Sermon: Generational Grace, Generational Guilt

Well, good evening.

Good evening. Good evening. Good to see you all. Thank you for being here, and thank you for answering my greeting to you. Would you please take a copy of God's word and turn with me to the Book of Hosea? The Book of Hosea, the first of the minor prophets, and on page 758 in the Pew Bible, you will find our chapters this evening, chapters 12 and 13. Hosea 12 and 13. We're taking two chapters this evening, and maybe perhaps similar to how you might turn on a movie and

see on the screen a movie rating that gives you a word of caution or a word of introduction about what you might find in that movie. Before we read this passage, I want to maybe give you something similar as that movie rating. These chapters that we're about to read contain references to Israel's history. You will notice that as we read these two chapters. You will find that these chapters have illustrative imagery, and you will find that these chapters have

threatening words that are shocking, and they should shock you. These two chapters are almost entirely hopeless. It is not the preacher's favorite passage to preach, honestly. There are words of certain and impending judgments against Judah and Israel. And so before we read these words and before we pray, I want to say to you that as you hear these words, which may seem to your ears very disturbing, perhaps, I imagine that you could react in all sorts of different ways, including tuning

out. These are for somebody else. These are sins that are far more serious than my sins. This God, which Hosea speaks of and speaks for, is savage, and I want nothing to do with him. I will not listen.

And I want to say to you tonight, as you hear these words read, and as you hear them preached, would you do your best with the help of God's spirit to take your sin seriously, your own personal sin seriously? And do not forget. Do not forget to look to Christ. Let these words of threat and doom and gloom point you to Christ, Israel's strength and consolation, the hope of all the earth. So before we hear these words read and preached, let's pray and let's ask for God

to bless them. Oh Lord, as we come to your word, we confess, oh Lord, that we have itching ears sometimes, that we are only eager to hear words that fit our fancy, that we are quick to pass judgment along to you and against you, that we are slow to receive your rebuke. And we confess, Lord, that these words are filled with

threat and gloom. And it may be that we lose sight of your grace and your mercy and your love and your kindness, especially in Christ. And so we pray, oh Lord, that your spirit would be active among us tonight, that he would preach this text to each of our hearts so that we might hear from you just what we need to hear. And we pray that your spirit would direct our eyes to Christ, that we might by faith receive him and escape the wrath and curse that is due to us for our sin.

We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. So Hosea chapter 12 and 13, beginning in Hosea 12, verse 2. "The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways. He will repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us.

The Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial name. So you, by the help of your God, return. Hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God. A merchant, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress. Ephraim has said, 'Ah, but I am rich. I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.' I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt. I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast.

I spoke to the prophets. It was I who multiplied visions, and through the prophets gave parables. If there is iniquity in Gilead, they shall surely come to nothing. In Gilgal, they sacrifice bulls. Their altars also are like stone heaps on the furrows of the field. Jacob fled to the land of Aram. There Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he guarded sheep. By a prophet, the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a

prophet he was guarded. Ephraim has given bitter provocation. So his Lord will leave his blood guilt on him and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds. When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He was exalted in Israel, but he incurred guilt through Baal and died. And now they sin more and more and make for themselves metal images, idols skillfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. And instead of them,

those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves. Therefore, they shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes away early, like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor or like smoke from a window. But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt. You know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior. It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. But when they had grazed, they became full.

They were filled, and their heart was lifted up. Therefore, they forgot me. So I am to them like a lion. Like a leopard, I will lurk beside the way. I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs. I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rip them open. He destroys you, O Israel. For you are against me, against your helper. Where now is your king to save you in all your cities?

Where are all your rulers, those of whom you said, 'Give me a king and princes'? I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath." The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up. His sin is kept in store. The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son. For at the right time, he does not present himself at the opening of the womb. Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death?

Oh, death, where are your plagues? Oh, Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes. Though he may flourish among his brothers, the east wind, the wind of the Lord shall come, rising from the wilderness, and his fountain shall dry up. His spring shall be parched. It shall strip his treasury of every precious thing. Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword. Their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,

and their pregnant women ripped open.

As I said to you, these chapters are quite gloomy, and I have a responsibility before God to preach God's word faithfully. And so the tone for the bulk of this sermon is going to match that of this text. This is going to be a rather gloomy sermon. But I cannot preach God's word faithfully, and I cannot preach the Old Testament faithfully if I do not preach Christ. And with Christ, there is always hope. There is always hope for sinners.

