My People Perish
Scripture Reading: Hosea 4:1-10
1 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.
2 By swearing and lying,
Killing and stealing and committing adultery,
They break all restraint,
With bloodshed upon bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land will mourn;
And everyone who dwells there will waste away
With the beasts of the field
And the birds of the air;
Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.
4 “ Now let no man contend, or rebuke another;
For your people are like those who contend with the priest.
5 Therefore you shall stumble in the day;
The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night;
And I will destroy your mother.
6 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.
7 “ The more they increased,
The more they sinned against Me;
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They eat up the sin of My people;
They set their heart on their iniquity.
9 And it shall be: like people, like priest.
So I will punish them for their ways,
And reward them for their deeds.
10 For they shall eat, but not have enough;
They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;
Because they have ceased obeying the LORD.
This passage is one that doesn’t pull any punches. I was thinking the other day that
it’s very easy for believers to see the error in how the nation of Israel served
Yahweh. Unfortunately, somehow believers don’t seem so quick to see their own
flaws. These Israelites the prophet Hosea is prophesying to are living in the
Promised Land. We spoke a couple of weeks ago about the fall of Jericho and those
who were able to come out of the wilderness into the Promised Land with Joshua and
Caleb. Remember the qualities they had picked up during their forty years in the
wilderness that made them ready to enter in? They had grown up following God in a
pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They had come to completely rely
on the Father sending them their daily bread every day except for the day before the
Sabbath when they’d get a double helping of what they would need for two days.
They had learned to deny themselves and be content with the manna God
provided. They had seen that whining and complaining didn’t get you anything but
trusting God gets you everything. Their minds had been completely renewed! They
were ready and willing.
Not so with these Israelites. They had grown up following the selfish desires of their
own flesh. They didn’t rely on the Father for anything but rather felt entitled to all
the blessings they had. They hadn’t learned to deny themselves but rather had
become accustomed to indulging themselves and had become discontented with
what God provided. They didn’t trust God or the prophets He had sent to speak for
Him. Their minds had been completely renewed…..to the mind of the world around
them. They weren’t ready or willing to follow God.
Let’s look at some of the things God charges them with. There is no mercy or truth
or knowledge of God in the land. They swear and lie and kill and steal and commit
adultery. Ironically, I know plenty of people who do several of these things regularly,
without batting an eye yet will call themselves a Christian. They think God was angry
with Israel back then but now God has mercy and grace so things are different.
They don’t realize that God had mercy and grace then too. In this passage God tells
us through Hosea “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” We’ve been
talking for a while about the tactics the enemy uses so we will be able to recognize
them and resist. Here’s another one that he’s been using since the garden.
Genesis 3:1, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD
God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every
tree of the garden’?”
You see he was able to trip up Eve because she didn’t know for sure. The enemy
will use our ignorance against us. She wasn’t confident in her knowledge. She wasn’
t sure. He said. “Has God really said” and evidently she didn’t know what God had
said. Her response contrast quite a bit from the way Yeshua handles the enemy in
the wilderness. The enemy would ask one of his questions or make some statement
and our Savior would come back with, “It is written…” You see, He knew and was
confident in that knowledge and through that knowledge He had power. Everyone
thinks He was able to do the things He did because He is God but there was more to
it than that. The reason God had to come as a man was because God had given
man dominion on the earth, but in order to take advantage of dominion you must be
aware of the power you possess. You’ve heard the saying knowledge is power, well
that applies very well here.
Too many believers are like Eve, clueless as to what the Word of God has said.
With an aggressive reading plan, reading four or five pages a day, you can read
through the Bible in a year. With a more relaxed reading schedule, two or three
pages a day, you can read through the Bible in two years. And with a very basic
reading plan, just one page a day, you can read through the Bible in three years.
