UNCONSCIOUS DECADENCE Hosea 7:8-9

I. Introduction

A. In this book, we have the spiritual deterioration of a nation that was chosen to be God's repository of truth.

1. In these two verses, we have that deterioration presented to us in pictorial form.

2. Grey hairs are upon his head but he doesn't know it.

3. The opening verses of chapter tell us God is seeking to heal and restore the people to usefulness.

B. Its willful ignoring of God.

1. Because of neglect the strength of the nation is ebbing away - yet they were not aware of it.

2. Notice twice over it is said in verse 9 - "He knoweth it not??.

3. Strangers have devoured his strength - he doesn't know it.

4. Grey hairs are upon his head but he doesn't know it.

5. That is the most tragic condition of all.

C. To be out of synch with God out of cadence with Him and yet think all is well is the most perilous condition possible.

II. The Suggestion Made in Verse 9 is Contrary to Nature.

A. I ask you if any of you were unconscious when grey hairs began to appear?

1. If we don't discover them first, some friend will surely point it out to you.

2. Three things you can do with gray hair - try to pull them, try to dye them - learn to live with them.

B. What Does Gray Hair Denote?

1. Old age is coming - strength is ebbing - if we fail to heed the signs and try to remain 21 we can do damage to ourselves. We can't run 100 yards in 10 flat.

III Samson is the Premier Example in the Bible

A. There is one text about Samson in the Bible that focuses on the truth of verse 9 in Hosea seven.

1. Samson wist not that the Spirit had departed from Him.

2. Here was a man who had known the power of the Holy Spirit resting upon him.

3. He had grey hairs upon Him and did not know that the Spirit had departed from him. (Judges 16:20)

4. 1 looked the word departed up in Strong's Concordance, it means literally - to turn off.

S. It would not do violence to the text to translate it "He wist not that the Holy Spirit was turned off."

6. He had grieved the Lord several times - finally God was turned off to Samson.

B. Make sure your lifestyle doesn't turn God off

1. The signs of moral degeneracy are seen by others but so often we don't see it.

2. Grey hairs are sprinkled here and there and we are not aware of it.

3. We are still going to church, still saying our prayers still making financial contributions, yet all the while we are

spiritually decadent.

C. Life is never right when we neglect the spiritual realities of our existence.

1. We say we are decent religious members of society.

2. But what do we mean by society?

Ordinary society intellectual society, refined society.

3. I am not denying a person may be decent in those surroundings but how does he feel when he goes to a prayer meeting? But you say I don't go!

4. I know that, but why don't you go?

D. If you tell the truth, you feel you would be out of place.

1. You have lost the sense of the fact that a human being at his highest is a person who communes with God.

2. The ultimate meaning of life is not the gathering together of dollars.

3. The ultimate of human life is fulfilled when a person walks and talks with the Lord Jesus.

4. If you have lost that consciousness, then gray hairs are upon you and you just don't know it.

C. Your spiritual life is ebbing and you are not aware of it - you think you are a good Christian.

1. Are you conscious of the fact that your spiritual experience over the last few years has gone downhill.

2. Has there been a lowering of your moral standards, are you going backward instead of forward in your Christian life?

D. Grey hair is not a tragedy~but failure to see it and to acknowledge it is.

IV. What's the Cure for Gray Hair?

A. God won't help us hide the gray hairs so that they can't be seen.

1. God will have no part in the lying work of dyeing them another color. What will He do about them?

2. In the O.T. He tails us what He will do.

3. Jehovah who for giveth all your iniquities. Who redeems your life from destruction. He satisfies your desire with

good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

4. God is willing to redeem and forgive us and renew our youth. It is only then that the gray hairs disappear.

B. Isaiah says - they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like the eagle. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

1. God alone is able to remove the grey hairs in order to renew our strength both morally and spiritually.

2. Let's go to the N.T. and listen to Jesus tell us how to get a cure for our grey hair.

3. Nicodemus asked the question - How can a man be born when he is old?

4. Jesus says it is possible, not with men but it is possible with God.

5. Jesus said - A man can be born when he is old if he will receive the life which is from above, he can be born again.

6. The new life Jesus gives will put an end to the signs of weakness - and that is what grey hair is.

C. Spiritually, you may have grey hair.

1. But God's forgiveness - his cleansing blood, his redeeming power will renew us from within.

2. To use the prophets word - we will be renewed like the eagle.

3. Wouldn't you like to get rid of the grey hair?

4. Wouldn't it be great to start all over again with a clean slate?

5. God is willing to do that for you.