1 00:00:00,920 --> 00:00:04,920 Hosea Chapter 1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son 2 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:09,280 of Beery, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, 3 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:12,680 kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash 4 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:15,440 king of Israel. When the Lord first spoke 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:19,760 through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, Go take yourself a wife 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,600 of whoredom, and have children of whoredom, for the land 7 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:24,920 commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord. 8 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:29,400 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of DIB Lame, and she 9 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:33,240 conceived and bore him a son. And the Lord said to him, Call 10 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:35,800 his name Jezreel. For in just a little while I 11 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,760 will punish the House of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I 12 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,160 will put an end to the Kingdom of the House of Israel. 13 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:45,880 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of 14 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:48,440 Jezreel. She conceived again and bore a 15 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:50,480 daughter. And the Lord said to him, Call 16 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:53,440 her name no mercy, for I will have no more. 17 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,440 I will no more have mercy on the House of Israel to forgive them 18 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:00,160 at all, but I will have mercy on the House of Judah, and I will 19 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,000 save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow, or 20 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,960 by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen. 21 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,040 When she had weaned no mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 22 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:14,720 And the Lord said, Call his name, not my people, for you are 23 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,360 not my people, and I am not your God. 24 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,360 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand 25 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:23,680 of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. 26 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,240 And in the place where it was said to them, You are not my 27 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,440 people, it shall be said to them, children of the living 28 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:32,760 God. And the children of Judah. 29 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,920 And the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they 30 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,560 shall appoint for themselves one head, and they shall go up from 31 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:41,920 the land. For great shall be the day of 32 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:44,960 Jezreel. All right, let's turn to chapter 33 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:50,640 3. And the Lord said to me, go 34 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,520 again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an 35 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:56,640 adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, 36 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:00,600 though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins. 37 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:05,760 So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and an Omer and a 38 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:09,759 lethic of barley. And I said to her, You must 39 00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:13,440 dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore or 40 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,400 belong to another man. So will I also be to you. 41 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,280 For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without a king 42 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,520 or Prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without effort or 43 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,440 household gods. Afterward the children of God, 44 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,400 the children of Israel, shall return and seek the Lord their 45 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:34,040 God, and David their king. And they shall come in fear to 46 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:36,560 the Lord and to His goodness in the latter days. 47 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:48,520 This is the word of the Lord. What's going on? 48 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:50,960 Poor City family and friends, it's good to be with you. 49 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:53,440 My name is Tanner, the lead pastor here. 50 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:56,840 And at Poor City. We love God's word, y'all. 51 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:00,520 God wrote this book through a bunch of different authors over 52 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:02,160 time, but it's telling one story. 53 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,400 And sometimes what's helpful, helpful with a big story like 54 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:09,000 the Bible, is to zoom in on some details, like microscopic. 55 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,760 And sometimes it's helpful to zoom out and read a little 56 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,840 longer sections at a time to get more of a feel for the story. 57 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:18,400 So today we start a series called 12 Prophets, which will 58 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,240 be a book a week for 12 weeks. OK, so this is like a sermon 59 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,280 that is an overview of the entire book of Hosea. 60 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,240 We won't be in Hosea every week. Are you all with me? 61 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,560 And through this, my hope through this genre is we just 62 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,800 see God's passion. It's more of a poetic genre, 63 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:39,280 which is difficult for some of us, but there's a lot of beauty 64 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:40,720 in it. And I hope the intimidation 65 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,520 factor goes down and the beauty just comes to the surface. 