#4 (The “Forgetting”
Series)
“FORGET THE FADS!”
TEXT: Hosea
13:1-6
INTRO: Remember
the hoola hoop? How about
bell-bottoms? Those who lived at
the time they came out just knew that the world had finally arrived at “cool.” Fads have always come and gone, and with
each fad there is the perception that this is the really cool thing that the
world has been waiting for; yet, each one comes and each one goes! Fads are created to give zest to life,
and then we get bored again and look for something new and different to give
zest again to our life … hence a new fad!
History is replete with examples of fad
doctrines and teachings too ... each new doctrine flourishes for a time and then
fades away to be replaced by another new one. Fads in styles of worship come and go,
they may help at times revitalize us but then we tire of these “new” styles and
have to have something else “brand new” to make us feel great
again.
We must be careful not to be drawn away
when fads hit, we must keep our basic foundation of faith in focus. These
fads can draw us away from the core of Christianity if we are not careful. Hosea watched this happen to Israel
during his ministry.
PROP.
SENT: The Bible warns us against getting caught
up with the more spectacular attempts to find or worship God; the basics are
still the foundation of faith and must not be ignored or
replaced!
I. SEEKING WHAT SHINES! 13:1-2
A. Bigshots! 13:1
1. Ephraim was the big-shot tribe,
they tended to produce the leaders like Joshua, Jeroboam I, and Samuel the
prophet.
2. They were accustomed to excitement,
to thrilling others and experiencing thrills as they tackled the tough roles of
leadership in
a. When things slowed down though they
easily got bored!
b. These times of boredom found
expression in their seeking new thrills!
3. Why are Americans prone to fads
while those in 3rd world countries are not?
a. Because we are the leaders of the
free world and our prosperity gives us the opportunity to get bored, we don’t
worry about basic needs anymore!
b. 3rd world countries have to think
about basics, they don’t seek out flashy cars or new styles of clothing, of
amusements, etc.
c.
4. There are many times an inverse
relationship between the wealth of this world and the wealth of the
soul!
5. Ephraim – the Northern Kingdom had
become guilty of seeking excitement by fads, these fads took on the form of
silver idols!
a. How deceived they were, these
silver gods were worthless!!
b. No matter how many fads they
embraced, no matter how much variety they created, nothing could replace the
basic needs of the human heart better than God!
6. The time would come when their
following after these false gods were going to leave them bankrupt, then it
would be too late for them to recapture the lost time and commitment no matter
how powerful or prosperous they were, it wouldn’t help them later if they turned
away from God!
ILLUS: THE
AMBITIOUS QUEEN OF ENGLAND ELIZABETH WAS DYING ON HER COUCH. SHE WAS TERRIBLY UNHAPPY AND DIDN’T WANT
TO DIE, TO THOSE STANDING BY HER BED SHE CRIED OUT “MILLIONS FOR AN INCH OF
TIME!” WITH OVER 10,000 DRESSES IN
HER WARDROBE, AND A KINGDOM ON WHICH THE SUN NEVER SET, AND ALL THE POWER OF
ROYALTY; STILL SHE COULD NOT BUY ANOTHER MINUTE OF TIME TO STILL LIVE ... HER
POWER AND WEALTH COULD NOT SAVE HER.
ALL THE GLITTER AND GOLD COULD NOT CHANGE A THING! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
B. Boredom 13:2
1. They were bored with God and His
style of worship, they wanted some new thing to challenge them and stimulate
their lives!
a. They turned to more exciting
stuff.
b. They turned to their own creative
ideas, they sought fantasy over foundation!
c. They got caught up in “kissing the calf”... following the
crowd and the fads of the day!
2. These were the gods of the other
nations, perhaps they felt they were simply expanding their own culture by
understanding and embracing others, this embracing of idols however would cost
them more than they knew!
3. They appeared as international
giants in courting all these foreign gods, how open minded they appeared to
be!
