Hosea 4-5: “Knowledge of God”
(Preached at Cross of Christ Fellowship on 5.11.25)
INTRO: Atheists=God does not exist; Agnostics=God cannot be known.
-Philosophical agnostics; Practical agnostics; Religious agnostics
-God’s Word shows us the great error and evil of this position: It is possible, right, and good to know God.
–Man’s great problem: they do not know God!
-This leads to sorrow, evil, ruin of families and society.
CONTEXT: Prophet Hosea called to speak God’s Word to Israel in 8th century B.C.
-Time of great prosperity, but also great faithlessness, compromise, and moral breakdown.
-Hosea married a prostitute, and was faithful to her even when she was faithless to Him.
–SIGN TO ISRAEL: You are like an adulterous woman to me, by going after idols.
-Hosea’s Message: See your spiritual adultery, consider God’s judgment and mercy and come back to God!
TODAY: Hosea’s theme is ‘KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.’
-A prominent way that Israel’s faithlessness is seen is that they have abandoned the knowledge of God
-They claim to be believers, but their lives and actions show they don’t know God.
-Relevant for us: Are we making the same mistake as Israel? Have we also abandoned the knowledge of God?
*QUESTION: Want to be a great son or daughter to your mother? Be a son or daughter that knows God!
-Want to be a great mother to your children? Be one that knows God.
STRUCTURE: 1. Problem Stated; 2. Problem Illustrated; 3. Hint of Hope
- Problem Stated: You Don’t know God!
A main theme of these chapters is that Israel doesn’t know God.
–4:1-2 “no knowledge of God in the land”
–4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me.”
–5:4b “They know not the LORD”
Biblical View of the KNOWLEDGE OF GOD:
-It is possible to have real knowledge of the one true God who is really there.
-Agnosticism (it is impossible to know who God is) is false.
-Knowledge God from 2 Sources:
-Creation;
-Revelation (Bible)
-Israel had experienced a knowledge of God in past
-Experienced salvation from Egypt; Delivered into the promised land
-God’s spoken Word through Moses, David, and prophets.
-KNOWLEDGE of God is not merely information, but Transformative:
-To know God is to know the person of God: relational, life-changing knowledge of a person God.
–As we can know other persons (not comprehensively, but in really), so we can know God!
-AFFECTED EVERYONE:
-People; Priests 4:4-6; Leaders 5:1,10
-Romans 3:23RELEVANCE FOR US:
To reject God and the know of God is sin and a great evil.
–NCC 16: Sin is ‘Rejecting or ignoring God in the world He created; rebelling against him by living without reference to Him; not being or doing what He requires in His law, resulting in our death and the disintegration of all Creation.”
BIBLE RESHAPING OUR WORLDVIEW: What is our great problem as individuals or society?
-World: Lack of education; poverty; lack of tolerance; poor nutrition.
-BIBLE: We don’t know God!
2. Problem Illustrated: What does it looks like and where is leading this people?
-What does this look like?
-Wickedness and Societal breakdown 4:2-3
-Language we use: ‘godless society,’ ‘That person doesn’t know the Lord’
-Gal 4:8
-Spiritual Adultery=WHOREDOM
-Graphic, strong descriptive terms of whoring/whoredom (10x)
**READ 4:7-5:4
-Where is this lack of knowledge of God leading the people? DESTRUCTION AND JUDGMENT
1 DESTRUCTION: Self destructive nature of sin
-Idolatry and sinàTAKE AWAY UNDERSTANDING (4:11)
-We experience: heart is full of sin, knowledge of God disappears and desire for God.
-Overindulge your phone or food, or give into anger/jealousy=desire to worship and pray?
-Stubborn HeiferàCANNOT BE LED OR FED (4:16)
-A heart full of idolatry is not interested in drawing near to God or hearing His Word
-Deeds do not permitàRETURN TO THE LORD (5:4)
-Sins deeds prevent us from returning to God
2 JUDGMENT: Judgment of God upon sin
-God has withdrawn His presence and blessing (5:5-11)
-Worst part of sin: removal of God.
-Rom 1:24-28 “God gave them up…”
–IMAGES OF JUDGMENT
-God will be like a MOTH and DRY ROT (5:12)
-God will be like a LION that tears and devours (5:14)
-722 B.C. exile
Summary: WHERE IS THIS HEADED? Death, Judgment and Destruction à2 Thess 1:8 - Hint of Hope: If Israel Repents…
5:15: I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.
-“until”…possibility of hope
-ACKNOWLEDGE their guilt
-SEEK my face
-EARNESTLY seek me.
BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE: ‘If people repent, God will relent’ (Ninevah)
-Still a chance to redemption and salvation.
–SAME today: If you are alive, you can be saved from your sin and evil.
CONCLUSION: HOW DO WE COME TO KNOW GOD? JESUS!
–Jesus the revealer of God: John 1:18
–Jesus, the savior from death, judgment, and destruction: 1 Peter 2:21-25
-Place your faith in Jesus and turn from your sins.
-Salvation is a free gift, unearned and undeserved, to be received by faith.
-If you are a Christian, see again that we’ve been saved to know God!
-Eternal life is knowing God: John 17:3
-Daily Christian living is knowing God: Col 1:9-10
-Eternity of Pleasurable knowing more of God: Eph 2:7 (Meetup friend’s comment)
-We Come to grow in our knowledge of God in Different Ways:
1 Reading His Word; 2 Prayer; 3 Sound doctrine and teaching; 4 Obedience; 5 Trusting God in hardships and trails
6 Daily Choosing God over the idols of suburbia: wealth, success, comfort, career,
CLOSE: Our great problem is we don’t know God, but Christ is the great solution.
