By Woodrow Kroll
Part 10: Life Lessons About Sin Learned From Hosea - Number 1 of 3
You know, life presents some interesting challenges and some wonderful lessons. Today I would like us to think about some of the lessons that you and I could learn from the Book of Hosea.
This is a wonderful book. It is a love story. It's the story of God's love for His people, Israel--even though Israel had forsaken the love of God. And it is seen in the story of a man, Hosea, and his wife, Gomer, who was unfaithful to him. And yet he loved her the whole time. His love would not let her go--like the love of God will not let us go.
And there was a time in Hosea 3 when God told Hosea, "Go get your wife. Even though she has been an adulterous, go get her. Buy her back from the marketplace, love her and prove to her that your love is unending to her.
When I think of a story like this, there just have to be incredible things for us to learn about life and some incredible things for us to learn about God and some incredible things for us to learn about sin.
That is where I would like to start. Let's think about lessons that you and I could learn from the Book of Hosea about sin. And I want to begin today in the last chapter, Hosea 14:1: "Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall."
Now you and I live in a society that is looking for excuses and outlets all the time. We do not want to admit that we are the problem. We want to believe that we are somehow the solution to the problem. And some people say, "Well, sin is a hereditary problem."
And indeed it is. The Bible says in Psalm 51:5. "Surely I was sinful at my birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." Now the Bible also says in Job 14:1,4, Job asks a very important question. "Man born of woman is of a few days and full of trouble. Who can bring what is pure from the impure?" So he is right, sin is a hereditary problem.
I inherited sin from my parents because both of my parents were sinful people and their parents before them. And it goes all the way back to our common parents, Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve sinned, they had absolutely no possibility to bring anyone into this world who was not a sinner. And it is true for every one of us.
But sin is not just a hereditary problem; sin is also a problem of the environment. That is why Job makes this pledge to himself when he is an old man. He says, "I pledge to myself that my eyes will not look upon a young maid lustfully," because sin is a problem of the environment.
The other day we read from Proverbs 7:6. "At the window of my house...I noticed among the young men, a youth that lacked judgment....Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute....She took hold of him...and with a brazen face she said: 'Come, let's drink deep of love till morning; Let's enjoy ourselves with love! My husband is not at home.'"
See, sin not only comes from our hereditary problem, it also comes from our environmental problem. Sin is a clear problem for every individual. But you know what we try to do? We are really good at this, in fact. I have noticed this in my own family, I've noticed this in my parents, I've noticed this in my siblings and they, ironically, think they have noticed it in me--that what we try to do is divert the attention from our own sin to someone else.
We try to claim that we are sinners because of the influence of someone else and that we would not do the things we do if it were not for this other person doing what they are doing to us. And Hosea 14:1 comes down to, I think, a very vital lesson for every person to learn and it is this: "Your sins have been your downfall."
It is the problem of sin in life that causes the difficulties we have in life. I bring on myself most of the damage that is done in my life because of my own sin. And I have to own up to that, I have to recognize that it is my fault. It is my problem. Sin is not failing to live up to my potential, friends. Sin is an active part of my life in which I rebel against God.
Isaiah 59:1,2: "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you." Do you ever wonder why God doesn't answer our prayers sometimes? One of the reasons why God does not answer our prayers is because our sin separates between us and God.
"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Psalm 66:18. I have heard people say forever, ever since I was knee-high to a hiccup, I've been listening to people tell me that God always hears and always answers prayer. Sometimes He says, "Yes"; sometimes He says, "No"; sometimes He says, "Maybe." And I believed that until I started to read my Bible.
And I found out that there are three places in the Book of Jeremiah where God says to Jeremiah, "Don't even bother praying for My people, Israel. I am not going to listen. There sin has separated between Me and them."
"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." So one of the major lessons I learned from this chapter is that the problem of sin in the life of Gomer was not something that Hosea brought on her. It is not something that these three children brought on her. When she decided to become an adulterous wife, it was her choice to become an adulterous wife.
The problem in Israel was not something that God brought to Israel. Gomer represents Israel in this passage. Israel's choice to go after the Baals and the other gods of the earth, that was a personal choice on the part of Israel.
And your sin and my sin is not simply failure to live up to our potential. Sin is an active choosing to rebel against God. My sins have been my downfall and I can't blame anybody else. And if there is a great lesson to learn from this passage, it is that you must take ownership for your own sins.
But you know what? The great news is that when I take ownership of my own sins, I already find God's love and His arms outstretched to pull me back and to say, "That is all I was waiting for--for you to confess your sins because when you confess your sins, I will be faithful and I will be righteous enough to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness." It is really a pretty simple process. But it can never happen until you and I take ownership for our own sins.