66 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,960 And my prayer for us is that we will walk out of this as God's 67 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:52,360 people in a new and fresh way, just belonging to him and 68 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:55,200 displaying his goodness to our to our friends and neighbors, 69 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,840 and that more people will come to Christ and we'll just be more 70 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:00,120 fully devoted to his goodness. Amen. 71 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,520 So pray with me just over the series and we'll dive into this 72 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,080 great book of Hosea, our Father, we love you. 73 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,960 Thank you for your word. God, it never returns void and 74 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:14,000 every genre has value. Lord, this story today is 75 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,160 powerful. What a powerful, powerful image 76 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,680 of your love for your people. God, this word still speaks to 77 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,160 your New Testament church. So give us eyes to see, ears to 78 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:24,800 hear, Lord, what we know not right now, would you teach us 79 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,480 what we have not, would you give us and what we are not, would 80 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:29,120 you make us. Let the words of my mouth and 81 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:31,320 the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. 82 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:33,440 And everybody who agree with that said, Amen. 83 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:36,120 All right, y'all. One of my favorite movies that 84 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,880 I've been thinking about this week in preparation for this is 85 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,320 called Diary of a Mad Black Woman by Madea. 86 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:44,360 OK, the Madea, it's in the Tyler Perry. 87 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,280 I love the Madea movies. Now, this is probably the most 88 00:04:48,280 --> 00:04:52,080 serious of all the Madea movies. And if you've seen the movie, 89 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,960 there's an intensity to this one, OK, Basically, you have a 90 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:59,560 relationship where the woman is in love with her man and he 91 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,880 could not care less. He's arrogant. 92 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:06,720 He is mean to her. And just as the audience, you're 93 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:09,920 watching it, cringing just throughout the movie because you 94 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:13,440 see what's coming. He's playing her and it reaches 95 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:17,120 a climax at the moment, the movie when she comes home and 96 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:19,120 her closet is full of new clothes. 97 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:24,440 She is so duped that she is like putting the clothes on and 98 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:27,560 squeezing them and like, oh, Charles, you finally like, thank 99 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:29,440 you. He walks into the room and 100 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,400 you're like getting chills at this point and she's like thank 101 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:34,160 you so much I can't believe you did this. 102 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,320 And he laughs. He says those aren't for you. 103 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:42,120 And another woman is standing outside and he says you got to 104 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,400 get out right now. And he picks her up and kicks 105 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:50,560 her out the house. Now there's something about that 106 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:54,720 emotionally, y'all, and just how she is just devastated, just 107 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:58,040 utterly blown away, heart ripped out. 108 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:03,120 There is something about that experience that God understands. 109 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:06,760 He understands what it's like to be cheated on. 110 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,560 He understands what it's like for him to love more than he's 111 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:15,360 loved back. Marriage is intensely intimate, 112 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:18,880 and what the book of Hosea gives to the Bible, what it 113 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:23,200 contributes, is what we always kind of knew deep down but 114 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:27,840 didn't really have words for, is that marriage really is about 115 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:31,560 God and his people. He gave it as a gift to people 116 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:34,600 to reflect his relationship with his people. 117 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:39,440 We see that even more clearly in the New Testament and in Hosea. 118 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,520 Hosea has a message. So many of the prophets are 119 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:44,440 speakers. They're talkers of the truth. 120 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:47,840 But even more than Hosea has a message, his life is the 121 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:49,880 message. You're going to go love somebody 122 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,840 who don't love you back. And by doing so, you are 123 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:57,280 preaching through your life to my people what I am like to 124 00:06:57,280 --> 00:07:00,360 them. So he makes him the prophetic 125 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:01,440 message. Are you with me? 126 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:05,120 So in this book, God is just going to open up his heart, His 127 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,040 heart of pain, His heart of being overlooked, unappreciated. 