4. They were having fun and no doubt
their worship of these fads was exciting and novel; after all, the worship of
these idols contained sex and violence:
a. Sex – the worship included temple
prostitutes, no moral guidelines, anything was
acceptable!
b. Violence – their worship included
offering their own children as sacrifices to these idols, they cared little for
the next generation, only as it served their own present
entertainment!
5. They were spending their spiritual
inheritance for immediate thrills, not realizing the terrible costs
later!
ILLUS: REMEMBER
THE PRODIGAL SON IN THE BIBLE, HE WANTED HIS INHERITANCE FROM HIS FATHER RIGHT
AWAY, SO HE COULD GO TO TOWN AND LIVE IT UP. THIS HE DID AND HE HAD MANY FRIENDS WHILE
HIS MONEY HELD OUT! HE LIVED AN
EXCITING LIFE ALL RIGHT, HE PARTIED WITH THE BEST OF THEM, WORE THE NEW FADS IN
CLOTHING, SOUGHT OUT THE COOL ENTERTAINMENT FADS OF THE DAY; BUT WHEN THE MONEY
RAN OUT HE FOUND HIMSELF ALONE AND IN A PIG PEN! THE FADS WERE OVER AND NOW HE WAS ALONE
AND POOR. HE FINALLY WALKED HOME
REALIZING THAT EVEN THE LOWEST SERVANT IN HIS FATHER’S HOUSE WAS IN BETTER SHAPE
THAN HE WAS, HIS FATHER REJOICED AT HIS SON’S RETURN AND RESTORED HIM. I BET HE HAD A NEW APPRECIATION FOR THE
BASICS AFTER THIS! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
6. The need for more fads and greater
excitement led them to sin more and more, and drew them in deeper and
deeper! This is
II. SHORT ON SUBSTANCE 13:3
A. Brief! 13:3
1. Hosea tries to warn them of the
temporary nature of fads, how they come and they go!
a. They are like a mist; it may be
there early in the morning but it is gone as soon as the sun comes out! How true this is spiritually also! Spiritual fads appear like a morning mist
but as soon as the SON appears they disappear forever
too!
b. The world has seen countless fads
come and go, so has the church, and in their wake they leave broken and empty
lives; that is why we must keep emphasizing the basics, the very foundation of
our faith.
2. No matter how elegant or how
promising, or how spectacular the next “new thing” seems … it won’t keep its
interest by those who seek it out!
a. “This too shall
pass.”
b. The flashiest stuff can’t stand the
test of time!
ILLUS: THE GREAT
CONQUEROR OF EUROPE CHARLEMAGNE LIVED AND DIED CENTURIES AGO. WHAT A SIGHT OF SPLENDOR AND GLORY HE
WAS. WHEN HE DIED THEY CARRIED HIM
TO A SEPULCHER AND PLACED HIM ON A THRONE OF IVORY, GOLD, AND PRECIOUS STONES.
ON HIS HEAD WAS A SCINTILLATING
CROWN OF JEWELS AND IN HIS HAND A SCEPTER, THE SYMBOL OF POWER. ON HIS FINGER WAS A SIGNET RING; IN HIS
LAP A SCROLL OF HIS DEEDS. HE WAS
PROPPED UP WEARING A ROBE OF PURPLE FOR ROYALTY. CENTURIES LATER, THE SEAL TO HIS GRAVE
WAS OPENED. TIME HAD EATEN THE
FLESH AWAY, ONLY A SKELETON SAT ON THE THRONE, EVEN THE PURPLE ROBE HAD TURNED
TO DUST AT HIS FEET. THE PROP THAT
HAD HELD UP HIS HAND NOW HELD ONLY AN ARM BONE; HIS SKELETAL HAND HAD FALLEN TO
THE FLOOR. IT NOW LAY ON AN OPEN
DOCUMENT WITH HIS INDEX FINGER POINTING STRANGELY ENOUGH AT THIS PASSAGE BY
CHANCE! “WHAT SHALL IT
PROFIT A MAN IF HE SHALL GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD AND LOSE HIS OWN
SOUL?” LUKE 9:25 HIS POWERLESS EMPTY SHELL SAT AS TESTIMONY TO THIS BASIC
TRUTH! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
B. Bankrupt
13:3
1. The fads have no substance, they
are not durable!
