We Need a New Heart - Hosea 1-7

Hosea 5:3-4 (ESV)

I know Ephraim,

and Israel is not hidden from me;

for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;

Israel is defiled.

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.

The problem with sinning is that it tends to grow.  It tends to keep moving more and more toward more sin. When Israel began to sin she started to lose her ability to repent.   The more she sinned the farther she went from God.  The farther one goes away from God the harder it is for them to repent of their sins and turn to God.   In the above we read Hosea’s testimony about Israel.   He writes that the spirit of whoredom is within them and they know not the Lord.  This was a group of people chosen by God, to be His people.    Yet, because they started to pursue idols they lost sight of God and they no longer turned to God.   This is why the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel wrote the following:

Ezekiel 11:19 (ESV)

And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV)

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Jeremiah 31:33-34 (ESV)

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The author of Hebrews writes the same thing to us in the 1st century:

Hebrews 8:10-12 (ESV)

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, declares the Lord:

I will put my laws into their minds,

and write them on their hearts,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor

and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

for they shall all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest.

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,

and I will remember their sins no more.”

God knows our hearts.  The only way for us to change those hearts is when He gives us repentance to acknowledge the truth and to turn from the captivity of Satan over our hearts:

2 Timothy 2:25-26 (ESV)

correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.