Sermons
January 10th, 2010 by Pastor Solley011001AM The Baker, the Cake, the Bow.
Sub. Three illustrations in Hosea 7.
Theme: Lessons for Israel and for us.
Text: Hosea 7
“The Baker, the Cake, the Bow” Hosea 7
IntroductionThe Old Testament is full of illustrations, much more so than the New Testament. This because the Hebrew language of the Old Testament is a much more picturesque than the Greek language of the New Testament. The Hebrew is much more given to word pictures and illustrations. In Hosea 7 there are three such illustrations or word pictures that I would like to look at this morning. They involve a baker, a cake and a bow. – Hosea 7:1-16
I. A little background into Hosea the prophet and his message to God’s people will be helpful: Hosea was a prophet who was contemporary with Isaiah. He was on the scene when Uzziah and Hezekiah were kings in Judah.
A. By the time God called Hosea to be a prophet the northern kingdom of Israel had already fallen to Assyria: Because of a turning away from God an d a turning to idols, because of sin, God had passed judgment upon the norther kingdom of Israel.
1. The message of Hosea is to turn the southern kingdom of Judah back to God before God’s judgment would fall: Unless Judah would repent of sin and turn back to God judgment would come.
2. So in the first three chapters of Hosea we see Israel and God calling them to repent and to return: God is calling for them to turn away from the same sins of the northern kingdom and to return to the Lord Jehovah.
4. The in chapters 4 through 13 you find specific charges against the nation and the sinful actions of the people: God makes sure they understand what they were doing, their opportunity to repent, and why God’s judgment would come.
5. And in the last chapter we see Israel restored one day: That day is still in the future.
B. We also see Ephraim named in chapter 7 as well as others chapters in this book: Hosea 7:8 Ephraim is the second son of Joseph who was born in Egypt and takes the place of one of the other sons of Jacob and becomes on of the 12 tribes of Israel.
1. As one born in Egypt Ephraim represents one bought by blood out of sin: He is a blood bought son of God.
2. Ephraim also received the blessing of Jacob: He is the one Jacob blessed by crossing his hands. He is a blessed son.
II. This is what is going to allow us to make application today: Understand the message of Hosea is to Israel, it is to the southern kingdom of Judah. The message of Hosea was not to the church but to Israel.
A. But we can make application to the church today and to the born again believer in Christ: We can make application because Ephraim is bought out of sin, a blood bought son of God and a blessed son of God.
1. How do we become a child of God, how are we bought out of sin? By the blood of Jesus Christ. We are blood bought.
2. And are we then blessed by God through Jesus Christ? Sins forgiven are the beginning of great blessing in Jesus Christ.
3. So we can make application of what we find in Hosea to us today in many areas:
B. That includes the three illustrations we find in Hosea 7: There are three illustration I would like to look at this morning.
(1) The baker and the neglected oven. – Hosea 7:4-7 (2) The cake not turned. – Hosea 7:8 (3) The deceitful bow. – Hosea 7:16
PROP: Let us consider the illustration of the baker, the cake and the bow this morning. TS. And how this pertains to us today.
Body
I. First the illustrations and the word pictures they held for the people: As these illustration were given they would form word pictures in the minds of those that received them. We need to keep in mind that things have changed today. So we need to take ourselves back to the time that they were given. Ovens are not the same today as they were then and neither are the weapons of war. So we must takes ourselves back to the time that these illustrations were given.
A. The baker and the oven: Hosea 7:4-7 There is a picture of an ancient oven on the front of the bulletin. That one is a permanent oven and they also had portable ovens. These ovens were heated from a fire in the back of them, or one underneath if they were portable, and at times from a fire box that was outside the home but attached to the back of the oven. There was more to the operation of these ovens than simply setting a temp dial as we do today. For the baker it meant spending time not only on the preparation of the food, but the preparation of the oven.