2. Power and dominion can even be a
fad, today we might rule the world but the only one that has real power is the
man who rules his own soul!
a. Governments have changed over the
course of history, which system is the right system? NONE OF MAN’S for they will all pass
away in time!
b. Some may last longer than others
but the truth is that only God’s basic laws will stand for time and
eternity!
c. All fads lead to emptiness in time,
they all go bankrupt!
d. Today’s great stars will fade and
be replaced by new stars, the cycle of fads will
continue.
ILLUS: A BOWERY
BUM WAS FOUND WITH A SLASHED THROAT IN 1864. THE DERELICT’S NAME AND ADDRESS WAS
MISSPELLED ON THE HOSPITAL FORM, THEY ALSO MISSED HIS AGE, BUT NO ONE SEEMED TO
CARE, HE WAS AFTER ALL CONSIDERED A BUM. EARLY IN THE MORNING HE STUMBLED OUT OF
BED AND STAGGERED TO THE WASH BASIN WHERE HE FELL DYING. THREE DAYS LATER THE
MAN DIED FROM MALNUTRITION, ALCOHOLISM AND LOSS OF BLOOD. A FRIEND FINALLY CAME AND IDENTIFIED
HIM, THEY RECOVERED 38 CENTS FROM THE MAN’S POCKETS AND A SCRAP OF PAPER, THIS
AMOUNT OF MONEY WOULD HAVE BEEN ONE MORE NIGHT OF LODGING AT THE BOWERY. ON THE PIECE OF PAPER WERE WRITTEN FIVE
WORDS: “DEAR FRIENDS AND GENTLE HEARTS.” THE START OF A SPEECH NEVER FINISHED
BEFORE THIS MAN DIED AT AGE 38. HE
HAD GIVEN THE WORLD SOME OF THE GREATEST FAD SONGS OF THE TIMES, “CAMPTOWN
RACES,” “OH SUSANNA,” “JEANIE WITH THE LIGHT BROWN HAIR,” “MY OLD KENTUCKY
HOME,” AND HUNDREDS MORE; HIS NAME WAS STEPHEN FOSTER, A MAN WHO DIED BANKRUPT
THOUGH HE GAVE THE WORLD GREAT SONGS THAT WERE THE FAD OF HIS TIME. – SOURCE UNKNOWN
III. STABLE SAVIOR 13:4-6
A. Basics! 13:4
1. Here God speaks and says, “FORGET THE
FADS” ... “worship only me!”
A very basic command!
a. Every time they looked somewhere
else for fulfillment they got in trouble!
b. Every other “savior” they turned to left them bankrupt and
under bondage!
c. The only real deliverer they had
ever experienced was God!
2. God reminds them of where they came
from ... He had brought them out of
3. None of the more “exciting” gods of
4. Those things which take our
attention away from Christ as Savior become just a new
fad!
a. Time has tested the Lord, He has
always been faithful to His people and He has never ignored their need for
salvation!
b. History was full of examples; they
had no excuse, however when they turned to other sources of fulfillment they
only discovered loss and captivity!
c. Hosea was pleading with them to
remember the very basic call to stick to the historic God of Abraham, the God of
their forefathers!
5. Forget the fads, stick with time
tested reality, God is always stable!
a. Don’t be pressured to follow the
crowds, keep a straight path for yourself.
b. It is easier to follow the crowd
but not always better!
