Lesson 2: Idolatry

I.        INTRODUCTION

A.      Long before Hosea began his ministry, Israel had a long and sordid history of idolatry.

                                                             1.      When God made His covenant with Israel, He prohibited the practice of idolatry (Ex. 20:1-5), and Israel said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” (Ex. 24:7).  Yet even before the Law could be codified, they forsook Jehovah and made a golden calf for their god (Ex. 32:1-6).

                                                             2.      After Moses interceded for the children of Israel because of their sin (Ex. 32:11-14, 30-33), God warned them against idolatry again.  Specifically, He warned them not to turn to any of the gods of the Canaanite peoples whom they would conquer (Ex. 34:10-17).  Again they were warned before entering the land (Deut. 5:6-9), and Joshua likewise warned them once they had taken the land (Josh. 23:6-8; 24:14-15).  Once again Israel agreed to be faithful (Josh. 24:16-17,21,24), but they soon forsook God after Joshua died, repeating a cycle of idolatry, punishment, and repentance throughout the history of the judges (Jud. 2:11-23).

                                                             3.      This same pattern of history was continued during the time of the kings.  The last judge, Samuel, had led Israel in a renewed zeal against idolatry (1Sam. 7:3-6), which continued until King Solomon returned the nation to the worship of false gods (1Ki. 11:1-11).  After the kingdom divided, the idolatry in the Northern Kingdom of Israel escalated under Jeroboam I and the kings that followed.

B.      By the time Hosea prophesied, Israel was thoroughly corrupted with idolatry.

                                                             1.      Israel was destroyed during Hosea’s time, and among the reasons given by God for their destruction was the sin of idolatry.  “And they forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal” (2Ki. 17:16).

                                                             2.      Perhaps the crowning achievement of Israel’s debauchery was the sacrificing of their children.  “Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him” (2Ki. 17:17).

C.      Is there anything for us to learn today from Israel’s idolatrous history?

                                                             1.      In the United States, there is no problem with people forming molten images and bowing down before them as gods.  How can we relate?

                                                             2.      The truth is that there is more to idolatry than carved statues.  We may not have graven images, but types of idolatry are all around us.

II.      SPIRITUAL ADULTERY

A.      The idolatry of Israel is described as a type of adultery in the prophecy of Hosea (and other prophecies as well).

                                                             1.      In the illustration, God is pictured as a faithful and loving husband who provides everything for his wife.

                                                             2.      Israel is described as faithless wife who forsakes her husband for strangers and defiles herself, making her worthy of death.

                                                             3.      Thus, Israel committed spiritual adultery with gods of foreign nations by practicing idolatry.

B.      Hosea’s marriage was a model for this spiritual relationship between God and Israel.

                                                             1.      “When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD.’” (Hos. 1:2)

                                                             2.      Hosea obeyed the voice of God, taking Gomer, a harlot, as his wife (Hos. 1:3).

                                                             3.      Gomer bore three children, and all were given prophetic names that were symbolic of Israel (Hos. 1:3-9):

a.       Jezreel, meaning “God scatters”

b.       Lo-ruhamah, meaning “not pitied”

c.        Lo-ammi, meaning “not my people”

                                                             4.      Although it is not explained in detail, it appears that Gomer abandoned Hosea for other lovers and eventually became someone’s property as a slave.  Hosea redeemed her from slavery and restored her as his wife with the condition that she would no longer play the harlot (Hos. 3:1-3).

                                                             5.      This repulsive and shameful harlot Gomer was a potent symbol to communicate to Israel the depth of their sin.

a.       She was completely faithless and disloyal to her benevolent husband just as Israel was faithless and ungrateful toward God in their idolatry (Hos. 2:2-8).

b.       Her children were the children of harlotry just as the spiritual offspring of Israel, the product of their gross idolatry, was a broken covenant with God (Hos. 2:4-5).

c.        Although she was worthless and deserving of punishment, Hosea redeemed her just as God would redeem the faithless children of Israel (Hos. 2:14-23).

C.      Therefore, we can understand how degrading it is for men to forsake God and worship false gods.

                                                             1.      When men reject God, they foolishly reject the one who has created all things and provided everything for them (Rom. 1:18-21).

                                                             2.      When men turn to false gods, they foolishly place their hope and confidence in a lie that has no substance (Rom. 1:22-25).

                                                             3.      When men do these things, they reveal the depth of their stupidity, giving up that which is eternal in favor of that which is corruptible and bound for destruction.

