Straying Hearts
Series: The Preacher and the Prostitute
Speaker: Steve Jeffrey
Date: 15th February 2014
Passage: Hosea 4:1-7:16
00:00:00 --> 00:00:04 Gracious Father, as your word is open in front of us now,
00:00:04 --> 00:00:09 we ask that you would send your spirit so that we might meet with you.
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 Father, we pray that the sins of your people past
00:00:13 --> 00:00:19 might come to their full acknowledgement in our hearts this morning
00:00:19 --> 00:00:23 and that we would be driven back to you, our great God.
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 And we ask it for your sake. Amen.
00:00:26 --> 00:00:35 So husbands, imagine the scenario that your wife is kidnapped on your honeymoon.
00:00:37 --> 00:00:40 A note is left by the kidnappers.
00:00:40 --> 00:00:45 A $500 payment is required to secure her release.
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 You love your wife and you'll do whatever it takes to get her back.
00:00:50 --> 00:00:55 $500 is everything that you've got after you sell the house and the car,
00:00:55 --> 00:01:01 cash in the shares, sell the furniture and the clothes on eBay and empty the accounts.
00:01:02 --> 00:01:06 You will be destitute, but at least you will have the love of your life back.
00:01:08 --> 00:01:12 The exchanges that take place on a beach at sunset,
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 the time comes, the kidnappers arrive holding your wife.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:22 You are ordered to leave the suitcase in the middle of the beach and take 50 paces back.
00:01:23 --> 00:01:31 It's a tense moment as they walk slowly holding your wife towards you, towards the suitcase.
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 Each step seems to take forever.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:48 They finally arrive at the suitcase and now any moment they will pick up the suitcase and they will release your wife and she will run into your arms.
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 And then the biggest concern is how to pay for the hotel bill.
00:01:52 --> 00:02:00 As you nervously look forward to that embrace, your heart is shattered.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:03 They release your wife.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:12 She bends down, picks up the suitcase, hands it to her captors and runs back to the cars with them.
00:02:12 --> 00:02:21 That's the shocking image of what we discovered last week in Hosea chapters 1 to 3.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 It's a shocking image of how God's people, Israel, have treated him.
00:02:26 --> 00:02:31 They have grabbed the salvation that he offers with both hands and then run off with that
00:02:31 --> 00:02:36 and enjoyed it with other gods and idols and treasures and loves.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:42 In Hosea 1 to 3, the state of the relationship between God and his chosen people, Israel,
00:02:42 --> 00:02:47 was played out in the relationship between Hosea and Gomer in their marriage.
00:02:48 --> 00:02:52 God gave an extraordinary command to his spokesman, Hosea.
00:02:52 --> 00:02:53 Chapter 1, verse 2.
00:02:53 --> 00:02:57 Go and take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness
00:02:57 --> 00:03:03 because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord.
00:03:03 --> 00:03:08 As we saw last week, it is quite literally the command to Hosea,
00:03:08 --> 00:03:13 go and get a wife of whore, that is go marry a whore,
00:03:13 --> 00:03:18 get children with the whore because the nation is a whore.
00:03:20 --> 00:03:24 God had called Israel to himself to be his special people.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:29 He had powerfully rescued them from slavery in Egypt and made them his very own.
00:03:29 --> 00:03:34 He gave them the law that would govern their relationship and frame how his new bride would live with him.
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 He made vows and he committed himself to his special people.
00:03:39 --> 00:03:44 But there was nothing special about these people.
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 They were just like any other people.
00:03:48 --> 00:03:53 But God mercifully chosen to be his bride, his special covenant people.
00:03:53 --> 00:03:59 But three words in chapter 2 sum up the actions and the attitude of Goma to Hosea
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 and also Israel to their God.
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 Me, she forgot.
00:04:07 --> 00:04:15 Israel is guilty of turning her back on her divine husband and running after other lovers.
00:04:15 --> 00:04:22 Hosea's marriage to Goma is a living parable designed to confront God's people
00:04:22 --> 00:04:26 with the full horror of how they have treated God.
00:04:28 --> 00:04:34 But it's also a living parable to reveal how not just God's broken heart,
00:04:34 --> 00:04:38 but God's unbroken love for his people.
00:04:38 --> 00:04:45 You see, God's love for his people has never been based on some naive assessment of their character.
00:04:46 --> 00:04:53 He called them to himself, even knowing that they were people of great faithlessness.
00:04:55 --> 00:05:04 And one of the big points of Hosea is that God exalts his mercy by not giving up on his haul.
00:05:04 --> 00:05:10 Chapters 1 to 3 contain the message of Hosea in a nutshell.
