departed from God and joined themselves to idols, and God says, "That's what you want—I'll let you have it." It's as if He steps back: My presence, My protection, My blessing will be noticeably absent. Why such a drastic resolution? "Their drink is rebellion, they commit harlotry continually; her rulers dearly love dishonor" (4:18). The wind—the strong wind of Assyria—has wrapped her in its wings, and they will be banished and exiled from the land.

A Call to Faithfulness

If only they had listened to their messengers. If only they had messengers who spoke the word of truth, and had received prophets like Hosea, repented, and returned to the Lord—without a doubt God would have received them again.

Seeing this sobering picture, we need Christian leaders who will speak the truth faithfully, proclaiming the word of God without compromise even when it is difficult and unpopular. So pray for us. Paul asked the Ephesians, "Pray for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains" (Ephesians 6:19–20). Pray that the ministers in our community would speak the truth boldly.

But we, the people of God, must also be on guard—as Israel was not—that we not be carried away by the currents, tides, and trends of our culture toward things that conflict with God's nature and will. We must humbly acknowledge that we are prone to wander. The flesh lusts against the Spirit. Yet "God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive" (Ephesians 2:4–5), and saved us unto good works (Ephesians 2:10).

God calls us to walk in those good works and enables us to do so by His Spirit, by His word, and by the body of Christ, where He stirs us up to love and good deeds. Our culture more than anything needs to see a people set apart unto God, walking in rightness before this world. And on this Father's Day, may it please God to start with the dads—American culture in 2024 needs godly fathers, noticeably absent for several generations. We need God to work in us.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I pray that You would help us. Would You work in us by Your grace, by Your Spirit, by Your word, and by the encouragement and exhortation of brothers and sisters within the body of Christ, that we would press on to lay hold of that for which You have laid hold of us. Pour out Your Spirit upon Your church and enable us supernaturally to fulfill the responsibility You've given us—as Your children, as members of Your body, as men and women of God—to walk in ways that honor and glorify You, knowing we will give an account for how we use the life, gifts, abilities, resources, and time You have given. Help us to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and to run with endurance the race set before us, looking unto You, forgetting what is behind and pressing forward. Enable Your church, we pray, in Jesus' name. And all those who agreed said, Amen.