“Many think they know God, but do not because their knowledge is derived from human opinions and is not informed by the whole counsel of God’s word…So what is our application today?  We have not (to my knowledge) bowed to a golden calf or applied to Egypt or Assyria for political gain…God is gracious to us church. He does not allow other things to fulfill the desire that we have for him who is the giver of all good things…These are the things we need to check ourselves in: Am I content with what God has provided through all the means he has granted to be at my disposal?  Is discontentment revealing that I am not finding my joy, hope and fulfillment in Christ?  When we look to other functional saviors, it reveals the deeper heart issue of things we have not truly believed in the gospel.  What is it about Christ that you have not found to be good? As Augustine famously wrote: You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

“Israel was in danger of losing - and indeed had lost their unique identity as God’s people…The inhabitants of the land are characterized by infighting, foolishly seeking foreign help, priestly plots, negligent leadership and false repentance. These have left Yahweh with no recourse but to announce the advent of his judgement - but he does so with great pain and no joy…At many times, and in many ways, Israel has rebelled against God and broken his covenant.  They have been faithless and loveless, both to God and each other.  But all of these things he would forgive.  What is damning, what will ultimately result in total judgment, is what they do not do: they do not confess and repent…The root of idolatry is believing a lie about God. Israel has believed the lie that they can sin without consequence….

And so today we must ask: What lies have we believed about God?  In what ways have we accepted false teaching or just filled in the blanks about God when we haven’t been taught the Scriptures.”

“…For God to say ‘I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings,’ is not to say that he no longer required obedience in the sacrifice and burnt offerings of the old covenant, but that those things had become distorted when they replaced knowledge of God and the real practice of ḥesed - the steadfast love of God. Without this relational aspect of their worship, their rituals became transactional or coercive towards God; a means of inducing him to act. This was one of the ways that Canaanite religion had corrupted the worship of God, that the worshippers thought that they could relate to God through sacrifice in order to obtain what they wanted without the loving and compassionate heart that comes from a transformational life with God.”

“This is our second foray into the section we visit this morning in Hosea 4:1-5:7.  Last time we ended with v.4:9, like people, like priest, which for Israel was a disaster - as we saw and will continue to see in our passage - but for those adopted as God’s people under the new covenant, like people, like priest is a great and eternal hope! Because our Great and High Priest is Christ Jesus himself.  We are ‘predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son.’ (Romans 8:29)”

"...Like people, like priest, is the ancient version of the modern Western Saying: like father, like son or like mother, like daughter.  It is a very important piece here, because the priesthood are a subset of the corrupt people and vice versa. Both the priesthood and the people are estranged from God and both will incur the same judgment. And it is not as though the priests were more corrupt than the common man, they were the common man in a position of influence and authority!  It is not as though Israel was invaded by a sect of immoral priests and leaders.  These were those who had risen to the top, the cream of the crop so to speak. When the moral corruption of a nation reaches the pinnacles of power, it should not be surprising; the true values of the people are on display...Ungodly leadership is a natural consequence of rebellion against God.  The nation cannot reject God and his commandments and then hope that godly leadership will somehow rise to the top for their benefit.  The leaders will be a reflection of the people they govern and in turn the sin of the leaders will be reflected upon the population.  For Israel, this meant that the priest brought disaster to the land.  Where can we find a better priest?  Let me point you to Jesus. Like people, like priest is eternally good news for those whose High Priest is Christ our King."

“God will foil the plans and decisions of his wayward people. This doesn’t mean he takes away our ability to freely choose him, but he will keep his own from the disastrous direction they are headed in, and he will win his bride…How do I know that I belong to God? Not because I’m just such a great guy, not because I’m such a spiritually mature person. But because everytime I would fall away God says “No, you’re mine.” He disciplines me…The way I know I belong to God is that he brings me to repentance daily. He walls me in with stone and thorns…The sovereignty of God does no violence to the human will, only it is far more potent and will have its way.”

“By comparing Israel’s sinful behaviour with the vile behaviour of an immoral and adulterous wife, Hosea reminds his audience, then and now, of both the seriousness of sin and its effects, and of the amazing greatness of God’s mercy and love…Unfaithfulness to God in Israel and the church cannot be ignored. Either people are believers and are faithful to their covenant commitments to God, or they are not a part of the family of God… Unless we respond to these warnings of Hosea, we should have no certainty of our salvation.”