00:05:11 --> 00:05:15 And as we launch into the rest of Hosea from today over the next three weeks,
00:05:15 --> 00:05:20 we'll notice that there isn't a single mention of Hosea and Goma again.
00:05:21 --> 00:05:25 We leave them behind, but we do not forget them.
00:05:25 --> 00:05:37 We are meant to read the rest of Hosea through the lenses of the raw, heart-wrenching story of their marriage.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:43 A story of consistent betrayal, of anger and judgment because of that betrayal,
00:05:44 --> 00:05:48 and of unbroken love despite the betrayal.
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 And so in chapter 4, we enter a new scene.
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 It's a courtroom.
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 The scene has changed, but the cast is the same.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 The divine husband and faithless bride.
00:06:03 --> 00:06:08 From a marriage in trouble in chapters 1 to 3, we have the divorce courts of chapter 4.
00:06:09 --> 00:06:13 There is silence in the courtroom as the indictment is read.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 It's there in chapter 4, verse 1.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:23 At the end of it, there is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land.
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 That's the charge that God levels against his people.
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 It's a devastating charge.
00:06:29 --> 00:06:35 God had rescued these people from slavery in Egypt and graciously revealed his standards to them, his law.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:42 Jesus would later summarise those standards in Mark chapter 12 as love the Lord your God with all your soul,
00:06:42 --> 00:06:46 with all your mind, with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:49 And they said that they would obey it.
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 They said they would be committed to their marriage vows.
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 They said they were committed to the covenant, but they didn't do it.
00:06:56 --> 00:07:02 And that is the charge that God now levels against his people in chapter 4, verse 1.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:09 It's not that they just kind of broke their commitment in a few details here and there,
00:07:11 --> 00:07:18 but absolutely and completely and utterly, nine times in two chapters,
00:07:19 --> 00:07:24 God calls their betrayal a spirit of prostitution.
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 This is not just a one-night stand.
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 This is not just a bit too much alcohol and a bit of forgetfulness.
00:07:35 --> 00:07:41 This is a heart entangled and entrenched with other loves.
00:07:44 --> 00:07:47 They didn't love God or their neighbour.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:49 Quite the opposite.
00:07:49 --> 00:07:55 In fact, in verse 2, there is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery.
00:07:55 --> 00:07:56 They broke all bounds.
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 And bloodshed follows bloodshed.
00:08:00 --> 00:08:04 Basically, they just obliterated the Ten Commandments.
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 That is the charge that's levelled against God's people.
00:08:10 --> 00:08:14 There is no consistency of faithfulness or love or acknowledgement of God.
00:08:15 --> 00:08:18 And as God brings this charge against the nation as a whole,
00:08:18 --> 00:08:22 the clergy are sitting over to one side, fairly smugly at this point.
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 They're feeling a little self-righteous.
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 They're thinking, well, yes, that's absolutely right, God.
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 Those dreadful, dreadful people.
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 They just have not obeyed you at all.
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 We've been saying it for years in our sermons.
00:08:36 --> 00:08:38 Tax collectors and sinners, the lot of them.
00:08:38 --> 00:08:49 God looks straight at them and says, it's you, O priests, against who I bring this charge.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:54 God's charge against them begins in verse 4 and goes right to the end of verse 14.
00:08:55 --> 00:08:56 That is the major section here.
00:08:56 --> 00:09:01 God is holding the clergy, the priests, the leaders of God's people,
00:09:01 --> 00:09:05 chiefly responsible for the state of God's people.
00:09:05 --> 00:09:06 What have they done?
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 The end of verse 6, because you have rejected knowledge,
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 I also reject you as my priests.
00:09:13 --> 00:09:17 Because you have ignored the law of your God,
00:09:17 --> 00:09:20 I also will ignore your children.
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 You see, one of the tasks entrusted to the priest was the teaching of God's law,
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 and they didn't do it.
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 They rejected knowledge of God.
00:09:30 --> 00:09:31 They rejected God's word.
00:09:31 --> 00:09:36 And when you cut yourself off from God speaking to you,
00:09:37 --> 00:09:41 you end up being ruled by any other voice.
00:09:44 --> 00:09:48 Where did they go for guidance and help and clarity apart from God's word?
00:09:49 --> 00:09:50 Verse 12.
00:09:51 --> 00:09:57 They consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of wood.
00:09:57 --> 00:10:04 If it wasn't so scandalous, it would be hilarious.
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 Let's just put the word of God here.
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 Grab a stick, throw it on the ground.
00:10:11 --> 00:10:12 Which way does it point?