So, that should mean that everyone who’s been saved for three years or more would
definitely have completely read the Bible, right? I looked for a survey that might
show the amount of Christians that have read the whole Bible but I wasn’t able to find
it. Just from what I’ve seen in my personal experience, I’d have to guess that the
large majority of those who say they have been Christian for more than three years
have never read the Bible. I hate to say it but I would guess that a majority of
believers have never even read one book from beginning to end. I was able to find
a survey that polled people that considered themselves regular churchgoers and
found that almost 32% of them had not read anything from the Bible during the prior
twelve months or had never personally read anything from the Scriptures in their
entire lives. That’s nearly a third of those who do go to church. I don’t even want to
think of how disturbing the statistics would be when you factor in all those who don’t
regularly go to church, which would be the majority of those who consider
themselves believers in Jesus Christ. How many churchgoers have not watched a
movie or watched secular television in a year? It shows where the priorities are.
Jeremiah 7:8-11, 8 “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. 9 Will you steal,
murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods
whom you do not know, 10 and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called
by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11 Has this house,
which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have
seen it,” says the LORD.
Lying words are the world’s words and words of truth are God’s Word. But who’s
words are believers listening to? Jeremiah told the people that they were trusting in
lying words and then thinking they could come and stand before God and say that
they are delivered to do all the wrong things. Does that sound familiar? How many
believe it’s ok to lie, steal, commit adultery, hate your neighbor, swear and do any
other type of thing and still go before the throne of God expecting? That’s not what
the Word of God says. But, how would they know since so many have never read it.
Nehemiah 8:9, And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the
Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God;
do not mourn nor weep.” For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.
Why were the people weeping? It was because they knew that they and their fathers
had transgressed God’s Law. But here’s the kicker, they had never even heard the
words of the Law. They were ignorant of the Law, but that was no excuse for them.
They’d gone through seventy years of exile from the land because of their
transgressions. This generation will not be excused for its ignorance either. The
Law had always been there in the temple, available for the nation to inquire about.
We, however, don’t need to get the priest to read it to us. We don’t have to go to
one particular place in one particular city to find it. I’ve found it said that nine out of
ten American homes possess some form of the Bible, whether a Jewish Tanakh or
New Testament or something. The households with at least one Bible have an
average of four Bibles. Yet, if you went out on the streets of America you’d find that
most people can’t tell you with any certainty with any certainty who Abraham is or
what he did, or Job, or Daniel, or Peter, or Paul. It’s sad really. Just as Israel still
considered itself blessed by God while in the midst of their abominations, so does
America. You see the signs and bumper stickers with ‘God Bless America’ and our
money is stamped with ‘In God We Trust’. Well, by the actions of our nation it sure
doesn’t look like we’re trusting Him. Listen to the words of Messiah.
Mark 7:6-7
6 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘ This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
7 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
He called them hypocrites for speak of Him with their lips but not living Him with their
lives. Not honoring Him in their hearts or by their actions; worshipping Him in vain.
The writer of Hebrews tells us:
Hebrews 5:12-14, 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to
teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and
not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of
righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is,
those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
I don’t want to be used by the enemy. I want to grow up in the LORD Yahweh and
eat solid food. I want to be able to possess my inheritance because I have come of
age. One of enemy’s tactics is to keep us as ignorant baby Christians and I just will
not have that. The first time I read through the Bible there was much of it that I didn’t
understand, but I read it in obedience. So many get caught up the enemy’s – I don’t
understand it – trap. So what if you don’t understand it, read it. There have been
so many times where I will get revelation and understanding on something long after
I read it. Remember that the kingdom of God is like seedtime and harvest. The
farmer doesn’t plant the seeds and come back the next day to see the harvest.
Believers need to plant the seed of God’s Word within themselves and be patient for
the harvest because it will come. There are still passages that I don’t completely
understand but that’s ok. I’ve seen the Father give me revelation as I’ve needed it
before so I trust that He will do the same with these things. There have been
countless times when some scripture will come to me just when I need it but I would
never have even thought that I knew the scripture. That’s how it works. God give us
what we need when we need it, just like He gave the Israelites in the wilderness their
daily manna; their daily bread. We have to get used to relying on Him for those
needs so we to will be ready and willing. We must read our Bibles and not just leave
them on the shelves until church time. Get on a schedule, get a bookmark, and read
through the Scriptures from cover to cover. It is imperative to your training. It’s like
the continuing education portion of your basic training. Don’t be deceived into
thinking it’s not important or that you can just read the major parts throughout the
Bible. Let us not perish for lack of knowledge.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: December 24, 2006
Scripture Reading: Hosea 4:1-10
1 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.