128 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:12,120 But what's unique and different about God than about any movie 129 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:15,280 we can wrap our mind around is God is not going to respond with 130 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:18,600 pettiness and with just moodiness for moodiness sake. 131 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:21,240 What God is going to do is put his heart out there of pain. 132 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:26,200 But his love is so powerful. He loves the unlovable until 133 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:28,320 they love him back. That's God. 134 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:34,320 God is so good that He can warn you and eventually say, have it 135 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,880 your way then and even use the have it your way then to bring 136 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:39,440 you back to him. You see what I'm saying? 137 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:42,640 He's going to send them into exile and still bring them back. 138 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:45,800 And you know what we're going to have to do as we walk through 139 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:48,360 this 12 profit series over the coming weeks. 140 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:52,400 We're going to have to take everything we read together. 141 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:55,200 That's going to be the beauty of what we're going to do and the 142 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:59,480 challenge because God is intense in these books and intensity is 143 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:01,040 good. We're going to see his heart 144 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:02,920 poured out maybe in ways you've never seen it. 145 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,960 And we've got to hold it all intention because you're going 146 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:08,720 to not like some things we read. And it's going to be like, whoa, 147 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,880 OK, we're going to talk judgment Day of the Lord, hell, all of 148 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:14,280 it. And we're going to talk amazing 149 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:16,560 passages of love and justice and things. 150 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:19,080 MOK was quoting from Amos. You didn't even know was from 151 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:19,920 Amos. OK. 152 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:23,000 And we love it when we hear that, but we've got to hold that 153 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:25,520 attention with what God says about reality in other ways. 154 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:27,960 Are you all with me? We got to let His words speak 155 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:31,360 and we got to take God as He really is. 156 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,760 So my prayer for today is that God's passion for you, for his 157 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:39,159 people as a collective bride would shine through. 158 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:43,240 And you would walk out of here wanting to be in covenant 159 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,760 relationship with Him and committed to Him and seeing that 160 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:50,320 He wants to flow His love through you to the other people 161 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:52,720 in your life who though they are unlovable. 162 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:56,160 So once were we, so are we. And as we allow Him to do that, 163 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,760 He will even get to them through us to get there. 164 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:01,600 We're going to take this story in four turns. 165 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:04,800 We're going to talk about the marriage symbol, the cheating 166 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:08,720 symbol, the opportunity to turn back, and then lastly, the power 167 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:11,160 to turn back. If you are ready, let me hear 168 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:15,120 you say I'm ready. OK, point #1 married to God, the 169 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:19,080 symbol of union. This is what verse two said in 170 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:23,000 chapter 1 when the Lord first spoke through Hosea. 171 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:26,720 The Lord said to Hosea, go take to yourself a wife of whoredom 172 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,280 and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great 173 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:34,680 whoredom by forsaking the Lord. So just to be clear, what God is 174 00:09:34,680 --> 00:09:39,440 doing is telling a man named Hosea OK in the the 9th century 175 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:43,840 BC to go marry a woman named Gomer who had a reputation of 176 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:45,680 loving other people. OK. 177 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,520 And what this metaphor does is it really gives us two things. 178 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:53,800 First, the marriage metaphor captures God's story. 179 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:58,320 Somebody say story, OK, What we've got to understand is that 180 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:00,880 God has wed himself to his people. 181 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,440 God uses other images to describe his relationship to his 182 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,440 people in the Bible, right? So like in Chapter 11, verse 183 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:10,000 one, here's a famous one that gets quoted in Matthew 2. 184 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:14,040 When Israel was a child, I loved him and out of Egypt I called my 185 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:17,560 son. So marriage is not the only way 186 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:22,520 that God he uses in a metaphor to describe how he's related to 187 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:24,160 his people. He calls them his son. 188 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:27,760 He calls them his vine that he planted in a field you might be 189 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:31,320 aware of. But from the beginning, what 190 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:35,400 this book is teaching us is that marriage was one of the the the 191 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:37,840 symbols. God wanted people, his people to 192 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,960 think of how he relates to them. So when you look at the story of 193 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:44,880 the people of God in the Old Testament, when he calls them 194 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:49,520 out of Egypt, it's like he is betrothing himself to them. 195 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:51,800 Like they are united to one another. 