00:10:12 --> 00:10:13 Let's go that way.
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 And instead of leading God's people, we have verse 7.
00:10:22 --> 00:10:27 The more the priests increase, the more they sinned against me.
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 What an incredible indictment.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:35 They exchange their glory, that is, the glory of their God, their divine lover,
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 for something disgraceful.
00:10:38 --> 00:10:41 They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness.
00:10:42 --> 00:10:46 And it will be like people, like priests.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:59 That's summed the clergy up.
00:10:59 --> 00:11:07 They were simply an echo of the nation and of the nations around in both word and deed.
00:11:07 --> 00:11:13 The rejection of God's word, immorality and idolatry.
00:11:13 --> 00:11:20 It is a gruesome list of spiritual decline into spiritual prostitution.
00:11:21 --> 00:11:29 Their failure to put God's word before the people, God's law, his covenant requirement meant that the people just drifted off.
00:11:29 --> 00:11:33 Not taking their sins seriously.
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 And into idolatry and debauchery.
00:11:37 --> 00:11:45 And so the heartbroken divine lover has read his case against his adulterous bride.
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 And now they must face the sentencing.
00:11:47 --> 00:11:48 Here it is in chapter 5, verse 1.
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 Hear this, you priests.
00:11:51 --> 00:11:53 Pay attention, you Israelites.
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 Listen, O royal household.
00:11:55 --> 00:11:56 This judgment is against you.
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 Notice there, everyone.
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 Everyone is included in the judgment.
00:12:00 --> 00:12:09 And in a nutshell, there are two declarations of sentence against the people of God in chapter 5.
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 The first one is in verses 1 to 7.
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 And in summary, it says God will withdraw from you.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:16 Verse 6.
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 These words are particularly explicit.
00:12:19 --> 00:12:24 When they go with their flocks and their herds to seek the Lord, they will not find him.
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 He has redrawn himself from them.
00:12:26 --> 00:12:34 They will go with their sheep, with their cows, with their doves, up to the temple to sacrifice before the Lord.
00:12:35 --> 00:12:37 But God won't be there.
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 This is one aspect of the solemn judgment pronounced.
00:12:48 --> 00:12:55 The Bible talks about this judgment as being very solemn, very severe.
00:12:55 --> 00:13:03 See, when we turn our backs on God, we can't expect God to carry on as if nothing has happened.
00:13:07 --> 00:13:12 God, we live a life of consistent sin, ignoring it, playing it down.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 We turn our backs on his word and what it says.
00:13:16 --> 00:13:17 We refuse to obey.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 We look at it, but we don't obey it.
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 And God withdraws.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:26 And it's quite possible that that might be where you are right now.
00:13:28 --> 00:13:31 You've been a confessing Christian for years.
00:13:31 --> 00:13:32 You've been attending church.
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 You've been reciting creeds like we did just a moment ago.
00:13:36 --> 00:13:36 Involved in ministry.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:39 Maybe involved in miraculous and spectacular ministry.
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 Putting money on the plate.
00:13:42 --> 00:13:47 But the reality of your relationship with God is no longer there.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 You pray and it seems like no one is listening.
00:13:53 --> 00:13:57 You've given up on the reading of the Bible now because it's just so long.
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 It seems so long since God has ever spoken to you.
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 Could it be that you've drifted?
00:14:07 --> 00:14:12 Could it be that you are treasuring a sin in your heart rather than treasuring Jesus?
00:14:15 --> 00:14:20 And so if the first seven verses speak of a passive judgment with God, we draw,
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 then verses 8 to 14 speak of an active judgment.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:24 See it there in verse 8?
00:14:24 --> 00:14:44 Look at me with verse 14.
00:14:44 --> 00:15:01 Does your view of God cope with verses like that?
00:15:04 --> 00:15:08 The Bible says things like our God is a consuming fire.
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12 And things like it's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of a living God.
00:15:12 --> 00:15:17 And one day he will come as he's promised in final judgment.
00:15:17 --> 00:15:23 And none of us will have any grounds for confidence on that day.
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 God's charge against Israel applies to us too.
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 We too have turned away from him and disobeyed his word.
00:15:33 --> 00:15:34 We don't love God as we should.
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 We don't love our neighbour as we should.
00:15:36 --> 00:15:40 We deserve the sentence of God's we draw from us.
00:15:40 --> 00:15:45 We deserve the sentence of God's active judgment against us.
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 These are solemn, solemn chapters.
00:15:51 --> 00:15:58 But they end with one glimmer of hope in verse 15.
00:15:58 --> 00:16:03 Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt.
