Hosea is one of the minor prophets…this doesn’t mean he was under 18 or

unimportant but only that his prophecy is shorter in length than Isaiah’s or
Jeremiah’s, etc.
 
One Pastor was preaching a series on the prophets and one of the members asked
him, “when are you going to get to the ‘meaner’ prophets?”  As you read the minor
prophets you’ll agree that their messages were rather bombastic and full of
judgment.
 
Our text is in v. 9 – “yet he knoweth it not”
 
A few weeks ago I turned 40…I’ve climbed and topped the hill, and now I’m…well,
you know!  I'd rather be over the hill than under it!  Kimberly will tell you I don’t
depress easily, but it was a bad day for me…a day of retrospect and looking forward
to the future.  [The good news is I’m now the exact age the average church member
says is ideal to be their pastor!] 
 
And the new year should be a time of looking back and then looking forward.  It’s
good to stop and think about what we are accomplishing or where we may just be
meandering, and it’s a good idea to set some goals and try to build a better future.
 
Some of you recently in your supportive, considerate way, have pointed out that I
have a few gray hairs appearing on my head as well as my chin.  Usually when a
man’s hair turns gray or white it speaks of a milestone…a compliment of wisdom,
perhaps, but it’s also indicative of a decline in his physical life. But, I guess hair
turning gray beats the alternative of it “turning loose!”  [cure for
baldness:  persimmon juice...it won't grow hair but it shrinks your head to fit the
hair you've got!]
 
What we have here in our text is an evidence of a spiritual decline.  Hosea has much
to say about backsliding.  Here is a danger that faces every one of us who are
Christians:  spiritual decline.  Here’s the question we need to ask ourselves on this
day:  “Am I turning gray spiritually?”
 
The first time some of you found a gray hair you attached it to an index card and still
have it.  Some may still be in denial, and some may attempt to camouflage it!  [how
many color away their gray? How many know someone in the room who should
have raised their hand?!]
 
Spiritual decline always begins inwardly.  The prodigal son backslid at home alone,
long before he backslid in a far country.
 
Proverbs 14:14
    The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be
satisfied from himself.
 
So, what about these gray hairs mentioned in our text?  There are 6 of them:
 
v. 1 
1.     The gray hair of falsehood
       
I must ask, am I guilty of this?  Are you?  The last thing any of us are willing to do is
to admit failure. We grow cold spiritually and we do everything possible that we
know to do to keep up the appearance that all is ok.  Like trying to color away our
gray and feel better.  We say amen when we’re right w/ God but say it even louder
when we’re out of fellowship w/ Him.  Is that to throw others off the trail or to
deceive ourselves and make us feel better?
 
Or, we don’t go to the altar when a negative is preached on [what might others
think?] but run down there if the preacher says, ‘come to pray to be closer to God’
or ‘to overturn Roe V. Wade.’  How easy it is to ‘profess’ more than we actually
‘possess’!
 
v. 2         
ego = what I think of myself
reputation = what others think of me
character = what God knows about me
Oh, that we would focus on the latter of those 3 this year!  Our Lord is the
only One we should try to impress!
 
Titus 1:16
    They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable,
and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
 
Matthew 15:8
    This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their
lips; but their heart is far from me.
 
You say, “this will never happen to me. ”  Remember what Paul told the Corinthians,
“take heed lest ye fall.”  No matter how far we’ve grown in grace, it is no guarantee
we won’t decline spiritually.  Any of us can and do backslide at times!  I'm a prime
example.
 
Rev. 3:15-16
         [15] I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold
or hot. [16] So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue
thee out of my mouth.
 
A person who is cold seeks heat, and one who is hot seeks the cold…but a lukewarm
person is satisfied. We want our coffee hot, and our iced tea cold…but not
lukewarm…that makes you sick!  And a lukewarm Christian makes God sick.
 
That’s the gray hair of falsehood…
 
2nd gray hair-v. 4
 
2.       The gray hair of adultery
 
Hosea said “you love other gods rather than Jehovah God.”  It’s spiritual
adultery.  We have the idea that because we don’t have idols of wood or stone that
we aren’t guilty of idolatry.  Oh, but we are!  Americans have idols, but they are just
shaped differently.
 
1 John 2:15
    Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him.
 
Some say, “Preacher, don’t tell me how to live!”
 
Isaiah 53:6
    All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way…
        -People want their own way, but what they need is a shepherd.
 
James 4:4
    Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is
enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of
God.
 
Lot was fine as long as he was with uncle Abraham, but when alone, he
saw Sodom and it reminded him of Egypt, and he pitched his tent toward it.
 
Simon Peter cut off that soldier’s ear in the garden. He boasted that he’d go w/
Jesus ‘til death, and in a matter of hours he was warming himself w/ the enemy and
cussing like a sailor, denying Christ.
 
Paul spoke of Demas who forsook him, loving this present world.  It’s amazing how
many Christians today are unseparated, and unsanctified.
 
v. 8  “cake not turned” 
 
Do you like pancakes?  Imagine eating one that is raw on one side!  Are you a half-
baked Christian? Riding the fence?  How long halt ye between 2 opinions?  Are you
both hot and cold?  Then as a whole, you’re lukewarm!  The most miserable people
on earth are Christians who try to have it both ways. They have just enough Jesus in
them that they can no longer fully enjoy the world, but they hold onto enough of
the world that they can’t enjoy Jesus, or ever live the victorious life of fulfillment He
wants for them so much!
 
