Hosea 8:11-12 (NASB)
Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, They have become altars of sinning for him.
Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My law, They are regarded as a strange thing.

We all know the history of Hosea.  How God Commanded him to marry a harlot as a judgement against Israel. Just as Hosea’s wife left him repeatedly for other men so Israel repeatedly left their God for false gods. Hosea’s prophesies were primarily directed at the 10 northern tribes (a few were directed at Judah).  After Solomon the 10 northern tribes rebelled and broke ties with Judah, they were frequently at war with one another.  Time after time Israel would turn their back on God and chance after idols.  Now in Hosea’s day they were on the verge of being taken captive by Assyria, which would essentially remove all remaining association with the other tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

These verses in chapter 8 where we started talk about the alters that they set up for the worship of their false gods.  God had placed His alter in Jerusalem, but they chose for themselves a different way to worship. It says they Multiplied altars for sinning.  The designed intent of the altars was to worship in their own way and in doing so they committed sin against the creator of the universe.  They sought to create a unique way of worship something new and different they came up with a better way to do it than the way God showed them.

Looking at verse 12 the first thing we need to look at is “Though I wrote” It’s important to remember who the author of God’s Word is, actually God.   Too often I think we forget that not Hosea in this case, or Moses, or Paul Or John, but God himself is the author.  He gave us His Word, it is a gift from God, do we view it as a gift or do we view it simply as rules to live by, or even worse just suggestions?  Do we spend time in His Word every day? When we do spend time in His Word do we look at how it applies in our lives?  Three things we need to do when looking at God’s Word 1. What does it say? 2. What does it mean? 3. What shall I do?

Deuteronomy 4:5-8 (NASB)
“See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. “So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him? “Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

The second thing we need to look at is the precepts of God’s Law These are God’s laws, Spurgeon said of this verse “there is nothing in this bible that is unimportant” Ephraim had been give the law of God, yet it was foreign to them it wasn’t a part of their lives.  If you’ve been at First Family, this month we’ve been talking about Worldview.  Even though they had God’s law it was regarded as a strange thing.

As we look at the culture around us today, would you say that there are many who set up “altars for sinning”?  Even many who claim to be Christian but have come up with a “better way” or “some new thing” but they are simply doing their own thing their own way, not God’s way.  We can’t just do something because we think feels right to us, Paul told Timothy, 1 Timothy 3:14-15 (ESV) I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. The people of Ephraim ignored this and many in our day are as well.  The laws of God sounded “strange to them” Many today when faced with the truth of the Word will tell us that the teachings are “strange”

Al Mohler in an article on Biblical discernment wrote;

It is hard not to conclude that theological discernment is now a lost art among American evangelicals — and this loss can only lead to theological catastrophe.

The tragedy that evangelicals have lost the art of biblical discernment must be traced to a disastrous loss of biblical knowledge. Discernment cannot survive without doctrine.

Spurgeon said “Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong, it’s knowing the difference between right and almost right”

With this loss of theological discernment and biblical knowledge is it any wonder that the teaching of the laws of God, even among professing Christians would sound strange?

What do we then need to do? First, we need to be in God’s Word daily, we must learn from one another, we must meet together regularly with believers who are sound in the Word.  I’ve often said there is no one person smarter than we all are together. We must speak lovingly and compassionately, but firmly against those who seek to pervert God’s Word for their own purposes, we must diligently teach the truth to those we have influence over whether our families, our SS Class or other study groups, and lastly we must share the truth of the gospel with unbelievers, it must be the true gospel not a watered down gospel, or  feel good gospel, but the true gospel the good news, and the bad news.