00:16:03 --> 00:16:06 And they will seek my face in their misery.
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 And they will earnestly seek me.
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 There is the glimmer of hope.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:19 God leaves the door open for a return to him, for a union with him.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:24 Even in judgment and anger, God remembers mercy.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:29 And the question that we left with at the end of chapter 5 is, will God's people respond?
00:16:29 --> 00:16:30 Will they return to him?
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 Will they come back to him?
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 And it seems at the beginning of chapter 6 that they do.
00:16:35 --> 00:16:35 Come, they say.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:37 Let us return to the Lord.
00:16:37 --> 00:16:39 He has torn us to pieces.
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 But he will heal us.
00:16:41 --> 00:16:42 He has injured us.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 But he will bind up our wounds.
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 And after two days, he will revive us.
00:16:46 --> 00:16:48 On the third day, he will restore us.
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 That we may live in his presence.
00:16:51 --> 00:16:52 Let us acknowledge the Lord.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 Let us press on to acknowledge him.
00:16:56 --> 00:16:58 It appears that they're finally woken up.
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 The charges have been read.
00:17:03 --> 00:17:04 The sentence has been pronounced.
00:17:05 --> 00:17:07 And they've been convicted of their sin.
00:17:07 --> 00:17:10 And they finally realized their deep unfaithfulness.
00:17:10 --> 00:17:11 That they are, in fact, Goma.
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 And so they return to the Lord.
00:17:17 --> 00:17:21 But that's not what verse 4 says.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 God sees straight through it.
00:17:25 --> 00:17:27 Your love is like the morning mist.
00:17:27 --> 00:17:30 Like the early dew that disappears.
00:17:33 --> 00:17:34 Gone.
00:17:37 --> 00:17:39 It's a superficial return to God.
00:17:40 --> 00:17:43 A shallow love simply meant to appease God.
00:17:44 --> 00:17:49 In chapter 7, we have God's assessment of his people through a whole variety of images.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:51 Verse 6 of chapter 7.
00:17:52 --> 00:17:56 There is a smoldering passion that's just waiting to burst out in decadence.
00:17:59 --> 00:18:00 Verse 8.
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 They are a half-baked cake.
00:18:03 --> 00:18:05 They are half-hearted.
00:18:05 --> 00:18:07 They are lukewarm.
00:18:07 --> 00:18:08 Verse 9.
00:18:08 --> 00:18:12 Verse 9 is a man unaware that his hair is peppered with grey.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:18 A man who thinks that he's still in his prime.
00:18:18 --> 00:18:21 Hip and cool and young and strong.
00:18:22 --> 00:18:24 And the best is yet to come.
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 And yet he can't see the grey hair.
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 He's a 40-something dress like he's a skater kid.
00:18:32 --> 00:18:38 They have no sense of reality.
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 Verse 11 is the image of a frantic dove.
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 Flapping crazily.
00:18:46 --> 00:18:47 Flapping crazily.
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49 Bang, bang, bang against this window.
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 Bang, bang, bang against that window.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:53 They've got no picture of Israel.
00:18:54 --> 00:18:56 They are silly and senseless.
00:18:56 --> 00:18:59 Flapping around with no confirmed conviction.
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 Changing its mind and its allegiance.
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 Every shift of political whim.
00:19:04 --> 00:19:07 And that is what they've done.
00:19:08 --> 00:19:10 That is what Israel has done here.
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12 They've heard the pronouncement.
00:19:13 --> 00:19:14 They've heard God's sentence.
00:19:14 --> 00:19:15 And they've gone, oh my.
00:19:16 --> 00:19:19 We'd better pull our socks up and work a little harder here.
00:19:21 --> 00:19:23 We'd better burn some more sacrifices.
00:19:23 --> 00:19:30 Smouldering sinful hearts of deep unfaithfulness.
00:19:31 --> 00:19:34 Lukewarm about God and half-baked righteousness.
00:19:34 --> 00:19:36 No grasp of the reality of their situation.
00:19:37 --> 00:19:43 The depths and the danger of their situation.
00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 And they're frantically trying to do something about it to make God happy.
00:19:47 --> 00:19:54 And so, the shrines were packed.
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 The Bible colleges were filled.
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 Sunday, attendance went up.
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01 Small groups multiplied.
00:20:03 --> 00:20:06 But remember the charge of chapter 4, verse 1.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 There is no faithfulness.
00:20:09 --> 00:20:10 There is no love.
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 No acknowledgement of God in the land.
00:20:13 --> 00:20:16 There is lots of religious activity.
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 But they missed what God required.
00:20:22 --> 00:20:25 See chapter 6, verse 6.