So Lesson Number 1 that I learned about sin from this passage is that my sin is my responsibility and it's my fault.
Go back to Hosea 7:2: "But they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them; they are always before Me." Now I link this lesson to the first one we learned. And that is, not only is sin my own responsibility, but I learned from Hosea 7:2 that it is absolutely impossible to hide sin from God.
Now when I was a young boy, I developed a great facility to hide sin from my parents. And I developed a pretty good facility to hide sin from my teachers. And if God hadn't been around, I would have gotten away with a lot more. But the problem is you cannot hide sin from God.
I wish we learn this in government. I wish we would learn this in some of the societies of the world that are oppressive to their own people. You cannot hide sin from God. Proverbs 5:21, "For a man's ways are in full view of the Lord, and He examines all his paths." That is God's Word, friends.
Proverbs 15:3, "The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good." Now you just think with me about the people who tried to hide their own sin in the Bible. The list is longer than your arm and we won't think of all of them. But let's start with our own parents, Adam and Eve.
Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord God and what was the first thing that they did? Genesis 3:8,9 says that they hid themselves in the garden. And God comes along and He says, "Adam where are you?" (like He doesn't know, you know). The God who knows everything, knows where Adam is.What He wants Adam to do is to own up to his own sin.
Adam is trying to hide his sin. They make these cute little garments that they are going to wear. It doesn't do them a bit of good because God knows exactly where they are. They tried to hide their sin and failed. Our first parents would not own up to their own sin.
What about that fellow Achan. Do you remember the promise of God? God said, "Look, you are going to be very successful, Joshua and the armies of Israel. You are going to be successful in taking the City of Jericho. But I don't want you to take any of the spoils of war because, if you do, you will bear your own sin.
Well one person did. He took a Babylonian garment, he took some silver and he took some gold. And it says in Joshua 7:21 that he hid them in the tent, underneath his tent, in the middle of his tent. He thought he got away with it. But as you remember, he didn't get away with it because the very next time they had a battle, it was just the little city of Ai, it's nowhereville! There is no way that Ai can beat the great army of Israel. Ai is just a little town a few miles south of Resume Speed! I mean, who is going to be problem in Ai?
But as you remember, the Bible says that the army of Ai defeated the army of Israel because of one man's sin, and his trying to hide that sin. And the list goes on and on. David tried to hide his sin with Bathsheba. And he could not do it. Job 34:21,22 says, "His eyes are on the ways of men; He sees their every step. There is no dark place, no deep shadow, where evildoers can hide."
God has a unique way of discovering our sin. And you may be here today and you may be hiding some things from your spouse. You may be hiding some things from your children, hiding things from your neighbor, hiding things from your pastor. You have been pretty successful. In fact, you may be successful for many years. But it is my responsibility, friends, just to remind you that you cannot hide sin from God.
God sees everything we do and everything the world does. And that is why it is important for us to come clean with God. One of the great lessons from the Book of Hosea that I learned is that Hosea was being watched by God, everything he did. And so was Gomer, everything this wife did that was adulterous in nature was known by God. Now God still loved her. And Hosea still loved her, but she didn't get away with anything in her sin. You cannot hide sin from God.
I read a story one time about a drug smuggler who was attempting to get away from the Coast Guard. And he had some drugs hidden in bales of cotton. He decided that he would throw the bales overboard because he was in a boat and the Coast Guard was chasing him. He thought, "If I get rid of the bales of cotton, I'll get rid of the drugs." What happened was the cotton didn't sink. He left a trail of bales of cotton right to his boat.
It is kind of like that when people try to hide their sins from God. We leave a trail right to our doorstep. If there is a lesson about sin that I learned from the Book of Hosea, it's that I must take responsibility for my own sin. And that it is impossible for me to hide sin from God.
Go with me to chapter 12. Let's learn another lesson about Hosea and sin. Hosea 12:8. Listen to this: "Ephraim boasts, 'I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.'" Translation: Ephraim is just a word for Israel. Israel thought that because she was wealthy she could simply buy off her wickedness. She thought that if she had enough money, that nobody would point out her sin.
Proverbs 18:11, "The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall." Now God may have blessed you in financial ways. And I am glad for that. All of us would love to be blessed with more in financial ways, but we can never understand that what God has blessed us with is some way to mask our sin. We can't buy our way out of sin.
Proverbs 11:4 warns us: "Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." That is why the Bible is so keen on helping us to understand that it is important for us to confess our sins and for God to forgive us our sins. And it doesn't matter if you have a lot or a little. What you have is not the key to coming clean with God.