ILLUS: SEVERAL
YEARS BACK WHEN THE SOVIET UNION WAS STILL A VERY POWERFUL COMMUNIST COUNTRY IT
WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO BE A CHRISTIAN. IN A SMALL HOUSE CHURCH THAT MET
UNDERGROUND FOR FEAR OF THE KGB BELIEVERS MET AND QUIETLY HAD WORSHIP SERVICES.
THEY WOULD ARRIVE IN SMALL GROUPS
AT VARIOUS TIMES TO NOT AROUSE SUSPICION. BY DUSK THEY WOULD ALL BE THERE AND READY
TO START THE WORSHIP SERVICE. SUDDENLY RIGHT AFTER THE FIRST HYMN WAS
SUNG TWO MEN WITH AUTOMATIC WEAPONS BROKE THROUGH THEIR LOCKED DOORS AND
SHOUTED, “ALL RIGHT, EVERYBODY LINE UP AGAINST THE WALL. IF YOU WISH TO RENOUNCE YOUR COMMITMENT
TO JESUS CHRIST, LEAVE NOW!” TWO OR
THREE LEFT, THEN ANOTHER, AFTER A FEW MORE SECONDS TWO MORE LEFT. “THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE; EITHER TURN
AGAINST YOUR FAITH IN CHRIST” THE ONE MAN ORDERED “OR STAY AND SUFFER THE
CONSEQUENCES. ANOTHER GOT UP AND
LEFT, FINALLY TWO MORE IN EMBARRASSED SILENCE ALSO SLIPPED OUT COVERING THEIR
FACES. NO ONE ELSE MOVED, PARENTS
WITH SMALL CHILDREN TREMBLING BESIDE THEM LOOKED DOWN REASSURINGLY. THEY FULLY EXPECTED TO BE GUNNED DOWN OR,
AT BEST, TO BE IMPRISONED. AFTER A
FEW MOMENTS OF COMPLETE SILENCE, THE OTHER SOLDIER CLOSED THE DOOR, LOOKED BACK
AT THOSE WHO STOOD AGAINST THE WALL AND SAID, “KEEP YOUR HANDS UP ... BUT THIS
TIME IN PRAISE TO OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, BROTHERS AND SISTERS! WE, TOO, ARE CHRISTIANS. WE WERE SENT TO ANOTHER HOUSE CHURCH
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO TO ARREST A GROUP OF BELIEVERS.” AT THIS POINT THE OTHER SOLDIER
INTERRUPTED, “BUT, INSTEAD, WE WERE CONVERTED! WE HAVE LEARNED BY EXPERIENCE, HOWEVER,
THAT UNLESS PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO DIE FOR THEIR FAITH, THEY CANNOT BE FULLY
TRUSTED!” THIS WAS THE REASON FOR
HOW THEY STARTED THINGS OUT! THEY
DIDN’T WANT TO FOOL AROUND WITH PEOPLE NOT FULLY COMMITTED TO THE LORD ... THIS
WAS A BASIC NEED OF WALKING WITH GOD! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
B. Beneficial
13:5
1. God had been there for them in the
very heat of trials!
a. Who had provided their basic needs
when they had traveled through the desert after leaving Egypt? Only God had!
b. They had survived the journey
because of His providential care; all their basic needs had been covered by the
Lord.
c. They had not had to worry about
FOOD, WATER, CLOTHING, SHOES, ENEMIES, OR FINDING THEIR WAY, etc. God had taken care of all those
things!
2. Yet now that these needs were
commonly taken care of they had turned to more apparently exciting fad
gods!
a. Once they benefited from their
faith they looked somewhere else for something more
titillating!
b. How many Christians have done this
today? Once they are over the hump
in a difficult trial they grow sloppy with the commitment to Christ and turn to
more fun things to do on the Sabbath!
3. The only safe ground for them to
stand on was the ground that God had already cleared by fire, the fire of
testing that had already gone by!
a. They had been tested in the
wilderness, these tests were to drive
b. If they moved away from this safe
ground to new ground they would be burned when the fires of judgment
came!
