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WEEKLY
Volume 2 Number 29
16 December 2007
Have Strangers Devoured
Your Strength?
(Message delivered by Rev Hien
Nguyen at the Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, Dec 09, 07)
Text:
Hosea 7:8-16
We usually feel tired and exhausted due to our hard work or our old age,
but sometimes we wonder why we feel tired while we are still young and
not doing anything. A man may feel tired due to his lack of rest the day
or the night before, or his lack of care for his health with good food,
or due to his worries and stress. He may feel fatigued because of his
weak immune system against viruses or bacteria or unhealthy environment
or an unknown illness. How about our spiritual strength? It is sad to
hear God’s Word saying to the people of Israel, “Strangers have
devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here
and there upon him, yet he knoweth not” (Hosea 7:9). What does this
verse mean and how can we maintain our spiritual strength in the Lord?
Background
The book of Hosea was written by the prophet Hosea, who was called to
minister God’s Word to the northern kingdom Israel “in the days of
Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of
Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel” (1:1), so his prophetic
ministry was about 40 years, from about 755 B.C. to about 715 B.C. Hosea
was a faithful servant of the Lord, submissive to the Lord and His Word
without any question even when he was commanded, “Go, take unto thee a
wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed
great whoredom, departing from the LORD” (1:2) to illustrate God’s
unchangeable love and faithfulness to His covenant people while they
were unfaithful, disobedient, sinful and rebellious. Later his wife left
him and went back to her sinful life, and Hosea had to buy her back,
“So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of
barley, and an half homer of barley” (3:2). O how marvelous God’s
love is toward His covenant people! Now let us see how sinful the people
of Israel were in God’s sight and God’s remedy for their backsliding.
Israel’s Rebellion, Foolishness and
Uselessness
The Lord compared Israel to “a backsliding heifer” (4:16), “a
cake not turned” (7:8), “a silly dove” (7:11), “a
deceitful bow” (7:16), and “an empty vine” (10:1). All these
tell about Israel’s rebellion, foolishness, and uselessness.
Rebellion like “a backsliding heifer”: The term
carar means backsliding, stubborn, rebellious. The term
heifer is translated from pereh, which means a wild ass.
Then, Israel was like a stubborn or rebellious wild ass. They wanted to
be wild, doing what they liked according to human sinful and rebellious
nature, and not to be under the yoke/ the control of the Lord and His
Word (Matt 11:29); as a result, they were against the Lord: “sinned
against me” (4:7), “have dealt treacherously against the LORD”
(5:7; 6:7), “have transgressed against me… have spoken lies against
me… rebel against me… imagine mischief against me” (7:13-15),
“trespassed against my law” (8:1), and “rebelled against her
God” (13:16). Truly, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against
God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So
then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:7-8). No
wonder, those professing Christians who are not submissive to the Lord
and His Word are living against the Lord and His Word, even questioning
and attacking God’s Word and fighting against God’s children who believe
and magnify God’s perfectly preserved Word! How about you and me? Are we
rebellious or submissive?
Foolishness like “a silly dove”: The term pathiy
means silly, simple, foolish, simple-minded, easily enticed,
deceived, or misled. A silly dove without heart (understanding,
sense) cannot see dangers before them and easily be a prey of wild
animals, so our Lord warns us, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in
the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as
doves” (Matt 10:16). The people of Israel did not see dangers in
front of them and their conscience was too dull to discern what was
right or wrong. The Egyptians used to enslave them and fight against
them, but now they “call to Egypt,” and the Assyrians wanted to
conquer them, but now they “go to Assyria”! Why? “the pride of
Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their
God, nor seek him for all this” (7:10). They did not humbly trust in
the Lord and His Word alone! And exactly due to their foolishness, later
they were taken in captivity to Assyria in 722 B.C. Nowadays, due to
their dull conscience, many professing Christians are proud of their
“open-minded” and “loving” attitudes and human scholarship, but not
aware of danger of unbiblical doctrines and apostasy, foolishly coming
back to Rome, compromising God’s Word and God’s Truth under the umbrella
of “ecumenicalism,” welcoming all kinds of religions and “modern
versions”, and are deceived and misled without awareness! How about you
and me?
Uselessness like “a cake not turned,” “a deceitful
bow,”and “an empty vine.” A cake is not turned will be burnt
and black on one side but unbaked and doughy on the other. It is not
edible and just fit to be thrown away. God wanted Israel to be a
blessing to other nations, but due to their sins and compromise, they
were useless. A bow is used to shoot the arrows to the target, but if it
is deceitful, treacherous and faulty, it cannot bring the arrows to the
target no matter how good the archer is. God wanted to use Israel to
fulfill His purpose, goal and target, but they were sinful and faulty,
they were useless. A vine is expected to produce fruit, but it is empty
and fruitless, just fit to be cast away (John 15:2). God expected Israel
to bear grapes, but they brought forth wild grapes (Isa 5:4). How about
you and me? May the Lord help us see that if we are not clean and
separate unto Him, we will be useless, not “meet for the master's
use” (2 Tim 2:21). If God does not want to use our lives to fulfill
His good purpose, how miserable and useless we are!