Adultery is the desire for “something else.”[materialism / ambition out of balance]
 
We may have to fellowship w/ unsaved people or work with them, but we shouldn’t
keep company with them of our own accord.  We shouldn’t frequent their places
either.  “Love not the world.” 
 
The gray hair of adultery…
 
Another is found in v. 7
 
3.     The gray hair of prayerlessness
 
This is a fundamental cause for all spiritual decline. Just think back to when you first
got saved and recall your prayer life. 
 
D. L. Moody – “All my failures are prayer failures.” In other words, prayerlessness is
an ‘umbrella sin’under which all our other sins can stay safe and protected, never
brought out into the open!
 
In the midst of our busy schedules today, and all our service for the Lord we just
don’t ‘have time’ anymore to commune with Him.  Maybe we have allowed our
prayer lives to be crowded out.  Let’s fix it in 2011!
 
If you could live your Christian life over would you read your Bible more or pray
more?  Reading the Bible is God talking to you, but prayer is you talking to Him.  And
both are vitally important.
 
But in Luke 11:1 Jesus is asked by the disciples, “teach us to pray” [not how to, but
“to”].  They didn’t ask Him to teach them to preach, but to pray.  And then the Lord
gave them a model prayer.
 
How long has it been since you asked God for something definite and He answered
your prayer definitely?  We pray in vague generalities.  Then the devil says, “Oh, that
would have happened anyway!” Let's get specific!
 
The gray hair of prayerlessness…
 
4.     The gray hair of weakness
 
v. 9          “Strangers have devoured his strength.” It’s a lack of fruitfulness…like a
tree that is standing but bearing no fruit.  Is real fruit resulting from your Christian
service?  How many have you seen saved? How long have you been saved?  It ought
to be as natural as bringing babies into this world is to a young couple.  [mirror]
 
But we’ve become weak and unfruitful.  We have no strength.  So, question is,
where should our strength come from?  Physically, from food…and spiritually, from
the Word of God!  The strangers in v. 9 are other people and other things which take
the place of what is to be our spiritual nourishment.  We feed theflesh, we feed
our eyes, we feed our pride…but weshould be starving our mortal selves and feeding
ourspirits!
 
“2 natures beat within my breast…1 is cursed and 1 is blessed.
1 I love and 1 I hate, and the one I feed will dominate!”
        We have fed our flesh a good bit, esp. during the ‘Holidays”.  Let’s feed our
spirits this new year!
 
John 15:16
    …I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and
that your fruit should remain…
 
We often work for the Lord in the energy of the flesh, for praise and glory of man,
instead of in the energy of the Spirit for the praise and glory of God.
 
How many of you have ever gone out and broken off a cluster of grapes from a vine
and chowed down, raise your hands?  Aha!  I tricked you!
The grapes grow on the branches, not on the vine.  Jesus doesn’t bear fruit
unless He does it thru us!
 
Zech. 4:6
    Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
 
Next, look at v. 11
 
5.     The gray hair of empty formalism
 
A dove is a beautiful bird, but “w/out heart” suggests a silly, vain creature.
 
– like an iceberg, most [9-tenths] of our spirituality should be beneath the surface,
where only God can see it!  [not for show]
 
Psalm 51:6
    Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt
make me to know wisdom.
– Christianity should be an inner reality, not just an outward appearance!
 
Solomon told his love she had dove’s eyes.  What a line!  That kind of pickup can
work if you back it up with loving actions…more than words!
 
v. 13-14
 
6.     The gray hair of rebellion
 
Satan was the first rebel, and we're never more like him than we we are
rebels!  Disobedience is the essence of rebellion.  It’s complaining against
God. Often we become bitter over His dealings w/ us.
 
Or, we rebel at a message such as this one, and excuse ourselves from coming to the
altar and doing business with God [see #1-Falsehood!]  We need to do business w/
God here at the beginning of the year. We need to get rid of these stubborn gray
hairs…and how do we do that?  Don’t color them, because then they’ll still be
there…we have to yank ‘em by the root!  That can be painful.  I’ve yanked a few and
it hurts, let me tell you…esp. the ones in the nose or ear!  Even worse is when one in
the ear is connected to one in the nose!
 
These are a few of the gray hairs indicative of spiritual decline.
 
Why are these gray hairs unobserved by us?  Why are we so blind to our own
faults?  I’ve already mentioned that we don’t like to admit failure.
 
We are experts at examining others but not ourselves.  We take many long, hard
looks at others, but not ourselves! 
 
We don’t look into the mirror often enough. [God’s Word.] James 1:22-24
 
Also, we don’t heed the advice of others, or respond to preaching!
 
“Preacher, what do I do?”
  
Wash away the gray in 3 simple steps:
 
·       Self-examination
Lament. 3:40
    Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.
·       Confession
1 John 1:9
    If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness.
·       Progression
1 John 1:7
    But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
        [Paul – “forgetting those things which are behind…”]
 
Hosea 14:1,2,4,9
v. 2          “take with you words and turn to the Lord…”
 
v. 4          “I will heal their backsliding…”
 
[this idea and outline came from Jack Greene at a recent meeting of NC preachers
where my father-in-law was present.   Bro. Jack is the surviving brother of Oliver B.
Greene, under whose tent ministry my father in law was saved many years ago.]