00:20:31 --> 00:20:33 See chapter 6, verse 6.
00:20:33 --> 00:20:38 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
00:20:38 --> 00:20:41 An acknowledgement of God.
00:20:42 --> 00:20:44 Rather than burnt offerings.
00:20:46 --> 00:20:51 Even though their religion and ritual were going full-tilled ahead.
00:20:51 --> 00:20:54 They had lost its heart.
00:20:54 --> 00:20:56 They had forgotten its centre.
00:20:57 --> 00:21:00 And see the heart, where the heart of it all is.
00:21:00 --> 00:21:03 Second half of chapter 7, verse 7.
00:21:03 --> 00:21:08 None of them calls on me.
00:21:09 --> 00:21:10 Down, verse 10.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:15 He does not return to the Lord his God or search for him.
00:21:16 --> 00:21:17 Down to verse 13.
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 They have strayed from me.
00:21:21 --> 00:21:22 Down to verse 15.
00:21:23 --> 00:21:26 They plotted evil against me.
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 They missed God.
00:21:31 --> 00:21:36 They didn't return to their divine lover.
00:21:38 --> 00:21:45 And so their religious activity is their spiritual prostitution.
00:21:51 --> 00:21:55 They have the shell, but not the call.
00:21:56 --> 00:21:57 And let's be frank, friends.
00:21:57 --> 00:21:59 You'll find this everywhere amongst God people.
00:21:59 --> 00:22:04 Superficial religious observance.
00:22:05 --> 00:22:08 It can be in the pomp of formal Anglicanism.
00:22:08 --> 00:22:11 Or the studied informality of the brethren.
00:22:11 --> 00:22:14 Or the ritual of the Roman Catholic Mass.
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 Or the routine of the church prayer meeting.
00:22:18 --> 00:22:20 Or the silence of the Quakers.
00:22:20 --> 00:22:22 Or the exuberance of the Charismatics.
00:22:22 --> 00:22:26 Even in reformed evangelical churches.
00:22:26 --> 00:22:28 Where we can be outwardly generous.
00:22:29 --> 00:22:31 Have good insights into the scriptures.
00:22:32 --> 00:22:34 In our preaching and in our community groups.
00:22:35 --> 00:22:39 Where we can pray eloquent, theologically correct prayers.
00:22:39 --> 00:22:43 But no personal dealing with God.
00:22:45 --> 00:22:46 We miss God.
00:22:49 --> 00:22:51 We can prepare a sermon.
00:22:52 --> 00:22:53 We can listen to a sermon.
00:22:53 --> 00:22:55 We can participate in a community group.
00:22:55 --> 00:22:58 And have a ritualistic daily quiet time.
00:22:59 --> 00:23:01 And yet never meet with God for years.
00:23:01 --> 00:23:10 Our Lord God is not interested in religion without repentance.
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 He has no time for belief without behaviour.
00:23:14 --> 00:23:18 And no delight in ritual without righteous relationships.
00:23:19 --> 00:23:20 With him or with others.
00:23:20 --> 00:23:31 It's quite noticeable that Jesus picks up Hosea.
00:23:32 --> 00:23:34 And especially chapter 6 verse 6.
00:23:35 --> 00:23:36 In Matthew chapter 9.
00:23:38 --> 00:23:40 So flick over to Matthew chapter 9.
00:23:41 --> 00:23:45 It's the bit where Jesus calls Matthew the tax collector.
00:23:45 --> 00:23:46 To come and follow him.
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 A little later Jesus is having dinner.
00:23:50 --> 00:23:51 At Matthew's home.
00:23:52 --> 00:23:55 And they are joined by many tax collectors.
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 And openly sinful people.
00:23:57 --> 00:23:58 In society.
00:23:59 --> 00:24:01 Openly sinful people.
00:24:01 --> 00:24:03 Like prostitutes.
00:24:05 --> 00:24:08 And the religious elite saw all this taking place.
00:24:08 --> 00:24:11 It's hard to fathom how they saw it taking place.
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13 With their noses raised so high.
00:24:13 --> 00:24:15 And disgust at what Jesus was doing.
00:24:16 --> 00:24:18 But they lowered their noses enough.
00:24:18 --> 00:24:19 To look down at them.
00:24:19 --> 00:24:21 To ask Jesus' mates a question.
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23 Why does your teacher eat?
00:24:23 --> 00:24:25 We tax collectors and sinners.
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 Jesus overheard the question.
00:24:28 --> 00:24:29 So he just jumps in.
00:24:29 --> 00:24:30 And answers.
00:24:31 --> 00:24:33 It is not the healthy who need a doctor.
