DISTORTED VISION Hosea 9:7

I. Introduction

A. There were five elements in the calamity Hose was prophesying in view of the nation's sin.

1. First, the death of joy (1) Second, exile from their land (3)

2. Three, the loss of spiritual discernment (7) Four, a falling birth rate. (11) Five, the actual casting out of the people (17)

B. The text I have chosen deals with the central one of these five - the loss of spiritual discernment.

1. It begins by saying the prophet is a fool People's Conception.

2. It follows by giving the reason for their opinion, the abundance of thine iniquity and because your enmity is great.

II. Some Really Great Principles Flash Out of This Test.

A. First notice, their conception of the Prophet - a Fool

I. Then, the reason for that conception - their sin and hostility.

2. Finally, the delusion of those who hold it

B. To begin our study; lets consider their conception of the prophet.

1. The prophet is a fool - Hebrew word used for fool is not the more common word used elsewhere in O.T.

2. The word NABAL is the common word for fool

3. The fool has said in his heart there is no God - NOBAL has a moral element to it. It refers to a person morally generate.

4. But that is not the idea behind the Hebrew word used in Hosea 9:7. (EVIYL)

It is used 25 times in O.T.

5. It can be translated by our word silly or inane.

6. The prophet is daft, silly, has a screw loose.

7. That's the idea. Just dismiss the prophet as a joke, a clown - someone not to be taken seriously.

C. It goes on to say, the spiritual man is mad.

1. The simple meaning of the word mad is RAVING.

2. When we dismiss someone with contempt, we say something like - he is a raving lunatic.

3. That was the conception these people had of really spiritual people and the preachers of their day.

4. Later in the history of Judah, when Shemaiah the false prophet was against Jeremiah, he spoke of him in the very

same terms. He said that Jeremiah is mad.

D. When we pass into the N.T. in John 10:19 we find His enemies saying of Jesus - He has a devil and is mad.

1. When Paul was talking to Agrippa, suddenly Festus broke in and said; Paul thy much learning hath made thee

mad.

2. John and Charles Wesley were charged with being mad. That led Charles Wesley to write: Fools and madmen let us be - Yet is our sure trust in Thee.

3. When William Booth broke through the barriers of the ecclesiastical power strangling his message his critics wrote of him "He is not quite all there."

4. So the perception persists - the prophet is a fool and the man of the spirit is mad.

5. I am inclined to agree with Charles Wesley - Fools and madmen let us be.

6. This means that those who have this conception have lost spiritual discernment

7. How well this substantiates last week's message - they have mislaid God.

III. What's the Reason for This False Conception?

A. Because of the abundance of thine iniquities.

The word suggests the piling up of sin.

1. Isaiah said; Your sins have separated between you and your God.

2. The false conception of the prophets ministry was due to their blindness regarding the holiness of God.

3. Sin and blindness creates the third thing - hostility.

4. Hosea declared their enmity was great - Moffatt in his translation says in verse 7 they are hostile to the prophet in Verse 8 they are hostile toward God.

B. Mark the Process in these People

1. They disobeyed God. What next? They mislaid Him.

2. What was the result? They misinterpreted Him.

3. What was the result? They were hostile to Him and to those who represented Him.

4. Paul says I Cor 2:14 - the natural man does not accept the things of God for they are foolishness to Him.

5. When God is disobeyed, God distanced from our consciousness.

IV. Finally Consider the Delusion of These People

A. They said; the prophet is a fool

1. Lets go back to the Book of Proverbs and this word for fool is used 18 times.

2. In Proverbs we find two definitions of a fool.

3. First; fools despise wisdom and instruction - know it all.

4. Second; Fools make a mock at sin - make light of it.

5. Here we have the delusion revealed.

B. The prophet of God is eternally at war with sin.

1. Therefore the man who counts him a fool, is the fool.

I have referred to William Booth the great founder of the Salvation Army. Do you know what made him the flaming prophet? He heard an infidel lecturing and laughing at Christianity. He said " If I really believed what you Christian People pretend to believe, I would not rest, day or night, telling men and women about Jesus." William Booth heard

it, and it gripped him, and he said " The man is right." The result was that he did not rest.

The Christian Church to day has largely become "Faultily faultless, icily regular, Splendidly null.'

There is very little madness among us. Look at the young Church; the Church aflame with fire. In its presence, the city of Jerusalem said, "These men are drunk."

2. If the things we affirm in our creeds are true then we ought to be on fire.

3. Many have lost their vision of God, therefore they have lost the greatness of the message of the gospel.

4. May the passion of enthusiasm drive us to do the unusual thing, and make glad the heart of our Lord and Savior.