Drawing Near to Worship Him
Notes
Transcript
Texts: Hosea 4:1, 6, 12–14; 5:3–4, 15; Jeremiah 29:13
Topics: Trader’s Remorse, Idolatry, Prostitution, Repentance
Big Idea of the Message: Though Israel sought to be with God, their sinful behavior
prevented them from finding him and knowing him.
Application Point: To seek God with our whole heart requires a repentance from all our sin and idolatry, which competes with our worship of God.
LAST WEEK - GOD IS FAITHFUL…ISRAEL WASN’T
As we saw last week, God desires his people to return to a faithful covenant relationship and know him (Hosea 2:16, 19–20) by drawing near to him with a sincere heart (Hebrews 10:19–22).
Today, we’ll look into this ancient text that is more relevant than it looks at first glance.
Israel’s habitual and sinful rejection of God through their pursuit of idolatrous rituals was “keeping Israel from her only hope—God himself”.
When we pursue the lesser gods of pleasure, popularity, and comfort; it keeps us from truly engaging with our only hope - the LORD Jesus Christ!
Chapter 4 is rough, but in Chapter 5, we see a glimmer of hope as the Israelites finally seeking the Lord with their flocks and herds to sacrifice to him (v. 6).
But there’s a problem…Yet, because Israel’s heart had been worshipping other gods for so long, God was nowhere to be found (v. 6)!
Israel’s ongoing idolatrous behavior not only prevented them from returning to the relationship that God desired, but their defilement demonstrated they did not know God (vv. 3–4).
Let’s look at the text and take note:
Look at verses 1 & 6 with me in Hosea 4:
1 Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,
for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
and no knowledge of God in the land;
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
That’s a really tough thing to read…but GOD IS HOLY AND HE DEMANDS HIS PEOPLE APPROACH HIM ON HIS TERMS.
GOD HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO HUMANITY…SO THAT WE MIGHT KNOW HIM.
1. PURSUE KNOWING GOD
1. PURSUE KNOWING GOD
Hosea 4.1, 6
Israel got consumed with knowing and loving THINGS instead of God.
They traded their intimacy with GOD.
This isn’t unique to ISRAEL…it’s the imprint of our own lives as humans.
This actually started in the garden, though didn’t it?…it marks all of humanity.
TRADING OUR INTIMACY WITH GOD
Think back to Adam and Eve trading their intimacy with God for the promise of being like God (Genesis 3:4–7).
Esau traded his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew (Genesis 25:29–34).
Like Adam, Eve, and Esau, the nation of Israel also traded something of great value—their unique and intimate relationship with God—for a temporary and false security in the gods of the foreign nations around them.
Now, for Israel, this idol worship was a way for Israel to hedge their bets.
They weren’t all in with their trust that God would take care of them, so they gave their worship, and their hearts, to multiple gods alongside the one true God who revealed himself to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The way they saw it, by worshipping and sacrificing to many gods, they increased their chances of being blessed by whichever god was the strongest.
I’ve had several flights to Phoenix from Charlotte over the past several weeks…everybody loves an upgrade. I see people study that information screen to see if they are going to get that complimentary upgrade because of their frequent flyer status…(I’m not on those lists anymore.)
Everyone is pleased with an upgrade.
No one wants a downgrade.
Adam, Eve, Esau, Israel - all knowingly chose a DOWNGRADE instead of knowing God…pursuing Him. Living in His presence!
What about you and me? As we think back on our days, and how we’re planning our tomorrows…is it obvious that we are PURSUING KNOWING THIS GOD PERSONALLY?
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
TRANSITION:
As we Pursue Knowing Him, here is something I’m sure of…God will cause us to…
2. PURGE CORRUPTION
2. PURGE CORRUPTION
Hosea 4:7-14
The prophet Hosea Exposes their incredible sins, and how they have spiraled. Just a quick summary of some of the verses will make us shutter at how God is viewing their sin.
By the way, God still hates sin. He hates it so much and loves us so much that he sent the Lord Jesus Christ, his only begotten son to bear our sin and shame on the cross, on that cross, God poured out his wrath for sin onto his son. Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, became sin that we might become the righteousness of God.
ISRAEL SPIRALS…AWAY FROM GOD, THEN WANTS TO “WORSHIP”
God condemns this same idol worship in Hosea 4.
He also calls out the lack of leadership on the part of the priests (v. 4)
who forgot God’s law (v. 6),
failed to teach the people about God (v. 1),
did not instill in them a steadfast or faithful love for God (v. 1),
and, in so doing, “did not acknowledge God as their covenant Lord”!
In fact, God describes their pursuit of security and guidance through sacrifices offered to false gods as WILLFULLY CHEATING ON HIM FOR MONEY…LIKE AN UNFAITHFUL SPOUSE WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY’RE DOING AND TRIES TO MAKE IT OKAY! (Hosea 4:12–14).
The Israelites were actively participating in terrible rituals of the Canaanite fertility rites.
Hosea brings their attention to all of this.
God says, this is not the way my people behave….you must not be my people.
It’s severe!
The undertone of the text is “STOP IT…GET IT OUT OF HERE!”
PURGE - APPLICATION
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO PURGE?
Think about your deep cleaning that you have to do at home…or how differently it is when you get a cleaning at the dentist verses you brushing and flossing your teeth.
It means clearing out every nook and cranny of your heart—even those hidden places —
those hidden places that hold painful regrets and past sins—
It means allowing God to have complete access to fill it with his love and mercy!