So do not forget that. And please set your hope upon Christ. I titled this sermon "Generational Grace, Generational Guilt." Now, this section of scripture is predominantly focused on guilt. It pervades this passage. But what also pervades this passage, which might go maybe unnoticed under the words of warning and threat, are the words of grace. And that's where I want us to begin tonight. Part of what makes Israel's sin so grievous

is that their sin is against God's grace, God's generational grace. So I want you to take note of the clear references to God's grace toward the people of Israel in this passage, and I want to start from the end of the passage. So 13 verse 9, God says about Israel, "I am your helper." God's grace. 13, verses 5 and 6, "I led you in the wilderness, and in that land of drought, it was I who fed you." Grace. 13, verse 4, 12:13, and 12:9, God says, "I delivered you from the

mighty Egyptians who held you captive. They oppressed you for 150 years longer than the United States has been a nation. I delivered you from that oppression." My grace. 12, verse 10, "I gave you prophets to speak to you, to speak my word to you, so that you might know me and my word." God's grace. 12, verse 6, "I am willing," God says, "to help you turn from your sin and return to me." God's grace. 12, verse 5, "I am the Lord,

Yahweh." That is God's covenant name. "You know me, O Israel, because I made myself known to you, and my personal name to you." Grace. 12, verse 4, "There, God spoke with us at Bethel." God spoke with Jacob and Jacob alone at Bethel in a dream. "God spoke with us." Grace. 12, verses 3 through 5, "I showed grace to Jacob. I am the God who made that trickster Jacob into Israel, the father of a great nation, your great nation. I appeared to him in a dream to bless him with

covenantal promises. You are his descendants, and you are descendants of grace."

This passage shocks us with how it portrays God in his anger. But do not overlook, as Israel did time and time again, don't overlook all of God's gracious dealings with his people throughout the generations. This is your heritage, too. If you are in Christ, you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. This is your history, your heritage. God has been gracious to you and your people through the generations.

Israel did nothing to deserve God's grace. But as this passage instructs us, as the entire Bible testifies, what Israel did deserve is God's justice,

as severe as this passage makes it sound. I want you now quickly to take note of all of these references, the words and phrases in this passage that show that the punishment that God executes on his people fits the crime, their crime, as the saying goes. So look at 12, verse 2. It says, "The Lord will punish according to his ways." God's judgment is just. And he says also in verse two, "The Lord will repay according to his deeds."

Repay means to return, right? If I were to borrow money from my daughter to buy something, I owe her what she gave to me, and so I would give what is equal in return to her. Israel gets back from God what they are owed. The Lord will repay. 12, verse 14, "His Lord will leave his blood guilt on him and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds." 13, verse 9, "You are against me, against your helper."

And then verse 16, "Samaria," the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, "shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God." These punishments fit the crime. They are severe, but Israel's sin is heinous, grievous, and so God executes his judgment upon them.

I want to walk through this passage with you tonight, and I want to do so with a framework that verse two provides us. You see there in the beginning of verse two that the Lord has indictments. It says at the beginning of verse two, "The Lord has an indictment." And then those second and fourth lines say, "And the Lord will punish, and he will repay him according to his deeds." So I want to walk through this passage with you,

looking at God's indictments on his people and the punishments that he brings upon them. And I want us to look at four indictments that God has against his people and his judgments against those indictments. So here's the first Verses seven through nine, chapter 12. "You, Israel, are greedy like wicked Canaan." You see in verse eight that Ephraim, that is another name for Israel, the kingdom of Israel, Ephraim has a claim, and it's twofold.

"I have found wealth for myself, and they cannot find in me iniquity or sin." That is Ephraim's claim, and here's God's indictment. "Ephraim, I see your dealings, and I have found iniquity in them."

We know this because of verse seven. "A merchant in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress." God is indicting Israel that they are corrupt in their financial dealings. They have become wealthy through exploitation, and such practices are an abomination to God. Over and over again throughout the Old Testament, God commands his people to be fair and upright in their dealings. So you might just write these down.

Leviticus 19 verse 35, Deuteronomy 25 verse 13, Proverbs 11 verse 1, Proverbs 20 verse 10, Proverbs 20 verse 23. God commands his people to be fair and upright in their dealings and to show mercy to the poor. That is his heartbeat. And Israel is becoming wealthy through exploitation, through corrupt dealings, and they are so foolish to think that even though everyone else might not see through their dealings, they are so foolish to think that God also doesn't see through their dealings.

And God says, "I see it. You are corrupt." And it's even worse than that. They're not just corrupt in their practices. They are following the practices of the wicked Canaanites. The very first words in verse seven, "A merchant," the ESV translates as a common noun. So they translate it "a merchant."

