Sermon: The Danger of Being Assimilated

The Danger of Being Assimilated (Hosea 6:11-7:16) Pastor Tony Felich February 10, 2008 ----more---- The advance of Christ's Kingdom on earth has always included the great struggle of the Church against cultural assimilation THE EXAMPLES OF THE DRIFT TOWARD ASSIMILATION IN BIBLICAL HISTORY - Lot and Sodom (Genesis) - Israel and Egypt (Exodus) - The conquest of Canaan (Joshua) - The people's demand for a King (Judges) - Israel's Fall (Hosea) - Judah's Fall (Jeremiah) - During the time of Christ and the Apostles (James addresses) - Ongoing struggle right up to present NOTICE THE FEATURE OF CULTURAL ASSIMILATION IN HOSEA'S DAY - Unfaithful Leadership - Lack of the true knowledge of God - Lack of repentance when confronted by God - Mixture with the world HOW MIGHT WE (THE CHURCH/CHRISTIANS) RESIST CULTURAL ASSIMILATION? Hosea 6:11–7:16 (Listen) 11 For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed. When I restore the fortunes of my people, 7:1 when I would heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria, for they deal falsely; the thief breaks in, and the bandits raid outside. 2 But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face. 3 By their evil they make the king glad, and the princes by their treachery. 4 They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven whose baker ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. 5 On the day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine; he stretched out his hand with mockers. 6 For with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire. 7 All of them are hot as an oven, and they devour their rulers. All their kings have fallen, and none of them calls upon me. 8 Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned. 9 Strangers devour his strength, and he knows it not; gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, and he knows it not. 10 The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him, for all this. 11 Ephraim is like a dove, silly and without sense, calling to Egypt, going to Assyria. 12 As they go, I will spread over them my net; I will bring them down like birds of the heavens; I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation. 13 Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me. 14 They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me. 15 Although I trained and strengthened their arms, yet they devise evil against me. 16 They return, but not upward; they are like a treacherous bow; their princes shall fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.