Only then can we be on a path to God on His terms to truly know him.
(Consider reading My Heart Christ’s Home - Robert Munger. It’s not perfect…it’s not Scripture…but it is a thought-provoking parable of how to walk through the “rooms” of your heart and give God complete access.)
The way we clean out our heart is through repentance.
To repent is more than confessing what we have done wrong, and it is more than just saying sorry.
Confession means to agree with God - “this was sin”.
Genuine repentance requires words and actions.
It requires a radical turnaround in behavior to match and authenticate the words we have promised.
Sometimes when I’m walking around in a city and I’m using the GPS on my phone, if there are tall buildings, it takes a moment to get oriented. And I’ll start going the direction that I think it’s telling me to go… And then as it finds the signal and lines up, invariably, I’m going the complete opposite direction that I should be heading in.So I stop, turn around and head the right direction.
This is a great picture of repentance.
TO PURGE MEANS TO IDENTIFY, LABEL IT, GET RID OF IT!
TRANSITION:
If we’re going to know God and draw near to him and worship in a way that’s pleasing to him:
We must pursue knowing him
We need to do the hard work of purging out corruption…just like Hosea is calling the northern tribes of Israel to.
But there’s more to it than GETTING RID OF BAD STUFF, we need to
3. PRACTICE HOLINESS
3. PRACTICE HOLINESS
Hosea 4:15-19
A great NT take on this comes to us from John the Baptist!
2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
(CSB NOTE - The ESV renders correctly…just being sensitive to young eyes in the room)
15 Israel, if you act promiscuously, don’t let Judah become guilty! Do not go to Gilgal or make a pilgrimage to Beth-aven, and do not swear an oath: As the Lord lives!
In verse 15, Hosea calls the northern tribes here to take note on how they’re walking - how they’re living…because JUDAH IS WATCHING (the southern tribes will reproduce what they see).
He’s actually calling Judah to NOT FOLLOW ISRAEL’S EXAMPLE OF SPIRITUAL ADULTERY, IDOLATRY, AND UNFAITHFULNESS.
Judah should be distinct
holy
set apart for God
We need to heed this in our own lives - AVOID GETTING MIXED UP IN SINFUL BEHAVIORS AND HABITS.
FOLLOW CHRIST, NOT THE BOOZE-LOVING, FOUL-MOUTHED PREACHERS THAT MARK THE AGE OF TODAY…JESUS IS THE ONLY HERO OF OUR FAITH!
Our desire for holiness and pure worship are joined at the hip!
INTERNAL DIAGNOSTIC
Take a moment to perform an internal heart check to investigate what you need to repent of.
Is there something significant that you regretfully traded for a short-term desire or quick fix?
If so, confess it to God, and to a fellow church member who can pray for you.
James tells us to confess our sins to one another so that we can pray together and be healed (James 5:16).
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Even if it is a scary proposition to do so, know that the Lord rewards those who earnestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6) in holiness.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Holiness means set apart.
While we may not be personally engaging in the specific acts mentioned in this text like Israel...we can certainly struggle with spiritual infidelity/unfaithfulness that fails to keep our hearts pure and solely worshipping God.
There are times and seasons where we put our faith in:
people,
finances,
popularity,
and careers to provide the security for our future.
More than that, we can make these things an idol—and in a way - give them our worship in the hopes that they will rescue us from this broken world - ONLY CHRIST CAN DO THAT - WE KNOW THAT.
PRACTICE HOLINESS BY PURSUING GOD, THINKING ON HIM.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Anything we can’t stop thinking about…anything we can’t do without…is an idol.
“Whatever we treasure more than God, whatever drives our thoughts and actions, becomes an idol, and these idols dull our spiritual hearing and harden our hearts to things of God”
4. PURIFY YOUR WORSHIP with Repentance
4. PURIFY YOUR WORSHIP with Repentance
Hosea 5
Let’s look at couple of verses in Chapter 5 to round this out…
5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them. 6 With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them. 7 They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.
God is calling His people to repentance…that’s how they can rightly draw near to HIM.
He doesn’t want our worship when we are holding on to idols in our hearts.
Note His response to His people through the prophet Isaiah.
11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
God longs for a pure people more than a good-looking worship service.
This was all they had in the OT…they knew of His Presence in distinct ways; they knew of the formal priesthood; they knew of ritual cleansings for worship.
But WE HAVE THE FULL REVELATION OF GOD IN SCRIPTURE.
WE HAVE OUR MORTAL BODIES AND MINDS QUICKENED BY HIS SPIRIT TO MAKE THE WORD OF GOD COME ALIVE TO US AND THRUST US TOWARD CHRIST…
We say AMEN to the preacher’s sermon in Hebrews 10.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”
God plainly tells His people, YOU WON’T FIND ME IN WORSHIP, UNTIL YOU REPENT:
15 I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.
God is calling us to DRAW NEAR TO HIM IN WORSHIP…by incorporating repentance into our regular rhythms…
One of the best ways I can close this sermon is to let James call us to worship…through repentance:
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Seeking God with our whole heart is more than a reading plan, drawing near to God in worship is more than a singing loud or feeling something…
God’s People who long to Worship Him…
Pursue Knowing God
Purge Corruption
Practice Holiness
Purify Worship with Repentance hearts..
Draw near to Him on His terms, and He will draw near to you in meaningful ways.
Repent from all your sin and idolatry, they are competing with your worship of GOD and robbing you of incredible PEACE and LIFE!
Let’s Pray.
