Truth in a Land of Lies

Truth in a Land of Lies

Message shares at Vizion Church online

Hosea 7:1-7 (NKJV)

"When I would have healed Israel, Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, And the wickedness of Samaria. For they have committed fraud; A thief comes in; A band of robbers takes spoil outside. They do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness; Now their own deeds have surrounded them; They are before My face. They make a king glad with their wickedness, And princes with their lies. They are all adulterers. Like an oven heated by a baker, He ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough, Until it is leavened. In the day of our king Princes have made him sick, inflamed with wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers. They prepare their heart like an oven, While they lie in wait; Their baker sleeps all night; In the morning it burns like a flaming fire. They are all hot, like an oven, And have devoured their judges; All their kings have fallen. None among them calls upon Me."

Thank you, Joni, for inviting me to give the Friday night devotional tonight. My main title tonight is “Truth in the Land of Lies,” and I want to share a few words on lying, deception, and how to discern truth in a post-truth world. Let’s begin by reading Hosea 7:1-7 together.

I don’t know about you, but watching the news lately raises my blood pressure! I’m tired of the lies and deceit from our political leaders. Is there one honest politician among them? Maybe a few, but it sure doesn’t feel that way, and it can be quite demoralizing at times to hear the lies drip off their tongues. Before elections, they make promises, but they barely get their foot in the door before breaking every one. Inevitably, they blame it on the “mess they inherited,” and it feels like Groundhog Day all over again.

All these people are dishonest and appear to face no consequences when exposed. There’s no legal recourse, no way to force another election, but as we can see from Hosea, there is One who sees all, and one day He will judge all. Every lie and every deceitful action will be exposed and brought into the light. But before we get to that, let’s set the scene.

The Context of Hosea

Hosea lived and prophesied during the 8th century BC. During his lifetime, several kings reigned in both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Some of these kings were good, but others were wicked, notably Ahaz and Jeroboam II, who were known to be extremely evil, provoking the Lord to anger and judgment. It’s worth noting that during a 20-year period (752–732 BC), four kings were assassinated in Israel. It was a dangerous thing to be made king, so why they killed one another to gain the crown seems foolish to me!

Verse 3 says, “They make a king glad with their wickedness, And princes with their lies.” How can a king be glad about wickedness? Israel’s rulers approved of the people’s sin. Isn’t that crazy? Kings are supposed to uphold justice and promote honesty and integrity, but several kings in Hosea’s day reveled in wickedness. Perhaps verses 3, 5, and 7 give us a clue, maybe the kings were happy when their predecessor was assassinated, paving the way for their own coronation. Maybe this is why they didn’t mind that the princes within their kingdom were equally wicked, telling lies to win favor while abandoning the truth of God. They were entrenched in narcissism and wickedness, not unlike many of our leaders today.

Whatever the details, this was an extremely depraved attitude toward sin, and it must have been a challenging time to be a God-fearing citizen. All around, there was ungodliness, lying, deceit, and corruption. Evil kings like Jeroboam II, Menahem, and Ahaz had no fear of God. They were either deluded into thinking they could outsmart Him and get away with murder (literal murder!) or simply didn’t believe in God at all, again, this sounds like many of our politicians today and, sadly, even our King, King Charles!

The Church Is Not Exempt

The church isn’t immune to this either. How many pastors and preachers stand at the front every week tickling the ears of their congregation instead of preaching the truth of God’s Word? They fear man more than they fear God. Lord, have mercy on them, because the days are short, and they’ll be held accountable for misleading the people.

Israel was inflamed with desires and passions. Hosea 6:6 tells us they were still making sacrifices to the Lord, but they were worthless, empty ceremonies because their hearts were cold. Chapter 7 opens with God saying He was willing to heal them from their sin if only they would genuinely turn to Him and repent. But they foolishly thought God wasn’t watching. Verse 2 says, “They do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness.” The people of Israel willfully forgot that God sees everything.

Do we deliberately forget that the Lord sees our sin? Do we think God doesn’t notice our adultery, lust, premarital sex, pornography habits, drunkenness, gossiping, or complaining? Have we been fooled by the world into thinking some sins are less grievous, so God will overlook them?

Truth in a Post-Truth World

In a post-truth world, it’s easy to believe that “small sins” will be overlooked. This is why it’s so important to be grounded in the Word of God. We must ask the Holy Spirit to be active in our hearts and lives so we’re sensitive to His prompting to flee when tempted by sin. Much of what we hear and read, whether on 24/7 news or social media, can leave our heads spinning, wondering what the truth really is. Let us not get anxious or angry about the lies we hear. Instead, let us immerse ourselves in the Word of God, knowing that what we read there can be trusted.

Titus 1:2 tells us that God never lies.
Hebrews 6:18 says it is impossible for God to lie.
We are promised that God IS truth, not just that He tells the truth, but that HE IS truth.

It is not possible for God to lie, so anything we read in His Word can be trusted to be 100% true.

A Call to Action

So, I encourage you: pray like never before. Prioritize it. Pray for discernment, pray for our nation, pray for our leaders (and that’s not always easy!), and pray for hearts to be changed so people seek the Lord. Let us not be slack concerning the things of God. Let us be diligent in seeking Him so we’re confident about what, and Who, the Truth is.

Hosea means “salvation,” likely a reference to his role as a beacon of hope to those who would repent because of his message. But we have a better Hosea: Jesus. He is our salvation. His message, His life, His death, and His resurrection have given us a way, the only way, to be reconciled to God. He embodies both the truth and the life; as the truth, He reveals God to us, and as the life, He communicates God to us. As He said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Pray with me:

Lord, expose the lies, light us up with Your Word, and draw us to You. Amen.