We Are Responsible Hosea 4:6

My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge I will reject you.



Hosea is writing about a very difficult time in the history of Israel. God had a problem with Israel; there was no truth or mercy nor any knowledge of God in the land and as a result they were killing and stealing and committing adultery and their land and their lives were all messed up.

God in our text addresses the priests. "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge I will reject you and you shall no longer be a priest to Me." There are two thoughts that I want us to think about today.

First of all, the people of Israel were responsible for their own decisions. The fact that they did not have a knowledge of God did not excuse their behavior and their sin. We are responsible for our decisions and our decisions determine where our life takes us. It is our responsibility to know God's truth for ourselves. Now there is another side note to this thought and it has to do with the preachers and teachers that we listen to and learn from. The children of Israel suffered because they had a lack of knowledge of God because the priests failed to teach them the Word of God. We have a responsibility to God and to ourselves to know the Word of God on our own. The teachers that we sit under are responsible to God but we are responsible to Him as well. False or inaccurate teaching affects us and the fact that we trust what a preacher says, does not excuse our lack of knowledge of the things of God.

This brings me to the second thought and that thought is this, "As Christians we are responsible to teach God's Word to a lost and dying world." The preachers have their responsibilities and so do lay people have their responsibilities as well. We are all responsible for teaching those around us the Word of God and truth of God. We will be held responsible for our faithfulness to teach and for what we do teach. We need to make sure that we are sensitive to the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit and that we are witnesses for God as He leads us and seeks to use us.

Our ability to teach others has more to do with our obedience to the truth of the word of God in our own lives than it does what we know. The Holy Spirit will use our lips and shape our words when our walk is what it should be and our witness will be effective. This is why it is so important to know the truth of God for ourselves. We cannot live according to that truth if we do not know what the truth is and we certainly cannot teach it to others if we do not know what it is on our own.