Don’t Go Through The Motions
HOSEA: To Know Him • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 6 viewsGod doesn’t want our worship to involve mindlessly going through the motions and offering him lip service. He wants aourhearts engaged in worship, understanding the significance that these are sacrifices to God in light of who He is and what He’s done.
Notes
Transcript
Texts: Hosea 6, 7; Matthew 6:1
Key Text: Hosea 6:1-6
Reflection: Prov 2:1-8
Big Idea of the Message: MIM: God doesn’t want our worship to involve mindlessly going through the motions and offering him lip service. He wants our hearts engaged in worship, understanding the significance that these are sacrifices to God in light of who He is and what He’s done.
Text: Hos 6-7
Key Text: Hosea 6:1-6
REVIEW:
REVIEW:
If you are just joining us:
God is painting a picture for us in the book of Hosea, of just how faithful he is and how unfaithful Israel is.
He has used Hosea’s marriage to Gomer as an incredible picture of a faithful husband pursuing a chronically unfaithful wife.
Even though His people keep pulling them away, He keeps MAKING A WAY for them to DRAW NEAR TO HIM IN WORSHIP
—-
Modern Parallels:
Modern Parallels:
All we like sheep have gone astray…we go our own way, and we influence as many people as we can to go our way
following our own rule instead of God’s rule
believing “our truth” instead of actual truth, revealed in Scripture
liking some churchy things, but not the all-in kind of relationship with God’s family He’s calling us to
wanting the benefits of religion without the responsibilities of Biblical Christianity
(we even go so far as to) DO LOTS OF THINGS WITH THE CHURCH, SELECTING “CHRISTIAN” on a checkbox list, even singing the songs of Sunday because we KNOW that they are good and right
…BUT IT IS POSSIBLE TO GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS AND NOT KNOW GOD on His terms…
How did we get here? How did Israel get here…the first couple of verses of Chapter 6 are very encouraging!
Look at them with me:
1 “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. 3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”
It sounds so good doesn’t it?
Especially after the grim picture that continues to emerge out of the previous chapters.
We’ve just finished an extensive section of where the LORD promised to punish His people - so that everyone would see and know
(Also, since many of you read this already in our daily reading plan, you know) he is about to lay out details and pictures of their unfaithfulness and unrepentance through the end of Chapter 7…
Yet, notice this little moment of clarity in worship and repentance.
at least the words are right.
(v1) “US” - it’s corporate
“COME, let us RETURN” - it reveals they’re headed the wrong way; and need to COME BACK to the LORD.
“HE HAS TORN US/HE HAS STRUCK US DOWN” - God has brought about the promised consequences of their actions - they are being confronted by a prophet who loves God and loves His people enough to tell them the truth
“HE MAY HEAL US / HE WILL BIND US UP” - God’s banner over His people is LOVE…He disciplines / chastens those that He loves…
(read remaining verses 2-3)
People are so intent on pursuing everything BUT the God of this Bible…that they are willing to sever their ties with God because they’d rather have their idols.
BUT GOD is so intent on pursing you that He is willing to to sever YOUR ties to YOUR IDOLS - even if pain, trials, or devastation is the only way to pry them from your heart. God is “tearing & striking” to drive you BACK to Him, not away from HIM.
EXAMPLES FROM SCRIPTURE / where God would tear away to drive people back to Him:
EXAMPLES FROM SCRIPTURE / where God would tear away to drive people back to Him:
Abraham & Isaac?
Abraham & Isaac?
Abraham had prayed for so long for a son. He and Sarah took matters into their own hands with Hagar and Abraham had Ishmael, but not with Sarah.
But in an incredible stroke of sovereign grace, God blesses Abraham and Sarah with Isaac.
He probably would have posted online that Isaac was “his whole world”.
Genesis 22 gives us that account of how God would say,
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So God tests Abraham to see where his truest affection lies.
THIS WEEK’S READING / ISAIAH 29
THIS WEEK’S READING / ISAIAH 29
13 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, 14 therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” 15 Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” 16 You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
You’ve heard me quote this passage before as it relates to going through the motions…
NOTICE:
The people’s hearts are NOT into it, just lip-service
They are simply doing it out of an earthly command
God’s response…I’m going to do something SO WONDERFUL among these people, that it will confound the wisest of men
People may think they’re hiding in the dark, but God sees them
The TRUTH IS - the POTTER is NOT the clay
The CREATED cannot say with any legitimacy, WE WERE NOT CREATED…THERE IS NO HIGHER INTELLIGENCE
It’s sheer silliness and UPSIDE DOWN thinking for humanity to PRETEND that there is no God
Truth is truth.
4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”
TRANSITION:
This week, it’s important to remember that WE ARE NOT ON OUR OWN. WE ARE NOT LEFT TO FIGURE EVERYTHING OUT WITHOUT A GUIDING BEACON.
God is calling His people to account through the prophet Hosea because HE HAS SENT THEM THE TRUTH TO ABIDE BY…
Look with me at Hosea 6:5
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.
1. GOD SENDS TRUTH (6:5)
1. GOD SENDS TRUTH (6:5)
but the people want to live a lie
but the people want to live a lie
God’s Word exposes HIS FAITHFULNESS and OUR UNFAITHFULNESS
HIS HOLINESS AND OUR SINFULNESS
HIS VAST SUPPLY AND OUR GREAT NEED
THAT HE ALONE CAN SAVE AND WE ALL NEED SAVING
Sin-addicted people and a sin-soaked culture HATE GOD’S WORD!
The Bible is opposed and mocked.
Preachers who preach the Bible are opposed and mocked.
Christians who love the Bible and LIVE the Bible are opposed and mocked.