196 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:55,240 And the the covenant, if you will, the marriage ceremony 197 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:58,360 takes place at Mount Sinai. OK, this is where the 10 198 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,080 commandments happen. There's a covenant that goes 199 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:03,800 down and he's like, y'all are my people. 200 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:07,880 And honestly, the the marriage gift, if you will, is that they 201 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:10,560 get the law. The gift they get is to have 202 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:13,760 God's law is to get to be God's people is the gift. 203 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:16,640 I bought you out of all people on the earth, I bought you. 204 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:20,480 And if you go read chapters like Deuteronomy 6-7 and eight, why'd 205 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:22,120 you choose us? Because you chose us. 206 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:25,400 There was no thing they did to make them the bride. 207 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:26,760 It was just you, my bride. Why? 208 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:28,800 Because you my bride. Why am I your bride? 209 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:31,120 Because you are OK. Are y'all with me? 210 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,360 So he just chose them. And the reason this, this symbol 211 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:38,200 is so beautiful, y'all is it shows that what God's after at 212 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:42,920 his core is relationship. He's not after a business 213 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:46,320 transaction with his people. He tells them all the time. 214 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:48,840 I chose y'all, I bought y'all. I gave you my law because I love 215 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,280 you. Because I'm me, I chose you. 216 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,760 So this isn't about earning your statuses, bride. 217 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:59,160 This is just describing what it's like to be in relationship 218 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:01,720 with God. It's a lover and a lover. 219 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:06,800 It's passion, it's love. It's not transaction, it's not a 220 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:10,800 business partnership, it's not a performance. 221 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:12,760 It's just a genuine relationship. 222 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:17,000 The second thing this metaphor does is it just shows us God's 223 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:23,200 passion, just passion. If any part of us thinks God is 224 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:26,360 just up there and don't care, this book hits US right in the 225 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:29,080 face because he is like a spouse. 226 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:32,240 This is what he says in chapter 2 verses 16 and 17. 227 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,120 And in that day declares the Lord, you will call me my 228 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:40,480 husband, and no longer will you call me my Baal, for I will 229 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:43,400 remove the names of the Baal's from her mouth and they shall be 230 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:47,080 remembered by my name no more. Hey, quick plug, some of y'all 231 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:50,280 are like, what's a Baal and should I say Baal or Baal? 232 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:54,720 Welcome to the, you know, scholars and seminary people 233 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:59,240 love to be like he said, Dale, it's ball brother. 234 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:04,880 Well, listen, in this series you do have some learning to do, OK, 235 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:07,000 And we're going to try to do that in little ways. 236 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,240 We've already done kind of a primer podcast I encourage you 237 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:11,360 to go listen to and there's different things we're going to 238 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:14,720 try to do to help you come into understanding all the history 239 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:19,560 around it. But in short, OK, the people of 240 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:23,480 God were going through the motions of what God gave them to 241 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:26,880 do at Sinai, but did not give a RIP about the Lord. 242 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,440 So they could say, oh, we're married to you, we love you. 243 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,200 But their hearts were actually with Baal. 244 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,440 And for now, what you need to know is that was the God of the 245 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,600 nations. But when God put his people in 246 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:41,360 the promised land, one of the things that was just assumed all 247 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:45,600 along, he said in Leviticus 18, Deuteronomy 28 was but if I 248 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:49,320 drive the nations out and put you in and you become them, you 249 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:50,800 got to get out. Are you with me? 250 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,160 So if you become the nations, the land is going to spit you 251 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:55,040 out. OK. 252 00:13:55,480 --> 00:14:02,080 So to use our our movie from the beginning, OK, as the audience 253 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,960 in that movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, we see who that guy 254 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:07,600 really is, but the woman is duped. 255 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:10,040 Are you with me? This is the moment I just want 256 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:11,840 you to hear. God is not duped. 