Hosea 6:1-7 What will it take to bring me back to God?

Hosea 6:1–7 NLT

1 “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds. 2 In just a short time he will restore us, so that we may live in his presence. 3 Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.” 4 “O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?” asks the Lord. “For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight. 5 I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces— to slaughter you with my words, with judgments as inescapable as light. 6 I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. 7 But like Adam, you broke my covenant and betrayed my trust.

What will it take to bring me back to God? What will it take for me to repent of my sins and ask for the forgiveness that I so desperately need and want? Now when I got saved there was not a doubt in my mind that I loved the Lord with all I had and maybe for a while I lived that way. So how do I get that back, how do I get back there. A broken heart....a heart that is broken by sin…In our passage this morning we find where Israel and Judah are being called to repentance. Hosea starts out by saying come let us return to the Lord. Let’s go back to where we belong. Let’s go home. Most of the time when we do wrong and we get corrected we look at it like we are being punished....we get hurt, we get angry and we walk away....

The prophet is calling them to come back to God from where they are. They are living like those around them and it’s in direct contrast to God’s Word. Now this is a message that will preach... in any church... anywhere..... any Sunday.... for any occasion. Matter of fact that is the message being preached here in this passage. This happens to us today, Israel and Judah are not really repenting they are not truly turning back to God and away from their sin. They are only pretending to repent to try and get back in God’s good graces by doing the stuff....they are not coming back to God. This is a call to repentance that they are sending to voicemail. They are not answering because they don’t want to face the fact that they are sinning against God.

The prophet starts out by calling them to come back to God but look at what else he says in verse 1…

God has torn us to pieces now He will heal us....He has injured us now He will bandage our wounds. Where in here does it say that I am in charge of my healing? Where am I told to bandage up my own wounds? The reason we struggle so much with repentance, is because we are basing our repentance on the fact that we are doing it. We are doing something for God because it is what we have been told all our church life we have to do. It’s what brings us back into God’s good graces…right ? If I repent then I am good. The problem is I don’t return to God completely I just walk in say high and leave again. Kinda like visiting my parents. I’m grown and I don’t want to listen to all that I am doing wrong and how I can maybe make smarter choices….just like our parents God is not just arbitrarily making up rules for adults to follow. The issue with my repentance is that I’m not really sorry I done it I’m sorry I got caught. I’m not coming back to stay I’m just visiting. I know I ain’t done with whatever that is I just repented about…I’m just done for now. Let me say this church you will always get caught when you have a God that lives within you…you can’t hide…you can’t run away so far that God is not there.

We want the forgiveness without the accountability we don’t want to own our sin. We tell ourselves that we are good because we are saved and we repented....we go on living apart from God telling ourselves that we are good. Now I don’t think that you can lose your Salvation once you truly have it but I will tell you this you will be corrected. The question that remains is what will it take to bring you back to God? How much correction will you require before you come to a place where you understand that your sin is causing that feeling of loss…that feeling of distance from God…that feeling that God doesn’t hear you when you pray…that feeling that all is not well in your life. Brothers and sisters we have been called by God to repent and turn from our sin not repent and just leave it for a time....not to repent of something just so that we feel better about ourselves and our relationship with God, but to truly leave our sin and come back to God.

Verses 2 and 3 tell us that when we repent the love of God is swift in coming....

God is waiting to restore us so that we may live in His presence. God wants to be present in our life. God wants us to know Him but more than that God wants you to WANT to know Him. God wants your desire to be for Him. The prophet says “press on to know Him.” Your gonna have to dig in here and stand your ground when the temptation comes to sin. As surely as dawn is coming or the its gonna rain in the spring God will hear us when we speak from our heart and we desire to be right with Him.

The issue is we try to fool God and then we wonder why He ain’t coming when we call. We haven’t returned to God we are yelling down the hall and waiting for Him to come to us. We are comfortable just trying to love God from a distance so that we can continue doing what we want and still go to heaven. We haven’t returned to God so much as we have just said “Hang on I’m coming....I’m on the way.....I’ll be there in a minute..” We want to return but only when we are ready. We want a God that comes to us in our sin and just kinda pats our back and lets us keep doing what we are doing. It doesn’t work that way when we are convicted the action is up to us.

In verse 4 and 5 the Lord is asking a question

The Lord says “Hey you are with me when its easy but when it gets hard you just wander away..your not 100% dedicated. I sent people to tell you what I am about to do to you as sure as you can’t escape the light.” This is gonna be hard…. your gonna have to dig when it gets hard. A walk with the Lord is not for the faint of heart. I get it…it’s hard…it’s gonna be hard…the rest of the world is in total contrast to living for God. I know it’s hard and your not gonna always feel it but you can’t quit and just walk away and hope for the best. Brothers and sisters sometimes its gonna be like that song we sang this morning it is a hard fought hallelujah.

Basically he is asking the same question I posed this morning what’s it gonna take to get you to come back to me. What will it take to make you see that you have to repent and turn from your sin. Just like a parent God is saying to you today…”I Love you and I want what’s best for you…please listen to me..please talk to me so that I can help you…come back to me.”

We get a clue with these last two verses 6 and 7

God says I want you to show love not offer sacrifices…I want you to know me not just offer burnt offerings. I want your heart. I want you to do what you do for me because you love me and desire to have a relationship with me. I have said this many times it’s not what your doing it’s why your doing it that matters. True repentance comes from a heart that is broken by sin. God will not drag you to him and He will not force you to repent. You have to want to do it. You have to desire to return to God.

That last verse is the reason we are not feeling the connection to God. We have broken a covenant that we made at this altar that no matter what God was first in our lives. We were forgiven and we have forgotten that love that we have for the Lord. We are coming to Him because we feel like we have to. It’s almost as if we have been forced to pray and say that we have sinned.

What will it take for you to truly return to God and fall on His grace....fall into His mercy…I know its hard but church we are called to be His people and we have to come to Him because we desire to not because we fear correction....not because it is what we have been told we have to do…not because we want to go to heaven....but because we love Him and desire to be in a right relationship with Him. If you have wandered today is the day He is calling you to come home.

Invitation.....