You could also translate that word in the Hebrew as a proper noun, and if you translate it as a proper noun, the word is Canaan. Canaan. And so the verse would be, "Canaan, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress." And that would fit Canaan's history. They were wicked and corrupt through and through. And God executed judgment on wicked Canaan by bringing the Israelites out of Egypt through the wilderness to the land of Canaan to wipe them out as a form

of judgment.

And so it seems that here God is comparing his people, whom he has planted in the land of this wicked people. He is indicting them, charging them with not only breaking his law, but being like those whom he has already judged, those who have dealt corruptly, for they did not know God, and they did not practice his ways.

Dear friends, there are many practices in the world which are commonplace and acceptable. If you don't get away with it, don't worry about it. And God sees right through that and he knows your heart. He knows what you do in secret. And God warns Israel. He indicts Israel. "You are corrupt in your practices. You are just like the world whom received my righteous judgment." And so the punishment comes in verse nine.

Verse nine hints at judgment but also hints at hope, actually. God's judgment is that he will take them out of the land, the land that was supposed to be their home, the land of Canaan. He will take them out, and they will again dwell in tents.

Israel will no longer boast of self-created prosperity. They will be exiled. But the hint of hope is this.

Israel continued to celebrate a feast where they celebrated God's provision for them when they dwelt in tents in the wilderness. God brought them through that time of dependence, through that time of humility, and he brought them into the land of Canaan. Perhaps there is hope that God in the exile can once again cause his people to turn from their sin, to humbly rely and depend upon him. So God's first indictment is that you are greedy like wicked Canaan.

The second indictment is in verses 10 through 14. You, Israel, disregard my word. God sent prophets to Israel to speak to them for him, but time and again, what Israel did was despised the prophets, disregarded the prophets' words, and ultimately, what they were doing was rejecting God, who sent the prophets, and rejecting God's word.

And so God charges them with a disregard of his word. Hosea in verse 11 gives specific examples of Israel's iniquity. So he points to both Gilead and Gilgal. God has already condemned Gilead in the Book of Hosea. In chapter six, God condemned Gilead, for they were murderers. They were practicing murder. They were breaking the sixth commandment against God's law. Gilgal was practicing here, as we see, a form of false worship,

syncretistic, mixed worship, that would be rejecting God's word and his commandments, specifically commandments one and two. And so God charges them with disregarding his word. And his judgment, we see, is in verse 14.

By their disregard for his word, they provoke God's bitter anger. And notice what God does. He leaves them in their guilt.

It's maybe a scary word.

Do you understand

that God is under no obligation to remove transgressions? God is under no obligation to pass over the guilty, pass by the guilty. God, we say, is just to leave the guilty in their guilt. We should never presume upon God's mercy and grace. But do remember, God freely offers his grace. He freely offers a way out, a Passover lamb by which you may escape the judgment of God. We will come back to this. Third indictment, verses one through three of chapter 13.

You, Israel, are idolatrous. Notice in this indictment, there's a past, present, and future in verses one through three. Verse one recalls the past, Ephraim's prominence in the northern kingdom of Israel, and how they had brought guilt upon themselves through the worship of Baal. And we see the result of that false worship. They became dead men walking. It says they died. Just as Adam in the Garden incurred guilt through his sin

against God and then died a spiritual death as a result of his sin, so Ephraim's sin results in the same.

And this is something we can learn about all of humankind, all of mankind, about the way things work in this world. Without God's intervention, this is the spiritual path of every human, with the exception of Jesus Christ. Sin brings guilt, guilt brings spiritual death, and those who are spiritually dead can only and will only keep on sinning. Ephesians 2 and Romans 8 remind us of that, and we see that progression here in

verses one and two. They died, and now they sin more and more and make for themselves metal images.

So just like the nations again, Israel is using their prosperity, their precious metals, to create for themselves objects, man-made objects, which they can worship, which they can adore.

I want you to notice how these idols are made. Do you notice how the text describes how they're made? Idols skillfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. These must have been really nice idols. Really nice, shiny, well-made, well-designed.

And God indicts his people.

You can use your God-given talents, dear people of God, in sinful ways and towards sinful ends. You can be an amazing craftsman, and you can make things skillfully, and you can make idols skillfully, and God is not impressed. He is not pleased.

You can always use your God-given talents to glorify self, but you can also always use your God-given talents to glorify God and do what he commands. And so we hear in the New Testament, whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. Work heartily unto the Lord and not for men.