2 By swearing and lying,
Killing and stealing and committing adultery,
They break all restraint,
With bloodshed upon bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land will mourn;
And everyone who dwells there will waste away
With the beasts of the field
And the birds of the air;
Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.
4 “ Now let no man contend, or rebuke another;
For your people are like those who contend with the priest.
5 Therefore you shall stumble in the day;
The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night;
And I will destroy your mother.
6 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.
7 “ The more they increased,
The more they sinned against Me;
I will change their glory into shame.
8 They eat up the sin of My people;
They set their heart on their iniquity.
9 And it shall be: like people, like priest.
So I will punish them for their ways,
And reward them for their deeds.
10 For they shall eat, but not have enough;
They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;
Because they have ceased obeying the LORD.
This passage is one that doesn’t pull any punches. I was thinking the other day that
it’s very easy for believers to see the error in how the nation of Israel served
Yahweh. Unfortunately, somehow believers don’t seem so quick to see their own
flaws. These Israelites the prophet Hosea is prophesying to are living in the
Promised Land. We spoke a couple of weeks ago about the fall of Jericho and those
who were able to come out of the wilderness into the Promised Land with Joshua and
Caleb. Remember the qualities they had picked up during their forty years in the
wilderness that made them ready to enter in? They had grown up following God in a
pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They had come to completely rely
on the Father sending them their daily bread every day except for the day before the
Sabbath when they’d get a double helping of what they would need for two days.
They had learned to deny themselves and be content with the manna God
provided. They had seen that whining and complaining didn’t get you anything but
trusting God gets you everything. Their minds had been completely renewed! They
were ready and willing.
Not so with these Israelites. They had grown up following the selfish desires of their
own flesh. They didn’t rely on the Father for anything but rather felt entitled to all
the blessings they had. They hadn’t learned to deny themselves but rather had
become accustomed to indulging themselves and had become discontented with
what God provided. They didn’t trust God or the prophets He had sent to speak for
Him. Their minds had been completely renewed…..to the mind of the world around
them. They weren’t ready or willing to follow God.
Let’s look at some of the things God charges them with. There is no mercy or truth
or knowledge of God in the land. They swear and lie and kill and steal and commit
adultery. Ironically, I know plenty of people who do several of these things regularly,
without batting an eye yet will call themselves a Christian. They think God was angry
with Israel back then but now God has mercy and grace so things are different.
They don’t realize that God had mercy and grace then too. In this passage God tells
us through Hosea “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” We’ve been
talking for a while about the tactics the enemy uses so we will be able to recognize
them and resist. Here’s another one that he’s been using since the garden.
Genesis 3:1, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD
God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every
tree of the garden’?”
You see he was able to trip up Eve because she didn’t know for sure. The enemy
will use our ignorance against us. She wasn’t confident in her knowledge. She wasn’
t sure. He said. “Has God really said” and evidently she didn’t know what God had
said. Her response contrast quite a bit from the way Yeshua handles the enemy in
the wilderness. The enemy would ask one of his questions or make some statement
and our Savior would come back with, “It is written…” You see, He knew and was
confident in that knowledge and through that knowledge He had power. Everyone
thinks He was able to do the things He did because He is God but there was more to
it than that. The reason God had to come as a man was because God had given
man dominion on the earth, but in order to take advantage of dominion you must be
aware of the power you possess. You’ve heard the saying knowledge is power, well
that applies very well here.
Too many believers are like Eve, clueless as to what the Word of God has said.
With an aggressive reading plan, reading four or five pages a day, you can read
through the Bible in a year. With a more relaxed reading schedule, two or three
pages a day, you can read through the Bible in two years. And with a very basic
reading plan, just one page a day, you can read through the Bible in three years.