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1. The fire to heat the oven would be started hours before the bread or cake would be mixed: Hosea 7:4 Then as the bread would be rising or the cake mixed the oven had to have constant attention.
a. As a wood fire is started it will begin with little heat and then as it burns it gets hotter and hotter.
b. Then as the flame dies down the heat goes down as well.
c. So with a smaller fire, after a larger one, the heat could be better controlled.
2. Adding to this the stones would get hot and then cool to a more constant temp: The would try and control this.
3. So the baker would constantly have to rise and go back to the oven: Hosea 7:4
4. Often if they were baking in the morning they would start the oven at night: Hosea 7:6 That would mean a night without sleep as all through the night they would be keeping watch on the oven, the flame and the heat.
5. So that when the bread had risen, or the cake was mixed, it was ready for the oven:
6. This involved more than preheating your oven to 350 degrees by turning a dial:
B. Then the cake that needs to be turned: Hosea 7:8 A cake is used here for a couple of reasons. First it would require more attention than bread or meat in the oven. Second cake is pleasant to eat. It is dessert, something better at the end.
1. No matter how attentive the baker was to the oven it would still produce an uneven heat: If it was a permanent oven or a portable one the oven would be hottest closest to the flame or the hottest coals.
2. If the fire was in the back the oven would be hottest in the back: If the fire was underneath as with a portable oven it would be hottest directly over the flame.
3. So that cake would have to be turned over and over again: If the baker just placed it in the oven one side would be burned so bad it couldn’t be eaten and the other would be so raw it couldn’t be eaten.
4. So there was a constant turning away from the flame and to the flame:
5. You did not place the cake in the oven, set the timer and walk away: It demanded a constant turning to and away.
C. Then the bow: Hosea 7:16 And this of course a weapon of war. There were three principal weapons of war at that time. (1) There was a maul, which was simply a club. It might have spikes attached to it or other things but it was a club. (2) There was the sword. Some with two sharp edges, some one. Some long some short. But there was the sword. (3) And there was the bow and the arrows. – Prov 25:18 These were the principal weapons of war at that time.
1. Of these the bow and arrow was perhaps the most important: It could be used both near and far.
2. A good archer could take out several of the enemy before they got close to those with mauls and swords:
3. A good archer could stand protected in the fight and last longer than most: He could be standing on top of the wall of the city, or behind some structure and be protected in the fight.
4. He could pick and choose his targets: Taking out those who were most important or posed the biggest threat.
5. But for the arrow to find its target the bow had to be true: It could not be warped, it had to have the proper tension, a good string, the right weight. The bow had to be true to be useful.
6. Bows with flaws were seen as deceitful bows: They looked good but they were useless.
D. So we have the baker and the oven, the cake that needs turned, and the deceitful bow:
II. Now the charges against Israel: These were people who knew how the baker was to prepare the oven, how the cake needed to be turned and the importance of the bow in shooting the arrow. They also saw they were lacking.
A. The baker had neglected the oven: Hosea 7:4,6 He had everything he needed, he had the oven, he had the fuel, a bread was being made ready or a cake mixed. And the baker did start the fire and heated the oven.
1. But then he neglected what needed to be done: Hosea 7:4 He sat down and neglected the oven.
2. And that fire got hot and the oven was heated: But as the flame died down and heat as well he never looked at it again.
a. Until just before the bread was to put in, then he piled it full of wood: Hosea 7:7 But now it is no good.
b. They can’t wait for the fire to die down again for the bread is risen: Hosea 7:4 Any more time it will rise too much.
c. If they put it in now it would burn up: Hosea 7:7
d. The baker neglected his oven and now the meal was lost.
3. Just as Israel had neglected spiritual things and now the nation was lost: And those people knew the meaning. All you need to do is read what comes before chapter 7 and what comes after.
