>Hosea 5: Judgment Acknowledged
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A Sermon by Dr. Bob Griffin, Teaching Elder at Sovereign Grace Church
I. GOD’S PEOPLE MUST ANNOUNCE FAILURE (5:1-7)
A. FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP
>>1. FAIL TO RESPECT HISTORY
Hosea 5:1 Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the King! For this judgment is on you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread on Mt Tabor.
(I Samuel 7)
>>2. FAIL TO SEPARATE FROM SIN
Hosea 5:2-3 These rebels are knee-deep in blood, but I will discipline them all. I have cared for Ephraim, and have not neglected Israel; but now, O Ephraim, because you have played the prostitute, Israel is defiled.
(II Kgs 24:3-4; Ps 94:11; Jer 16:17; I Chron 28:9)
B. FAILURE OF PEOPLE
>>1. FAIL IN ACTIONS
Hosea 5:4-5a Their actions do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of prostitution remains in them, and they know not the Lord. Israel’s arrogance testifies against them
>>2. FAIL IN ATTITUDE
Hosea 5:5b-6 Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their sin; Judah also stumbles with them. With their sacrificial animals they go to seek the Lord, but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn from them.
(Jude 24)
3. FAIL IN CONTINUITY
Hosea 5:7 They act deceptively before the Lord; for they have borne illegitimate offspring. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.
(Is 1:13)
II. GOD’S PEOPLE MUST SOUND THE ALARM (5:8-15)
A. JUDGMENT OF BOTH NATIONS
>>1. TRIALS OUTWARDLY
Hosea 5:8-9 Blow the shofar in Gibeah. Sound the trumpet in Ramah. Raise the battle cry at Beth-aven. Tremble in fear, O Benjamin! Ephraim shall become desolate in the judgment day; (among the tribes of Israel I proclaim that this is a certainty).
(Lev 25:9; II Chron 15:4; Ps 81:3; Jdg 5; II Kgs 15:19; 16:6; 17)
>>2. TRIALS INWARDLY
Hosea 5:10-11 The princes of Judah have become like those who change the landmarks; upon them I will pour out My wrath like a flood. Ephraim is subjugated, justice is crushed, because he was determined to seek worthless gods.
B. JUDGMENT IS CERTAIN
>>1. TRIALS SUBTLY
Hosea 5:12 But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah
>>2. TRIALS HELPLESSLY
Hosea 5:13 When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his injury, Ephraim quickly turned to the Assyrian Warrior King. But he was not able to cure you or heal your injury.
(II Kgs 17:3; 16:7-9; 18:13-16)
>>3. TRIALS OPENLY
Hosea 5:14-15 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I will tear, then depart; I will carry off everyone, and no one will rescue them. I will return to My lair, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face, and in their distress earnestly seek Me.