III.   IDOLATRY AMONG US

A.      The form of idolatry practiced by Israel still exists in the Eastern World, but it is not prevalent in the United States.

                                                             1.      Americans do not carve statues and images to worship as gods.

                                                             2.      However, this does not mean that idolatry is not among us today.

B.      The form of idolatry that corrupts the United States today is embodied in the doctrine of humanism.

                                                             1.      This doctrine is openly declared in the Humanist Manifesto I (1933) and the Humanist Manifesto II (1973).  From these documents, we can understand exactly what this philosophy entails.

                                                             2.      Humanism is a monistic philosophy, which means that it views all reality from a single standpoint.  That standpoint is the material world.

                                                             3.      Therefore, humanism denies the existence of anything spiritual, claiming that there is not sufficient evidence to believe in anything that cannot be evaluated with the natural senses.

                                                             4.      Humanism goes beyond simply denying spirituality.  It teaches that spirituality and religion are actually harmful to individuals and society because they promote false hope in a life beyond the material world.

                                                             5.      Thus, the goals of humanism are to focus the minds of men upon the things that will be most beneficial and pleasing to men in this world and to convince men not to waste their efforts toward a non-existent god.

                                                             6.      Therefore, each individual is elevated to the status of his own god.  Man the god dictates to himself what he must do.  He must provide for himself whatever he desires.  He must make his own morality and ethics.  He must determine his own destiny.

C.      Is humanism really a religion and therefore a form of idolatry?

                                                             1.      The humanists say that humanism is not a religion because there is nothing sacred about it.

                                                             2.      However, notice how the first chapter of Romans describes idolatry:

a.       Because the idolater believes that he has attained wisdom, he “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of man” (Rom. 1:18-23).

b.       Moreover, the idolater “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom. 1:25).

                                                             3.      This describes exactly what the humanist has done.

a.       The humanist thinks that he knows better than to believe in God.  So he gives up what is truly glorious (God) for that which is simply an image – the humanistic concept of man.

b.       As a result of this decision, the humanist worships and serves the creature – himself, mankind – rather than God, the Creator.

                                                             4.      The spiritually minded understand that anything elevated to preeminence above God becomes a god.  That is what idolatry is.

a.       A person is a slave to whomever he serves, including himself (Rom. 6:16).

b.       A humanist makes himself to be the master, lord, and god of himself.  He becomes his own idol.

D.      The practical results of humanism are exactly the same as the results ascribed to idolatry.

                                                             1.      Our nation is bearing the fruits of humanistic philosophy, and they are evident all around us:

a.       The denial of God, which is made possible by the theory of evolution (Rom. 1:19-21)

b.       Homosexuality (Rom. 1:26-27)

c.        Immorality, promiscuity, lasciviousness (Rom. 1:28)

d.       “…being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful” (Rom. 1:29-31)

e.        Beyond this, humanists have an agenda to promote these same things (Rom. 1:32).

                                                             2.      When the nation of Israel was steeped in idolatry, they sacrificed their children (2Ki. 17:17).  Our nation is doing the same today.

a.       Our nation has turned its children over to godlessness and humanism, raising them in a culture that has no regard for Christ, His church, or His word.

b.       Even worse, our people’s pursuit of self-serving and immoral pleasure has led to the murder of 47 million unborn children via abortions in the U.S. since the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade in 1973 (National Right to Life Committee, Abortion in the United States: Statistics and Trends, “Total Abortions Since 1973”).

E.       Very few Americans confess to be humanists.  Many do not even know what humanism is.

                                                             1.      However, many are humanists in their thinking.  Their careless, self-serving ways are the products of the humanistic philosophy.

                                                             2.      The influence of humanism is throughout the schools, movies, television programs, books, and even many churches in this nation.  Although they do not often call their teachings “humanism,” this is exactly what it being taught.

IV.    CONCLUSION

A.      “For they sow the wind, and they reap the whirlwind” (Hos. 8:7)

                                                             1.      One variety of wind sown by the Northern Kingdom of Israel was the seeds of idolatry in their beliefs and their practices.

                                                             2.      The whirlwind they reaped was destruction as a nation.

B.      Our nation is sowing the same seeds today.  Should we not expect to reap the same results?

C.      Yet for God’s people, the church of Jesus Christ, let this not be so.

                                                             1.      While the world descends into evil around us, let us remain faithful to our Father in heaven.

                                                             2.      “And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (Jas. 3:18).