Hosea 6:1-6

Why do I go to worship?That’s what my family doesI think it’s importantPlace for social interactionGood for the kidsMakes life betterConnects me with blessings

Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for

you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor. And the revolters have gone

deep into slaughter, but I will discipline all of them. (Hosea 5:1-2 ESV)

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore; Israel is

defiled. (Hosea 5:3 ESV) Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God.

For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD. (Hosea 5:4 ESV)

With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has

withdrawn from them. They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD; for they have borne

alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

(Hosea 5:6-7 ESV)

“With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a

year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of

rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is

good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to

walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8 ESV)

But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah. (Hosea

5:12 ESV)

For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue. I will

return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my

face, and in their distress earnestly seek me. (Hosea 5:14-15 ESV)

“Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he

will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as

the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:1-3 ESV)

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your

love is like a morning cloud, like the dew

that goes early away. (Hosea 6:4

ESV)

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

(Hosea 6:6 ESV)

Turning to God for what He gives leads to questions…

1. How much do I have to

contribute?

2. How often do I have to

attend?

3. How much do I have to

serve others?

One who serves for what they get does the minimum required

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

(Hosea 6:6 ESV)

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him,

“Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax

collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they

said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but

those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the

righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:9-13 ESV)

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and

to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful

for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell

you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is

lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:1-8 ESV)

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him,

“Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our

God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with

all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more

than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the

kingdom of God.” (Mark 12:28-34 ESV)

Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of

knowledge…”

NOT because they did not sacrifice, fast, tithe, and

worship

But, because they did it for the wrong reasons.