4. Israel had neglected spiritual things and now the nation would be lost: There was no time for the Lord, no time for the temple, no time for the altar. In Israel they had neglected spiritual things just as the baker had neglected the oven. Now when the bread was ready, now when the cake was mixed, there was no oven made ready to bake them.
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B. The cake was put in the oven but it was never turned: Hosea 7:8 That Ephraim is named here is important. Remember Ephraim is the son bought by blood out of Egypt, the son blessed by the Father. As such there was to be a turning in Ephraim.
1. There was many things that Ephraim needed to turn away from: He was blood bought and God blessed.
a. He was to turn away from self and selfish desires.
b. He was to turn away from the world and the things of the world.
c. He was to turn away from idols.
d. He was to turn away from sin.
e. There was many things that Ephraim was to turn away from.
2. And there was one he was to turn towards to take the place of all of those things: He was to turn to the one who bought him and blessed him, Ephraim was to turn to the Lord.
3. But there never was that turning: Hosea 7:8 Never a turning away and never a turning toward.
4. So Ephraim became that cake that was useless: One side was burnt and the other raw. There was no turning. Ephraim was still a cake, but a ruined cake.
5. There was never a turning: And now the cake was useless.
C. Because of these two things the bow became deceitful: Hosea 7:16 Because of the neglect of spiritual things, because there was no turning, the bow became deceitful.
1. Israel would often try and use the Lord and spiritual things as a sort of last resort, a lucky charm if you would: As God’s people they would live as they wished, serve self and idols, walk in sin and just do as they wished.
a. They did neglect spiritual things.
b. They refused to turn away from the world and to the Lord.
2. And then when trouble would arise they would cry out to God: Hosea 8:2 They did that many times. And many times God in His longsuffering nature did deliver them. But still they would not pay attention to spiritual things, they would not turn.
3. And the bow that they would try and grab hold of was deceitful: One does not neglect God in the good times, do whatever they please to do, and then expect God to be there time and again when trouble comes.
4. This time when they cried out God did not come to the rescue: Hosea 8:7 They are finally going to have to reap what they have sown.
5. So when they grabbed hold of that bow they found it deceitful, they found it useless: Hosea 7:16 Remember why.
a. They neglected spiritual things.
b. They did not turn away from the world.
c. They did not turn with their full heart unto God.
6. Now they are a deceitful bow and they are overcome by the enemy:
III. The lesson of the baker as it applies to us today: Our spiritual life of course begins in Jesus Christ. And the moment we are born again we are given all that we need to grow spiritually, to grow in the Lord and to serve the Lord. Nothing is added after salvation. The very moment a person is saved they receive all of Christ, all of God, and all of the Holy Spirit.
A. But we do then need to pay attention to spiritual things: Because one gets saved and is on the way to heaven does not mean the battle is over and the victory has been won. Heaven is secured and hell is defeated but the battle is far from over. We then need to pay attention to spiritual things.
1. Getting saved should alert us to the truth that this is a spiritual life we now lead: And this life needs to be tended to.
2. This spiritual life needs to be looked after: You say I thought that was God’s job. No, it is ours.
B. We tend to look after the other areas of our lives: Because they need to be looked after.
1. People saying all the time, “I need to get to bed early because I have to get up for work”: Taking care of their work life.
2. People say we need to spend less and save more: Taking care of their financial life.
3. Eat the right types of food at regular times: Taking care of their physical life.
4. Athletes train and train, practice and practice: Taking care of that part of their lives.
5. Students study: Taking care of that part of their lives.
6. We take care or know we need to take care of every other area of our lives:
C. Why would we think we need give little or no care to our spiritual life: I do know that we can do nothing in the spiritual area of life apart from Jesus Christ. We do noting here on our own.
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1. But we are responsible for daily feeding upon the Word of Life, for being in the Word of God: That is not God’s responsibility, it is ours. We cannot understand the Bible apart from His Spirit, we would not have it had God not given it. But the daily reading, study and meditation upon the Word of God is our responsibility and not His.