00:24:33 --> 00:24:34 But the sick.
00:24:35 --> 00:24:36 And then he adds.
00:24:38 --> 00:24:40 Speaking to the religious elite.
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 The Pharisees.
00:24:41 --> 00:24:42 But go and learn.
00:24:42 --> 00:24:43 And learn.
00:24:43 --> 00:24:44 What this means.
00:24:45 --> 00:24:47 It's a little formula.
00:24:48 --> 00:24:49 Meant to rebuke.
00:24:49 --> 00:24:51 The teachers of God's people.
00:24:52 --> 00:24:52 You see.
00:24:52 --> 00:24:53 These teachers of God's people.
00:24:53 --> 00:24:55 Had prided themselves.
00:24:55 --> 00:24:56 Of their knowledge.
00:24:56 --> 00:24:58 And understanding of the scriptures.
00:24:58 --> 00:25:00 And their conformity to the scriptures.
00:25:00 --> 00:25:02 But Jesus says to them.
00:25:02 --> 00:25:03 In this rebuke.
00:25:03 --> 00:25:04 Go away.
00:25:04 --> 00:25:05 And look at the scriptures again.
00:25:05 --> 00:25:06 Because you've missed it.
00:25:06 --> 00:25:12 And then Jesus quotes.
00:25:13 --> 00:25:14 What they need to go and learn.
00:25:15 --> 00:25:15 And conform to.
00:25:15 --> 00:25:16 It's Hosea 6.
00:25:16 --> 00:25:17 6.
00:25:17 --> 00:25:19 I desire mercy.
00:25:19 --> 00:25:21 Not sacrifice.
00:25:23 --> 00:25:25 In saying that.
00:25:25 --> 00:25:26 Jesus aligns.
00:25:26 --> 00:25:28 The religious elite of his day.
00:25:28 --> 00:25:28 With the people.
00:25:29 --> 00:25:30 And the leaders of God's people.
00:25:30 --> 00:25:32 In Hosea's day.
00:25:33 --> 00:25:34 These.
00:25:34 --> 00:25:35 Who had turned away.
00:25:35 --> 00:25:36 From the living God.
00:25:36 --> 00:25:36 God.
00:25:38 --> 00:25:39 These Pharisees.
00:25:39 --> 00:25:41 Had a great looking shell.
00:25:42 --> 00:25:43 But it was rotten.
00:25:43 --> 00:25:44 On the inside.
00:25:46 --> 00:25:46 But they thought.
00:25:47 --> 00:25:48 They were okay with God.
00:25:49 --> 00:25:50 Self-deception.
00:25:50 --> 00:25:51 And judgmentalism.
00:25:51 --> 00:25:52 Were their great skills.
00:25:53 --> 00:25:54 Remember.
00:25:54 --> 00:25:54 The story.
00:25:55 --> 00:25:55 That Jesus told.
00:25:55 --> 00:25:56 About the Pharisee.
00:25:56 --> 00:25:57 And the tax collector.
00:25:58 --> 00:25:59 They were at a temple.
00:25:59 --> 00:26:00 Where the Pharisee.
00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 Looks down his nose.
00:26:02 --> 00:26:03 At the tax collector.
00:26:03 --> 00:26:03 And God.
00:26:03 --> 00:26:04 Just God.
00:26:04 --> 00:26:05 I thank you.
00:26:05 --> 00:26:07 That I am not like that man.
00:26:11 --> 00:26:12 I thank you.
00:26:12 --> 00:26:13 That I'm just so much better.
00:26:14 --> 00:26:15 I thank you.
00:26:15 --> 00:26:16 That I'm not a sinner.
00:26:16 --> 00:26:17 Like he is.
00:26:18 --> 00:26:19 I thank you.
00:26:19 --> 00:26:24 You could just imagine him saying.
00:26:25 --> 00:26:25 God.
00:26:25 --> 00:26:28 That person just so reminds me of Goma.
00:26:30 --> 00:26:32 I read her about her this morning.
00:26:32 --> 00:26:32 God.
00:26:32 --> 00:26:33 In my quiet time.
00:26:33 --> 00:26:33 In fact.
00:26:34 --> 00:26:36 Thank you that I'm not like Goma.
00:26:36 --> 00:26:37 Like this tax collector.
00:26:37 --> 00:26:38 That's a great thing.
00:26:38 --> 00:26:38 Thank you.
00:26:38 --> 00:26:40 And they missed the point.
00:26:40 --> 00:26:41 That they were.
00:26:43 --> 00:26:44 They missed the point.
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45 That they were.