ILLUS: A COUPLE OF
HUNTERS WERE IN THE WILDERNESS AREAS OF GEORGIA HUNTING ONE DAY IN WIDE OPEN
LANDS OF BRUSH. IN THE DISTANCE
THEY NOTICED A LARGE CLOUD OF SMOKE BUILDING, THE WINDS BLOWING IN THEIR
DIRECTION. THEY SUDDENLY REALIZED
THAT THEY COULD NOT OUTRUN THE FIRE, THERE WAS ONLY ONE THING TO DO TO BE SAFE,
THEY LIT A FIRE AROUND THEM AND WATCHED AS IT BURNED OUT AWAY FROM THEM IN A
CIRCLE, SOON THE LARGE FIRE ARRIVED, AND WHEN IT DID IT BURNED EVERYTHING IN ITS
PATH ... MOVING AROUND THEM BECAUSE THEY HAD ALREADY BURNED A CIRCLE AROUND
THEIR OWN BODIES, THEY WERE SAFE!
FIRE WOULD NOT PASS WHERE FIRE HAD ALREADY BEEN. THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST IS BURNT
GROUND, GOD’S FIRES OF JUDGMENT SWEPT OVER THE CROSS AND BURNED AWAY EVERYTHING.
THE ONLY ONES WHO WILL BE SAFE ONE
DAY WHEN THE FIRES OF JUDGMENT COME WILL BE THOSE WHO STAND NEAR THE CROSS OF
JESUS, HERE THE DROSS HAS ALREADY BEEN BURNED AWAY, AND THIS IS THE ONLY SAFE
GROUND! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
4. They had moved to new ground, the
ground of excitement and fads; they were not safe
here!
a. Hosea’s message was a warning,
judgment was coming and when it hits they will not be safe if they ignore the
basics, if they choose to hold onto the fads of idols they will get
burned!
b. All the benefits they had found in
God would be lost to them if they walked away from
God!
C. Betrayal
13:6
1. Sure enough, God had brought them
great satisfaction at one time, but that very satisfaction had caused them to
hunger for something new and different, and something more exciting ... idols or
shining stuff!
a. The very benefits God had brought
their way had created in their hearts pride rather than
thankfulness.
b. This pride led them to seek their
own ways!
2. They had betrayed the very God that
had saved them; they had forgotten God in the midst of throwing themselves into
the newest fad in the nation!
a. This was like going after
another lover after the wedding!
b. Indeed,
Hosea was asked by God (chapters 1-3)
to marry a harlot as a living example of what
c. Hosea had been a faithful husband
and at first his wife had been faithful too, but then she sought out new lovers,
new excitement ... finally Hosea buys her back from the slave block when she was
bankrupt ... he then confines her under lock and key for a time. Will she appreciate this basic attempt to
save her? Will she understand real
love against lust!?
3. They didn’t want to think about
God’s gracious salvation, they wanted to satisfy their own desires. The fads won out over the faith! The results would be tragic loss; and
indeed soon after this the northern kingdom fell, never to exist
again!
ILLUS: THOUGH GOD
ATTEMPTS THROUGH HOSEA TO REMIND THEM OF HOW MUCH THEY HAVE BEEN HELPED, THEY
DON’T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT ... LIKE A MAN MENTIONED IN AN ARTICLE IN NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC SEPT. 1991. A YOUNG MAN
FROM
4. When we choose to ignore the basics we will
find ourselves searching for the fads!
5. Where is your search taking you, to
the fads or to faith in God!?
CONCLUSION:
We are attracted to the
sensational! When basic needs are
met we often find a new craving for something more sensational. This becomes the foundation for fads!
Fads promise excitement but leave
us empty and fickle! Faith however
anchors us to a stable foundation that keeps us firmly established. Forget what outwardly
“shines” ... grab onto what inwardly
saves!