257 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:17,040 He's not naive. He sees his people's heart don't 258 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:19,520 care about him. He sees they love what the 259 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:21,480 nations love. When they get in trouble, they 260 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:24,520 scramble to get help from anybody but the Lord. 261 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:28,080 And he's grieved by that. And all these conversations 262 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,720 about exile and judgement as you read these books week over week 263 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,520 are just God's way of saying, I see, and I'm begging you to 264 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:40,800 reconsider and to change. So yo, marriage is the symbol 265 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,160 that we're given here. Marriage is the symbol of the 266 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,880 New Testament. We read in Ephesians 5 that 267 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:49,920 Christ is wed to his bride, the church. 268 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,080 So I just got to say real quick, like if you still don't really 269 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:56,440 get the point of like church or being a member of a local 270 00:14:56,440 --> 00:15:01,040 church, yo, God does see a relationship with individuals 271 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:04,760 and all of us get to be married to God through Christ, right? 272 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:07,880 But part of the joy is being a part of the collective bride. 273 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:10,720 He's talking about the people of God as a whole, not just 274 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:11,840 individuals. Are you with me? 275 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:16,560 So the concept of like solo Christianing just as foreign to 276 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:18,680 the Bible, OK. And in a lot of ways, it's why 277 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:21,760 we're gathered here today. It's because we're the bride and 278 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:24,760 he wants to gather with us as a unit. 279 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,800 OK, so let's move on to talk about the symbol of cheating on 280 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:31,920 the Lord. Cheating on God is the symbol of 281 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:35,000 faithlessness, chapter 3, verse one. 282 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:38,560 And the Lord said to me, go again, love a woman who is loved 283 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:42,080 by another man and is an adulterous even as the Lord 284 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:44,680 loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods 285 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:49,840 and love cakes of raisins. So one of the things scholars 286 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:53,240 like to do is they like to debate, was she an adulterous 287 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:57,200 type woman before they got married, but then not after? 288 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,240 Or was she only one after? And I think the answer is yes. 289 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:04,640 Like, I think the point of the illustration is that even upon 290 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:06,520 being married, she was unfaithful, right? 291 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:10,000 And now you continuing to love her despite her faithlessness is 292 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,840 what I'm doing to my people. That's kind of the whole point. 293 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:14,680 But it's funny how many books have been written on that 294 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:18,200 concept I just showed you. So what I want to do is I want 295 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:21,520 to talk about this cheating symbol and, and stepping out on 296 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:24,440 your, your spouse, so to speak, of what the people of God were 297 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,400 doing to the Lord. But I want to be really clear 298 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:30,160 how that applies to you based on whether you're a Christian or 299 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:32,840 not. OK, to put it bluntly, the 300 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:35,960 people cheating on God are the Christians in the room, right? 301 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:38,800 The people cheating on God are the ones who are the people of 302 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,960 God or the, the, the ones who think they're the people of God. 303 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:44,120 We are the adulterous party. Are you with me? 304 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,680 If you are not a Christian? It's kind of like God has 305 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:49,960 offered himself in marriage to you and you just reject the 306 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:51,360 proposal. Does that make sense? 307 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:54,120 You're not really cheating. You are rejecting totally. 308 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:56,640 Are you with me? You're invited into covenant 309 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:59,480 relationship with the Lord. That's what it means to know 310 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:01,600 Jesus. To be full of the Spirit is to 311 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:03,920 be in union with God through Christ. 312 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:08,720 So Christians in the room, this applies most totally in the 313 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,400 passion to us because we are the covenant people of God. 314 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,839 And if you are not a believer, God is offering himself to you, 315 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:18,680 and a lot of what we're going to say still applies. 316 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:22,720 So all of what I'm about to say applies to both groups, but in 317 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:24,760 different ways. And hopefully now you understand 318 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:26,440 that based on that analogy, here we go. 319 00:17:26,839 --> 00:17:31,600 First, sinners are false lovers. That's what the cheating imagery 320 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:35,520 gives us. We are false lovers, you all. 321 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:39,880 To sin is to love the wrong thing. 