Now I am going to assume that Hosea did not have a lot. It doesn't tell us that he was a wealthy person. But I am also going to understand that he has to address this issue because Israel did have a lot. Remember these are strong economic times for Israel. Sometimes nations believe that because they have been blessed financially by God that they can get away with their sin, that God is somehow pleased with them.
Listen, God's blessing is by His grace. And when God sheds His grace on us that doesn't give us license to sin more because we've been blessed more. We cannot hide sin and get away from God. God keeps wonderful records. A day of reckoning is always coming. That's why I think that it is important for Christians, people like you and me, to keep short accounts with God.
I don't want to get a lot of surprises when I stand at the judgment seat of Christ. I want to deal with my sin on a daily basis. That is why it is important to keep short accounts. If you are here today and you have not dealt with your sin, if you are allowing it to build up hoping that somehow it will go away or you can buy your way out of it, I have bad news for you and I have good news for you.
The bad news is it doesn't matter how wealthy you are, you can't buy your way out of sin. The good news is the price has already been paid. And all you have to do is accept the price of the blood of Jesus Christ. We are not purchased with corruptible things like our money, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
We've thought about three lessons already that we know about sin from this book. And this lesson is that we cannot buy our way out of sin. Let me suggest to you a fourth lesson. I find this in chapter 10 at verse 12. This is one of those verses that just jumps out at me. In fact, I have it underlined in my Bible; double underlined so I can find it in a hurry.
"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord." You know, when it comes to sin, there is no bad time to seek the Lord, isn't that true? You don't have to wait until Sunday to seek the Lord, you don't have to wait until all your debts are paid in order to seek the Lord. You don't have to wait until the children are grown and out of the house. That is not what he is talking about here.
He is using an agricultural imagery here. Hosea is urging Israel to seek the Lord now. Now Moses had already told Israel, "If...you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul." That is Deuteronomy chapter 4:29, by the way.
There is already a precedent. Moses, the great leader of Israel, has told the people of Israel, "If you seek the Lord now and you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul, you will find Him." Why? Because sin always brings judgment. Repentance always brings salvation. And underneath it all are always the arms of God's love drawing you in to Himself.
There is never a bad time to seek the Lord. Moses told us that. King David told us that. David told the leaders of Israel, "Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God." That is 1 Chronicles 22:19. The king knew that, the great leader of the people of Israel knew that, the prophet Amos knew that. Amos counseled the people, "Seek the Lord and live" in Amos 5:6.
The list just gets longer and longer. Hosea the prophet said, "Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God" (Hosea 3:5). Now you see, every time you encounter this problem of seeking the Lord your God, you get the twofold edge of this sword. Some of the time, the Bible says, "There is none that seeketh after God, no not one." And then you have the Bible telling us, "Seek the Lord."
Now how do you put these two things together? Sounds like an oxymoron. But the fact of the matter is that nobody wants God to deal with their sin. But when you come to repentance, that is when you realize that you can't do anything about your sin by yourself. You have to seek the Lord's forgiveness when you repent of your sin.
And the first step is recognizing that God will judge sin. And the second step is coming to your senses with regard to the fact that God is always going to judge sin. And the third step is knowing that God is there with His arms outstretched. All you need to know is where to find Him. And you know where to find Him? You find him right in your seat, you find Him right in your car, you find Him right around the kitchen table, you find Him wherever you are.
A little girl got a new storybook and it was a Christian storybook. She was only 7 years of age, but she had learned how to use a pencil. And she could read a little bit. And in that storybook, she was going through and writing in her storybook. Her mother found her writing in the storybook; and she said, "What are you doing, Karen?"
Karen said, "I am circling the name God everywhere I find it."
The mother beat back the first urge to reprimand her for writing in this brand-new book. And she said, "Why are you circling the name God?"
And Karen said, "Because when I need Him, I want to know where to find Him."
That's not a bad idea is it, friends? When you need Him, you want to know where to find Him. You know where you find Him? You find Him at the end of your rope. You find Him when all the money is gone. You find Him when life falls apart. You find Him when the children have turned their backs on the Lord. You find Him when your spouse has been unfaithful to you. You find Him when you need Him most because sin always needs repentance.
But when true repentance is made, you always find God there. And my counsel to you today is to follow the pattern of the Book of Hosea when it comes to sin. Hosea understood clearly that sin brings judgment, repentance leads to salvation and underneath it all is the arm of God who loves us and draws us to Himself so that when we come to grips with our own sin, when we own up to our own sin, we recognize that God is there to love us and God is there to forgive us and God is there to welcome us back home again.
You know, I don't know of any better words than the words, "Welcome Home, come on back home to God's love." Sin must be dealt with. But when it is dealt with in a biblical way, it helps you to come home to God's love. And there is no better place to be than in the arms of God.
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