Hosea 7

Order of Service

• Catechism — Westminster Shorter Catechism, Questions 39–40
• Hymn — O God of Every Nation (#485)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Scripture Reading — Hosea 7
• Sermon
• Hymn — Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (#457)
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

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Sermon Title: Let Not an Unteachable Heart Hinder You

Scripture: Hosea 7

I. The Problem of an Unteachable Heart

A. Sin is rampant among God's people — they are called "adulterers" (Hosea 7:4), having wandered from their covenant God

B. A painful refrain runs through the chapter: despite devastation and need, the people do not return

1. "None of them calls upon me" (Hosea 7:7)
2. "They do not return to the LORD their God nor seek him" (Hosea 7:10)
3. "They do not cry to me from the heart" (Hosea 7:14)

C. Sin leads naturally to consequences — in relationships, leadership, and provision — yet no lessons are learned and no ways are mended

D. Foolishness illustrated: like a person repeatedly walking into a doorway with a two-by-four rather than turning it; like a pilot one degree off course who refuses to correct

E. Ephraim is "like a dove, silly and without sense" (Hosea 7:11) — going to Egypt and Assyria rather than returning to the Lord

1. They have "bird brains" — they know they need help but seek it from every source except God
2. The old hymn captures it: prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love

F. Application: Where is your heart being drawn in affliction? Are you going back to the Lord, or going elsewhere?

II. The Correction of an Unteachable Heart

A. The correction of right knowing

1. "They do not consider that I remember all their evil" (Hosea 7:2) — they have not known God rightly
2. God hates wickedness — he is holy, holy, holy; his justice cannot overlook sin
3. God knows wickedness — he is omniscient; we cannot hide our sin from him (Psalm 139)
4. God redeems from wickedness — "I would redeem them" (Hosea 7:13); the cross is both God's condemnation of sin and his grace poured out
5. We come to know God rightly only through Christ — God the Father known through God the Son

B. The correction of humility

1. "The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they do not return to the LORD" (Hosea 7:10)
2. Pride has been close to the heart of sin since the Garden — Eve bypassing God's word to be her own god
3. Humility is not self-defamation; it is knowing yourself rightly as a creature made for God's glory
4. Know God rightly through his Word; in doing so, know yourself rightly as well

C. The correction of prayer

1. The Lord's repeated desire: "call on me," "come to me," "seek me" — the language of prayer
2. Prayer is the overflowing expression of one who knows themselves rightly before a God they know rightly
3. Hearts must be tuned toward God — illustrated by a digital TV antenna that must point in the right direction to receive a signal
4. Jesus teaches us to pray "Our Father" (Matthew 6:9) — training us to see God as Father and cry out to him
5. As we develop habits of prayer, the heart softens, learns, and grows in trust and love
6. Guard against every temptation to tune the heart in another direction