00:26:45 --> 00:26:46 The tax collectors.
00:26:47 --> 00:26:47 And the sinners.
00:26:47 --> 00:26:48 Gathered around the table.
00:26:48 --> 00:26:49 With Jesus.
00:26:50 --> 00:26:50 They were people.
00:26:50 --> 00:26:51 Of deep.
00:26:52 --> 00:26:53 And enduring.
00:26:54 --> 00:26:54 Unfaithfulness.
00:26:55 --> 00:26:56 Like the rest of us.
00:26:56 --> 00:27:06 and the good news of Matthew 9 is that Jesus' love for us isn't based on some naive assessment
00:27:06 --> 00:27:15 of our character he says in Matthew chapter 9 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners
00:27:15 --> 00:27:21 now Jesus isn't saying that there are two kinds of people in the world those who are righteous
00:27:21 --> 00:27:26 and those who are not he is in fact saying there's only one group of people that is the
00:27:26 --> 00:27:35 unrighteous just sinners just gomers all of us but the difference is between those who know it
00:27:35 --> 00:27:46 those who don't between those who return to God for mercy and those who don't think they need to
00:27:46 --> 00:27:55 and so it turns out here in Matthew 9 that the people who think that they are worthy of Jesus
00:27:55 --> 00:28:05 attention are no more worthy than the socially repulsive people that they despised their sin
00:28:05 --> 00:28:11 like ours only ever looks good in the darkness of self-deception
00:28:11 --> 00:28:21 sin looks best when it is barely considered quickly indulged and never reflected on
00:28:21 --> 00:28:24 against the light of God's word
00:28:24 --> 00:28:29 but the work of the Holy Spirit
00:28:29 --> 00:28:32 drags it out into the open
00:28:32 --> 00:28:37 and exposes the true ugliness of it
00:28:37 --> 00:28:40 under the spotlight of God's word
00:28:40 --> 00:28:42 by thought
00:28:42 --> 00:28:43 reflection
00:28:43 --> 00:28:45 and prayer
00:28:45 --> 00:28:46 prayer
00:28:46 --> 00:28:52 the new testament teaches us to not just examine our hearts for sin when we first
00:28:52 --> 00:28:54 come to Christ
00:28:54 --> 00:28:57 but to continually labor
00:28:57 --> 00:28:58 to know
00:28:58 --> 00:29:01 the remaining corruption
00:29:01 --> 00:29:02 in our hearts
00:29:02 --> 00:29:08 my friends be absolutely
00:29:08 --> 00:29:10 certain of God's grace
00:29:10 --> 00:29:12 and acceptance of you in the Lord Jesus
00:29:12 --> 00:29:16 but be absolutely uncertain
00:29:16 --> 00:29:18 of your own heart
00:29:18 --> 00:29:24 our heart and its fruit need continual examination
00:29:24 --> 00:29:27 listen to God's word in Hosea here
00:29:27 --> 00:29:28 identify your sin
00:29:28 --> 00:29:29 consider it
00:29:29 --> 00:29:30 confess it
00:29:30 --> 00:29:31 and repent of it
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33 turn away from it
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 do not make the mistake of God's people past
00:29:35 --> 00:29:37 who made little of it
00:29:37 --> 00:29:38 because their assessment of it
00:29:38 --> 00:29:40 was their own standards
00:29:40 --> 00:29:41 and not God's word
00:29:41 --> 00:29:45 when we diagnose our sin
00:29:45 --> 00:29:47 by our own standards
00:29:47 --> 00:29:50 then the remedy that we prescribe
00:29:50 --> 00:29:54 will be just a little bit more religious activity
00:29:54 --> 00:29:56 to appease God
00:29:56 --> 00:30:00 sin breaks God's heart
00:30:00 --> 00:30:03 but repentance gets his love back
00:30:03 --> 00:30:07 chapter 5 verse 15
00:30:07 --> 00:30:08 is the glimmer of hope
00:30:08 --> 00:30:12 and chapter 5 verse 15
00:30:12 --> 00:30:13 takes us back
00:30:13 --> 00:30:16 to chapter 3
00:30:16 --> 00:30:18 verse 3