The end of verse two shows us just how foolish Israel's work is. They are said here to be kissing, loving, worshiping a man-made object. How silly.

This idol cannot hear them, their worship. This idol has no feelings to reciprocate or show approval or pleasure in the worship that they're giving.

It is utter foolishness to worship idols. That's what God is saying to his people. And so the judgment comes in verse three in four images to illustrate the judgment for sin. You notice that there are four things here, mist, dew, chaff, and smoke. What do those four things have in common? Mist, dew, chaff, and smoke. They are light. There's nothing of substance to those things. They're light. They're easily blown away. They don't last.

And God is saying here of Israel, "You will be like dew, mist, chaff, smoke." When you treat God lightly,

and you do not give him the honor that is due to his name, that's what you will become. You will become light, and you will be quickly blown away. Here one day and gone the next. Judgment is coming for your idolatry. And then a fourth indictment, beginning in verse four. It's implied there in verse four, and it again calls Israel's attention to their history. God says, "I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt. You know no God but me, and besides me, there is no savior."

But Israel forgot.

Israel forgot their God. They forgot what God had done for them. It says in verses five and six that when Israel's hunger and thirst was satisfied in the land of drought, two things happened. Their hearts were lifted up

as if they could provide water and food for themselves in a land where there was no water, in a land where there was no food. It came all by a miracle, but their heart became lifted up. We are satisfied. We have no need of God.

And so the second thing that happened is that they forgot God.

Just by way of a passing comment, I want you to think about this later. Think about how you are an embodied soul, and so the things that happen to your body have an effect on your soul. It's one of the reasons why Jesus warns against riches. When you have outward prosperity, what often tends to happen is that what happens to you outwardly begins to have an effect upon your heart. I have no need of God. I do not need him.

And so you don't think of him. You will be more easily tempted to forget him. That's what happened to Israel. And what's even more sad about this indictment is that God had explicitly warned Israel about this temptation. If you go to Deuteronomy, chapter eight, just write that down and look there later. The words that you will find here in this indictment are almost word for word found in Deuteronomy 8. "When you enter the land, you will have your fill,

and then your heart will be lifted up, and then you will forget me." And that's exactly what happened. They did not heed God's warning. They have forgotten God. And you see in verse nine, Israel's forgetfulness, unlike most of our forgetfulness, is not benign. It was not a slip of the mind or a symptom of ignorance or being unenlightened. Verse nine says that Israel forgot God by actively pushing God out of their minds.

They were against God, their helper. They pushed God out of their minds, and they placed self in God's place, and it left no room for God. "You are against me, your helper." That is God's indictment, his fourth indictment, and here's the judgment, the punishment for their self-delusion, their self-exaltation, their opposition to God. It's as if God is saying, "You don't need me? Are you self-sufficient? I will expose your self-reliance.

I will be to you like a wild beast

who prowls and hides, and in the opportune time,

grabs the prey and rips them open to devour them." And God says, in that time, "Are your kings and princes that you have asked for, will they save you? Call out to them. Will they save you on the day of calamity?" God has said, "Put not your trust in princes. I alone am your savior."

And so God, through Assyria, destroys Israel's mighty kings, their mighty princes. They cannot save Israel in the day of calamity.

Are you shocked by this imagery?

It is shocking, and I think that is intentional here, friends, that you should be shocked awake, shocked out of self-delusion, shocked out of self-reliance. This passage is here to warn you if you are an unbeliever. You cannot live life, you cannot live for eternity without God. Every breath you take, every food that you eat, every drink of water is all a gift of God's grace.

And this passage is here to warn you if you are wandering in sin, not a care in the world about what God might have to say about your sin. This passage is here to warn you, to shock you. Turn. Judgment is coming.

This kind of behavior, these kind of actions, these patterns of life arouse the righteous anger of a holy God.

God continues his strong words of judgment through the rest of the chapter, and what I want to do is I want to skip ahead to verses 15 and 16. We see there an image of judgment coming through an east wind. This would've been a familiar word of destruction, a familiar word for Israel. An east wind blowing in strong and hard that would just wipe things out.

For us, it might be familiar to a tornado. God says a tornado is coming. You know what that's like. Everything in its path is just wiped out, and that's what God says is coming for Israel, an east wind to destroy everything. In the summer in Michigan, there's an important distinction

between a watch and a warning. A watch just means that there are conditions that might lead to dangerous weather. A warning

tells you, warns you, that that weather exists and it is coming for you, and you ought to take heed. There is a wind warning here in these verses from God to Israel. It is coming. Take heed. Go to your basements now. Hunker down.