So, that should mean that everyone who’s been saved for three years or more would
definitely have completely read the Bible, right? I looked for a survey that might
show the amount of Christians that have read the whole Bible but I wasn’t able to find
it. Just from what I’ve seen in my personal experience, I’d have to guess that the
large majority of those who say they have been Christian for more than three years
have never read the Bible. I hate to say it but I would guess that a majority of
believers have never even read one book from beginning to end. I was able to find
a survey that polled people that considered themselves regular churchgoers and
found that almost 32% of them had not read anything from the Bible during the prior
twelve months or had never personally read anything from the Scriptures in their
entire lives. That’s nearly a third of those who do go to church. I don’t even want to
think of how disturbing the statistics would be when you factor in all those who don’t
regularly go to church, which would be the majority of those who consider
themselves believers in Jesus Christ. How many churchgoers have not watched a
movie or watched secular television in a year? It shows where the priorities are.
Jeremiah 7:8-11, 8 “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. 9 Will you steal,
murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods
whom you do not know, 10 and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called
by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11 Has this house,
which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have
seen it,” says the LORD.
Lying words are the world’s words and words of truth are God’s Word. But who’s
words are believers listening to? Jeremiah told the people that they were trusting in
lying words and then thinking they could come and stand before God and say that
they are delivered to do all the wrong things. Does that sound familiar? How many
believe it’s ok to lie, steal, commit adultery, hate your neighbor, swear and do any
other type of thing and still go before the throne of God expecting? That’s not what
the Word of God says. But, how would they know since so many have never read it.
Nehemiah 8:9, And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the
Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God;
do not mourn nor weep.” For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.
Why were the people weeping? It was because they knew that they and their fathers
had transgressed God’s Law. But here’s the kicker, they had never even heard the
words of the Law. They were ignorant of the Law, but that was no excuse for them.
They’d gone through seventy years of exile from the land because of their
transgressions. This generation will not be excused for its ignorance either. The
Law had always been there in the temple, available for the nation to inquire about.
We, however, don’t need to get the priest to read it to us. We don’t have to go to
one particular place in one particular city to find it. I’ve found it said that nine out of
ten American homes possess some form of the Bible, whether a Jewish Tanakh or
New Testament or something. The households with at least one Bible have an
average of four Bibles. Yet, if you went out on the streets of America you’d find that
most people can’t tell you with any certainty with any certainty who Abraham is or
what he did, or Job, or Daniel, or Peter, or Paul. It’s sad really. Just as Israel still
considered itself blessed by God while in the midst of their abominations, so does
America. You see the signs and bumper stickers with ‘God Bless America’ and our
money is stamped with ‘In God We Trust’. Well, by the actions of our nation it sure
doesn’t look like we’re trusting Him. Listen to the words of Messiah.
Mark 7:6-7
6 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘ This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
7 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
He called them hypocrites for speak of Him with their lips but not living Him with their
lives. Not honoring Him in their hearts or by their actions; worshipping Him in vain.
The writer of Hebrews tells us:
Hebrews 5:12-14, 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to
teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and
not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of
righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is,
those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
I don’t want to be used by the enemy. I want to grow up in the LORD Yahweh and
eat solid food. I want to be able to possess my inheritance because I have come of
age. One of enemy’s tactics is to keep us as ignorant baby Christians and I just will
not have that. The first time I read through the Bible there was much of it that I didn’t
understand, but I read it in obedience. So many get caught up the enemy’s – I don’t
understand it – trap. So what if you don’t understand it, read it. There have been
so many times where I will get revelation and understanding on something long after
I read it. Remember that the kingdom of God is like seedtime and harvest. The
farmer doesn’t plant the seeds and come back the next day to see the harvest.
Believers need to plant the seed of God’s Word within themselves and be patient for
the harvest because it will come. There are still passages that I don’t completely
understand but that’s ok. I’ve seen the Father give me revelation as I’ve needed it
before so I trust that He will do the same with these things. There have been
countless times when some scripture will come to me just when I need it but I would
never have even thought that I knew the scripture. That’s how it works. God give us
what we need when we need it, just like He gave the Israelites in the wilderness their
daily manna; their daily bread. We have to get used to relying on Him for those
needs so we to will be ready and willing. We must read our Bibles and not just leave
them on the shelves until church time. Get on a schedule, get a bookmark, and read
through the Scriptures from cover to cover. It is imperative to your training. It’s like
the continuing education portion of your basic training. Don’t be deceived into
thinking it’s not important or that you can just read the major parts throughout the
Bible. Let us not perish for lack of knowledge.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: December 24, 2006