00:30:18 --> 00:30:22 it's when Hosea says
00:30:22 --> 00:30:24 to his unfaithful wife
00:30:24 --> 00:30:26 Goma
00:30:26 --> 00:30:28 he has
00:30:28 --> 00:30:30 gone
00:30:30 --> 00:30:31 as God said
00:30:31 --> 00:30:32 paid the price
00:30:32 --> 00:30:33 redeemed her
00:30:33 --> 00:30:34 and brought her back
00:30:34 --> 00:30:36 out of slavery
00:30:36 --> 00:30:37 taken her out of the arms
00:30:37 --> 00:30:38 of another lover
00:30:38 --> 00:30:41 brought her back home
00:30:41 --> 00:30:43 and then Goma
00:30:43 --> 00:30:44 Hosea says to her
00:30:44 --> 00:30:47 you are to live with me many days
00:30:47 --> 00:30:48 you must not be a prostitute
00:30:48 --> 00:30:49 or be intimate with any man
00:30:49 --> 00:30:51 and I will live with you
00:30:51 --> 00:30:54 the best translation
00:30:54 --> 00:30:56 of that last phrase
00:30:56 --> 00:30:58 I will live with you
00:30:58 --> 00:30:59 is in fact
00:30:59 --> 00:31:01 I will wait
00:31:01 --> 00:31:02 for you
00:31:02 --> 00:31:06 it's a beautiful statement
00:31:06 --> 00:31:08 Hosea has paid the price
00:31:08 --> 00:31:09 he's redeemed
00:31:09 --> 00:31:10 his unfaithful bride
00:31:10 --> 00:31:12 she's now back
00:31:12 --> 00:31:13 in the family home
00:31:13 --> 00:31:16 but Hosea
00:31:16 --> 00:31:17 not just other men
00:31:17 --> 00:31:19 but Hosea
00:31:19 --> 00:31:20 is not going to her
00:31:20 --> 00:31:21 to be intimate
00:31:21 --> 00:31:22 with her
00:31:22 --> 00:31:25 he's actually waiting
00:31:25 --> 00:31:26 for her
00:31:26 --> 00:31:26 to come
00:31:26 --> 00:31:27 to him
00:31:27 --> 00:31:31 she might
00:31:31 --> 00:31:32 share the same home
00:31:32 --> 00:31:32 but she does not
00:31:32 --> 00:31:33 share his bed
00:31:33 --> 00:31:35 full intimacy
00:31:35 --> 00:31:36 is yet to be restored
00:31:36 --> 00:31:39 the relationship
00:31:39 --> 00:31:39 between Hosea
00:31:39 --> 00:31:40 and Goma
00:31:40 --> 00:31:41 isn't going to be
00:31:41 --> 00:31:41 repaired
00:31:41 --> 00:31:42 by Goma going
00:31:42 --> 00:31:43 oh my goodness
00:31:43 --> 00:31:44 I feel so guilty
00:31:44 --> 00:31:45 what I need to do
00:31:45 --> 00:31:46 is cook him
00:31:46 --> 00:31:47 his best meal
00:31:47 --> 00:31:48 his favourite meal
00:31:48 --> 00:31:50 I feel so guilty
00:31:50 --> 00:31:51 I need to keep
00:31:51 --> 00:31:51 the house clean
00:31:51 --> 00:31:52 I need to massage
00:31:52 --> 00:31:53 his feet
00:31:53 --> 00:31:53 and go and get
00:31:53 --> 00:31:54 the paper for him
00:31:54 --> 00:31:57 that is not
00:31:57 --> 00:31:58 what Hosea
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 is looking for
00:31:59 --> 00:32:01 Hosea
00:32:01 --> 00:32:02 is waiting
00:32:02 --> 00:32:05 he has paid
00:32:05 --> 00:32:06 the price of redemption
00:32:06 --> 00:32:07 and now
00:32:07 --> 00:32:08 he is waiting
00:32:08 --> 00:32:09 for his bride
00:32:09 --> 00:32:10 to return
00:32:10 --> 00:32:11 to him
00:32:11 --> 00:32:13 to come
00:32:13 --> 00:32:14 to him
00:32:14 --> 00:32:18 waiting
00:32:18 --> 00:32:21 for the knock
00:32:21 --> 00:32:21 on the door
00:32:21 --> 00:32:25 for her to come
00:32:25 --> 00:32:25 in
00:32:25 --> 00:32:26 and say
00:32:26 --> 00:32:27 Hosea
00:32:27 --> 00:32:29 I am sorry
00:32:29 --> 00:32:33 I am so
00:32:33 --> 00:32:35 sorry
00:32:35 --> 00:32:41 return to the Lord
00:32:41 --> 00:32:41 your God
00:32:41 --> 00:32:42 for he is
00:32:42 --> 00:32:43 gracious and
00:32:43 --> 00:32:43 compassionate
00:32:43 --> 00:32:45 slow to anger
00:32:45 --> 00:32:46 and abounding
00:32:46 --> 00:32:46 in love
00:32:46 --> 00:33:13 for him