And this judgment was coming in the form of a nation, Assyria, which would invade Israel and wipe them out.

And Israel doesn't heed God's warning. They think they're fine. "It may pass us by."

Assyria, in 722, invades the northern kingdom of Israel and utterly decimates the kingdom of Israel. And you see why this happened in verse 16. Why? Because she rebelled against her God. She did not listen. She refused to listen. She did the exact opposite of what God had told her to do. The people of Israel had no one to blame but themselves. They were guilty of persistently violating God's commands and ignoring God's warnings.

And eventually, just like it will be at the end of this age, eventually, God's patience runs out, and it did on the northern kingdom of Israel. God sent the judgment he promised, that he threatened, and Israel was decimated. That is the judgment. God threatens his people for their sin.

Is there any escape? Is there any passing-by transgression? Is there any means by which God will pardon the guilty? You are all good Christians in this room. You know the answer. Yes.

We have a hint of it in verse 14. Verse 14 says, "Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?" Here in Hosea,

God is issuing these words as a threat, but he's also calling upon death and the grave to do their worst to Israel. It is what their guilt deserves. Throw them their worst, O grave, O death. Swallow them up in defeat.

But you know that this passage shows up another time, right? In 1 Corinthians 15, the longest passage on the resurrection in all of the Bible. And it's very interesting, in 1 Corinthians 15, these rhetorical questions to which the answer in Hosea should be no. It is an implied no. God will not ransom them from the power of Sheol. He will not redeem them from death. He has no compassion for them in their guilt. Those are rhetorical questions in Hosea.

Paul, interestingly, in 1 Corinthians 15, he turns these questions, rightfully, into a taunt. No longer is it God calling on death and the grave to do their worst to God's people. Now it is a taunt of God's people against the grave and against death, and against sin, and against the law which condemns. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?

There is a way out. There is a way out of God's judgment. There is an escape of God's judgment, his righteous anger. What is the difference? What happens in between Hosea's writing and Paul's writing?

Jesus Christ came into the world. And when he came into the world, he lived a sinless life, fulfilling God's law perfectly, as Israel should have.

And Jesus Christ bore the wrath of God, God's fury for sin, the sin of all who would trust in him by faith. He bore it on the cross. And when he bore God's wrath on the cross, it was a once for all sacrifice for sin, never to be repeated. You sang earlier, "In God is our refuge and strength." These are the last words: "The God of Jacob is for us a refuge, strong and sure." This whole passage is that the God of Jacob is against you,

O Israel. How is it that you can sing these words? Because on the cross, Jesus takes all of the wrath of God. There is nothing left. The penalty for sin is paid in full. There is not a penny left to be paid. Forgiven, pardoned, free in Jesus Christ. And why can there be a taunt to the grave and to death and to the law? Because Jesus, the sinless Savior, could not be held by the grave. It had no claim on him. He did not deserve death, and so he rose victorious on the third day, defeating

sin, defeating death, defeating the devil.

And when you, dear believer, are united to Christ by faith, you are united in his resurrection. And so his resurrection, his defeat of sin, his defeat of the grave is your victory over sin and death and the devil. And so 1 Corinthians 15 invites you

to put your faith in Christ, to trust in Christ, to hope in the resurrection, and to join this taunt of death and the grave because your penalty has been paid in full. You are not condemned by God. You will not be forsaken by God. You will not be abandoned to Sheol. You cannot be, because you are in God's Son, and he has given you the victory. And this is grace. This is grace, dear friends. Grace that pardons your guilt, that frees you from the

sentence of death, that spares you from the eternal judgment of God, and it is grace that is offered to you freely in the person of Jesus Christ.

Will you receive that offer? Will you heed the warnings, and would you turn from your sin with God's help, by his grace? Turn from your sin to Christ, in whom there is forgiveness, full and free. Amen. Let's pray. Oh, Father, we do thank you for your word. We thank you for how it directs us to the fulfilled promise, that offspring of the woman who would come to crush the head of the serpent, who would come to vanquish the last enemy,

death.

We thank you, oh Lord, that he is coming again, and that when Jesus Christ comes, he will come to save all who have put their trust and faith in him. We pray, oh Lord, that you would allow this word of judgment, that you would allow this word to turn our hearts to Christ. For those of us who have trusted in Christ, that we would not hear condemnation, but we would hear and see all that Christ has done in taking our punishment for us.

That we might be thankful to you, oh God, for your grace. And so we pray that you would do all this, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.