On the Ash Heap of History

There is a passage in the book of Hosea in chapter 6 and verse 6. Let me read that to his friends. For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. You see, Israel's heart had become divided.

They had begun to trust in the nations around them rather than to trust in God alone. God refers to them as a deceitful bow and an empty vine. And as Gomer's heart was divided against her husband Hosea as she returned to her harlotry, so Israel had returned to self-reliance and idolatry with the world.

God said they had forgotten him. For Israel hath forgotten his Maker and built the temples, and Judah hath multiplied bent cities. But I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

The persistent rebellion of Israel, the idolatry Israel, the multiplied sins of Israel, eventually God turned them over to their enemies by completely overthrowing them and leading them into captivity in Babylon and Assyria. What is the application to ourselves in today's age, friends, where the shadow of Jesus' return is upon the horizon? There are lessons to be learned here, and we can apply Old Testament prophecy concerning Israel to the church of today. Indeed, these truths from Scripture and the heart of God can be principled to us personally and to the church both locally and universally.

Self-examination in light of revealed truth is not only necessary today but mandatory. For we too, like Israel, have strayed away from our Maker. We too are an empty vine, a deceitful bow.

The activity we produce in the name of Christ is but the fleshly power of fallible man. It's an empty vine, friends. We are a deceitful bow.

This means that the bow and arrow in the hands of the archer cannot be relied upon, unlike Jonathan's bow, which is reliable. You see, Israel, as an instrument in the hands of God, to influence the nations for good and to remain a separate people holy to Him, had become unreliable, and the result of their unreliability was like an empty vine. In short, they had become totally useless to God, and all He could do at that juncture was to chastise them by sending them into captivity until their hearts would return to Him.

As Hosea kept taking the unfaithful Gomer back into his house again and again, despite her continued whoredom, so God in His forbearance kept reaching down to His people with mercy and extended patience. But the time had come when His patience had turned to wrath and judgment. Today, within our churches, and especially within our own idolatrous hearts, have we not followed backslidden Israel into the identical critical and lamentable position? As our material successes have enlarged our ministries, we have come to the exact place of self-reliance and idolatry with the world.

Brother pastor, don't kid yourself. Be honest. Examine your ministry.

Who are you relying upon? Your wealthy church member with his big bank account? Or your well-earned reputation? Perhaps it's your education? Your own fleshly abilities? Let's face it, brethren. We have let the world into the church, and the church has become sick with affluenza. We don't look to God any more than Israel did, and see where it got them.

Enemies within Arab nations are encircling us as well. And unless we repent, crying out to God to forgive us and confess our sins, the same thing will happen to us. Judgment from an angry God? Well, don't talk about that, you say, preacher, about God being a judge, because that's not politically correct.

Listen, friends. A holy God will judge an evil people. A holy God will also judge a strained people who are called by his name.

In America, and in the church worldwide today, we are ripe for judgment. Unless we follow the advice laid out in scripture for revival, we will have judgment. God calls for more than burnt offerings.

The apostle Peter warns us that the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. Oh, friends, this is a call to repent, and to return to God, and to judge yourselves before God's judgment falls upon us. And this nation is laid to dust, like ancient Greece and ancient Rome, upon the ash heap of history.

Oh, let us pray.