Reasons of Backsliding and the Remedy
Israel was backsliding due to:
Lack of Knowledge of the Lord and His Word: “there is
no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land… My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected
knowledge,… seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God”
(4:1, 6), and “I have written to him the great things of my law, but
they were counted as a strange thing …For Israel hath forgotten his
Maker” (8:14), and “feared not the LORD” (10:3). The people
of Israel were so proud (7:10) while they did not have a heart-knowledge
of the Lord and His Word at all! This is the same situation with many
professing Christians, even leaders nowadays, regarding God’s perfectly
preserved Word “as a strange thing” or “a theory” and even
“have spoken lies against” (7:13) the Lord while God clearly states
that He has preserved His Word (Ps 12:6-7; Matt 5:18; Matt 24:35, et
al). Dear friends, it is so dangerous for our spiritual life if
we do not know the Lord and His Word personally. Truly, the more we know
of God’s holiness, righteousness and judgment, the more we shall humbly
fear Him and depart from evil; the more we know of His sovereign power,
grace and love, the more we shall thank Him, love Him and trust in Him;
and the more we know of His Word, the more we shall know of His will and
what He expects us to be and to do and the more we shall have sound
doctrines to stand firm and fight a good fight of faith. May God help us
see this truth so that we may count “all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may
win Christ” (3:8).
Lack of Knowledge of God’s Grace and Blessings: “For
she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied
her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal” (2:8), and
“they knew not that I healed them” (11:3). Many nowadays also forget
that what they have is from above: their life, health, time, energy,
jobs, wealth… “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from
heaven” (John 3:27), so they just spend their lives, time, and
wealth on what they like, regardless of God’s will and way! It is
idolatry! “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and
stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Sam 15:23).
Lack of Knowledge of Personal Backsliding: The people of
Israel did not know that they were transgressing against the Lord due to
their dull conscience and lack of the knowledge of the Lord and His
Word. They did not feel remorseful while living in sins and idolatry:
“By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing
adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood… Ephraim is joined to
idols” (4:2,17), “O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel
is defiled,” (5:3) and “But they like men have transgressed the
covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me” (6:7), and
“they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet
they have spoken lies against me… and they rebel against me…
they imagine mischief against me”
(7:13-15). Moreover, they set up their own leaders not according to
God’s will, “They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made
princes, and I knew it not” (8:4). We still see today the young
assistant pastors kick out their founding pastor, who believes in God’s
perfect Word, and the church Session set them up as their leaders
regardless God’s will and Word! It is so dangerous when a man’s
conscience is not sensitive and tuned up to the moral standard of God’s
Word and His holiness because he thinks what he is doing is right when
he is not and his conscience is not pricked while he is transgressing
against the Lord, “every man did that what was right in his own eyes”
(Judges 21:25).
Lack of Separation from Sins and Worldliness: “Ephraim,
he hath mixed himself among the people… Strangers have devoured
his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there
upon him, yet he knoweth not” (7:8-9). The people of Israel
compromised and mingled themselves with the ungodly, who
devoured/consumed their strength and caused them gradually weak like the
aged (gray hairs) without any zeal for the Lord and His Word, but they
did not know! Dear friends, God is our strength (Ps 18:1-2; 73:26; 46:1)
and the Lord Jesus Christ is our life (John 15:1-5; Col 3:4; 1 John
5:11-12). Satan uses all worldly mindsets, values, wrong doctrines,
attractions, pleasures, fame, wealth, temptations, ungodly friendship to
draw many away from the Lord and His Truth. We must be alert that
worldliness will consume our spiritual strength,
“the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches,”
and “the lusts of other things entering in,” and “pleasures of
this life” choke the Word, and as a result, it becomes
“unfruitful” (Matt 13:22; Mark 4:19; Luke 8:14). No wonder, many
Christians feel empty and exhausted due to their ungodly
fellowship with friends or worldly entertainments, spending much time
chit-chatting, watching TV/movies and reading newspapers, magazines,
articles without any purpose and discernment, surfing the Internet and
playing games, or going out, etc. Their spiritual strength is consumed
and they have no more zeal for the Lord and His Word! God is holy, and
to enjoy His strength and life, we must be holy and separate from sins
and worldliness to maintain our fellowship with Him in His light (1 John
1:7). This is God’s command: “Wherefore come out
from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Cor 6:17). There is
no other way.
Remedy from the Lord and His Word: Israel was chastised
and they just kept sinning and repenting due to human depraved and
sinful nature. The remedy must be from the Lord: “I will heal their
backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from
him…” (14:4) and, “And I will give them one heart, and one way,
that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their
children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them,
that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will
put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me” (Jer
32:39-40). Dear friends, the Holy Spirit uses God’s Word to regenerate
us and sanctify us (John 3:5; 17:17; 1 Peter 1:23), shall we not be wise
to humbly submit to the Lord and His Word in full dependence so that He
may renew us day by day (2 Cor 4:16; Titus 3:5)?
Conclusion
Dear friends, have strangers devoured your spiritual strength? May the
Lord help us wisely follow His voice (His Word) alone with our trust,
dependence and submission as well as separate ourselves from sins,
worldliness, and wrong doctrines so that we may be used to fulfill His
purpose and be a blessing to others till He comes, all for His glory
alone. Amen.
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