Why is that?
John 3 tells us…
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
God had given His people His Word…they can turn from their sin and follow Him and His way OR they can continue in their REBELLION against God and His truth.
It’s a term most of us don’t like to use, but it is an appropriate term - rebellion.
When we sin
when we knowingly see the line drawn and say, I know this is wrong, but I’m going to do it anyway.
when we go with our own rule instead of what we know God’s Word says
as Christians, when we ignore the Holy Spirit’s voice whose primary job is to convict us of sin, righteousness, and judgment and point us to Jesus…
when we do that WE ARE PUTTING OURSELVES AGAINST GOD AND HIS WAYS.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
The Israelites HAD THE TRUTH - from God through the prophets, now through Hosea.
But they wanted darkness instead.
TRANSITION
They thought, like Adam & Eve, that they could either hide OR escape.
But they completely ignored this huge reality…
2. GOD SEES & KNOWS EVERYTHING (7:2)
2. GOD SEES & KNOWS EVERYTHING (7:2)
but the people think they can fool God
but the people think they can fool God
Look at Chapter 7 as God underscores this…
2 But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.
David would be confronted with this reality.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
For the child of God, IF YOU ARE IN CHRIST TODAY…this Psalm brings incredible comfort and excitement to us.
In a moment of weakness, we may attempt to flee from the LORD, but He sees us. He knows us. He longs for us to know Him.
We conclude this incredibly powerful reflection like David in saying,
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
For the person listening to me right now who is NOT IN CHRIST…this reality will make you crawl under a bed in a deep cave and tremble over God’s justice to come.
You cannot hide from God means something totally different…it lands completely differently for those who are IN CHRIST verses those who are NOT IN CHRIST.
In the OLD TESTAMENT context of the people of Israel…they knew this principle.
9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
YET, THEY ARE HOPING TO FOOL GOD.
Here are some characteristics I found that commentator Allan Mosely wrote down about people who are going through the motions:
It always involves unfaithfulness.
It manipulates truth about God.
It includes very religious looking activities.
It often includes slavery to selfish fleshly pursuits,
and it makes people useless in serving God.
So what will God do?
He’s given them the TRUTH.
He sees their evil deeds, their lying…even as they are going through the motions of repentance…
What will this ALL-POWERFUL, ALL-KNOWING, ALL-PRESENT GOD (in this Old Testament account) do?
He will offer them forgiveness…but let’s look at verse 13 together in chapter 7
13 Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me.
3. GOD OFFERS FORGIVENESS (7:13)
3. GOD OFFERS FORGIVENESS (7:13)
but the people don’t really want it on His terms
but the people don’t really want it on His terms
WHAT A MERCIFUL, FAITHFUL, WONDERFUL FATHER WHO LONGS TO FORGIVE HIS PEOPLE.
8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,
…I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
God wants to heal them, save them, restore them, forgive them, redeem them.
But he will not force his redemption on people who do not want it. Israel did not want it.
Back in chapter 6, he says…
4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.
What am I going to do with you?
Let’s look again at Chapter 7…
In verse one, he says I would heal them… Their iniquity must be revealed…
They’re in the right place, they are before my face, (v2) But their hearts are not here.
In a sermon from many many years ago, G. Campbell Morgan illustrated this dilemma as he preached “the difficulty of God “
It seems perverse to reject God’s love and forgiveness… Because it is!
Here God is offering freedom, healing, and eternal life, and yet mankind longs to cling to the bondage and pain of sin only to one day face the eternal wrath of God against sin.
“What am I going to do with you?”
God hates Sin!
One day, God will express his righteous wrath against sin for the last time. His wrath is coming to humanity because we are sinners.
But the same, holy, righteous, just God offers a way for our sins to be forgiven so that we can be saved, reconciled to him, and enjoy the freedom and forgiveness and healing and eternal life that was bought and paid for when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead for our sins.
He’s offering it to you right now if you don’t know him as Lord and Savior.
If you were not in Christ today, you don’t have to leave that way.
God knows that judgment is coming for his people Israel, but he wants to heal them instead so he asks, “what am I going to do with you? “
If he were to ask that question about you right now… What would you cling to?
He has offered a way so that you can be forgiven of sin, saved from sin, and saved from the wrath of God against sin.
He has offered a way. He has offered the way. There is only one way.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Don’t go through the motions.
RIGHT NOW, ASK GOD TO SAVE YOU! HE’LL DO IT!
LORD, I’M A SINNER. I NEED A SAVIOR. I BELIEVE YOU DIED AND ROSE AGAIN.
FORGIVE ME OF MY SIN. MAKE ME NEW…I WANT TO LIVE FOR YOU.
FILL ME WITH YOUR HOLY SPIRIT SO I CAN LIVE LIFE FOR YOUR GLORY AND HONOR!
Don’t Let your relationship with God be like a morning mist or the early due that is here for a moment and vanishes.
Some of the other pictures Hosea uses for people going through the motions was like a cake that’s burned on one side and raw on the other.
…Like a person who doesn’t know the color of their own hair.
…Like a bird who is flustered flying from nest to nest, who goes to everyone else fluttering around for advice and wisdom instead of to the Lord himself
…Like a faulty weapon that cannot be trusted in the moment of battle – utterly useless, but looks like it’s useful.
God has sent truth… You can know the truth, and the truth will make you free!
God sees and knows everything… Cry out to him to search you, purify you, so that you might love him with all your heart, mind soul and strength.
God has sent forgiveness… You don’t have to perish in your sins, you don’t have to hang on to the guilt and shame that are weighing you down, come to Jesus for the cleansing flood and be washed in the blood of the lamb.
LET’S PRAY!