2. We are responsible for have a time of sweet communion in prayer with the Father in a daily basis: We cannot pray apart from the Holy Spirit, God does want to hear from us, the Son of God stands ready to make intercession for us. But a daily time of prayer is our responsibility and not His.
3. We are responsible for being in the house of God for worship on a regular basis: God established His church on the foundation of Jesus Christ, God gave pastors and teachers and we can do nothing here without His abiding presence. But we are responsible for getting up and getting to church when the doors are open and not Him.
D. Why do we think that we do not need to attend to spiritual things? That this area of life will take care of itself.
1. What if we paid attention to spiritual things the way we do to the other areas of life?
2. What if we took care of the other areas of life as we did spiritual things?
E. We need to pay attention to spiritual things: Too many professing Christians neglect them or forget about them altogether.
IV. The lesson of the cake not turned as it applies to us today: Ephraim was like a cake placed in that oven and never turned. It was never turned away from the heat, never turned to the heat. As a result it was not fit to eat. One side was burnt, the other side raw and it was good for nothing.
A. A people who are mixed with the world are a people not turned to God: Hos 7:8 Salvation is not at question here but a walk with God, a walk separated from the world is. The cake is not turned when it is mixed with the world.
1. The Christian is to be different from the world: 1 John 2:15-16
2. The Christian is to come out of the world: 2 Cor 6:17-18
3. A Christian is not to be mixed with the world:
B. As a result there are many things that a Christian is to turn away from:
1. We are to turn away from sin according to Hebrews 12: Heb 12:1
2. We are to turn away from unwholesome and ungodly thoughts according to Phil 4:8:
3. We are to turn away from ungodly speech according to Col 4:6:
4. We are to turn away from ungodly fellowships according to 2 Cor 6:17:
5. We are to turn away from anything that does not honor God:
C. But as there is a turning away there needs to be a turning toward: As these things are purged out of our lives something needs to be added, something needs to be turned toward.
1. That something is the Lord Jesus Christ: 1 Thess 1:9-10
2. Let the Lord Jesus Christ fill the voids in your life:
D. A Christian who is not turned is not fit for Christ or the world:
V. The lesson of the deceitful bow as it applies to us today: Hos 7:16 Israel was not living for the Lord. The oven was neglected, the cake not turned. As a result when trouble arose and they looked to Jehovah for help they were left to reap what they had sown. – Hosea 8:7
A. When the Christian neglects his or her spiritual life, when they are not turned to God, when trouble arises it will seem as if God has forsaken us: That is why so many question God, and not in a good way when trouble arises.
1. That is why so many become bitter and overcome by the trials of life:
2. That is why so many become worn down and defeated by the trials of life:
3. I can take you into homes tomorrow where people will curse the name of God and Jesus Christ for what has happened in their lives: They will claim to be saved or in their minds have been saved in the past but will tell you how bad God is.
B. When trouble comes they turn to God like a magic word to make everything right: And when that does not happen they become bitter.
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1. But at the same time they have neglected spiritual things: They do not know how to pray because they ahve seldom prayed. They do not know how to hear from God because they never read His Word. They do not know the strength to be gained from being in the house of God for they are seldom there.
2. They have never turned away from the world and toward God: Their cake is not turned.
3. And so to them Christianity is useless:
C. You will not stand victorious in the fight with a deceitful bow: Are you fighting the battle with a deceitful bow today?
Conclusion
Having looked at these three illustrations in Hosea 7 this morning what can we say?
I. The baker with the neglected oven:
A. So many today neglect the spiritual area of life:
B. Do you tend to spiritual things:
II. The cake that is not turned:
A. For many professing Christians they have never turned away from the world:
B. Have you turned your life, really turned your life toward God?
III. For many they fight with a deceitful bow:
A. Because they have neglected spiritual things and have never turned to the Lord:
B. What is the condition of your bow today?