322 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:44,320 Human beings love. That's what we do. 323 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:49,560 Your heart was designed to love. So to sin is to love the wrong 324 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:52,360 thing too much. One of the things, if you're 325 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:54,840 just getting around the Bible, we're going to constantly say to 326 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:59,080 you, this is not religious space, religious conversations. 327 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:02,480 We're having human conversations in this room because your heart 328 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:04,680 loves whether you ever attend church again or not. 329 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:07,680 The questions you got to be processing is what was I 330 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,280 designed to love and to be in alignment with? 331 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:11,920 That is what you were designed for. 332 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:15,600 And to step out of alignment with that is silly and it leads 333 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:17,960 to a lot of pain. But that is what sin does. 334 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:21,160 So if you have this category that to sin is just to break a 335 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:23,920 contractual law and it makes you a bad person. 336 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:27,160 That's true. But it's also that you are 337 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:31,280 choosing lovers for your soul that you are not designed to 338 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:33,120 give your soul to. Are you with me? 339 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:37,160 And that process of heartbreak is part of what makes life so 340 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:39,120 miserable. There was a guy in the 5th 341 00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:42,040 century, a dude named Augustin. He wrote a book called 342 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:44,520 Confessions. OK, And I might encourage you if 343 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:48,520 you're a searcher of, of Christian truth right now, just 344 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:50,720 truth generally, that could be a great book for you. 345 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:55,240 Y'all over almost how many years ago Math somebody 1600 years 346 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:58,720 ago, this brother wrote down basically when I was chasing 347 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:01,280 women and chasing the bottle and chasing these things. 348 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:05,120 Now I know I was chasing God. I had a hole I was trying to 349 00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:07,600 fill with things that can't fill it. 350 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:11,240 Are you with me? That is the best image of what 351 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:15,280 sin is. It is US throwing ourselves at 352 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:18,840 false lovers. It's stepping out over and over 353 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:23,200 and over, forsaking the one who could actually fill us eternal 354 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,840 water itself to go get a sip of Sprite and be thirsty again. 355 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:30,320 That is one of the best illustrations of what the human 356 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:33,480 soul is doing when it sins. It's not just that you are a bad 357 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:36,800 person breaking laws, it is that you are responsible for your 358 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,240 your own misery by chasing after lovers that cannot satisfy you. 359 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:46,360 But that's not all that sin is. Sin is also twisting. 360 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:49,600 The second thing I want you to see in this metaphor is that 361 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:54,640 sinners are twisters, OK? We twist God, OK? 362 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:57,640 And to really appreciate this, I got to do a little history, 363 00:19:57,840 --> 00:19:59,840 right? So just put your learning hat on 364 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:01,240 for like 2 minutes. It's going to be dope, I 365 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:03,800 promise, OK? The best way to help you 366 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:06,960 understand this is that the prophetic books are kind of like 367 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:10,080 on one column and on the other column happening at the same 368 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,280 side time as the historical books. 369 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:14,600 So imagine like things are happening. 370 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,760 The prophetic books are the commentary on what's happening. 371 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:19,720 Are you with me? It's like if you ever like have 372 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:23,240 seen a video where somebody is a commentator on a video. 373 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,200 So you're watching a video of a person side by side to a video, 374 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:28,640 press and play on the video and then they comment on the video. 375 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:32,040 Have you ever seen that? Well, the the video is the 376 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:35,640 historical books and then the person commentating is the 377 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:37,000 prophetic books. Are you with me? 378 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:38,680 And then we are the ones pressing play. 379 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:41,840 But you got to know that the historical stuff is happening 380 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:43,640 and the person is being like, can y'all believe this? 381 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:46,800 So think of the historical books like a trashy reality TV show 382 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:48,960 that was the people of God that I'm about to explain to you. 383 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:51,640 And then the prophetic books are God pressing pause and being 384 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:54,520 like, I see what you're doing. I see what you're doing. 385 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:56,680 Are y'all with me? Like that's God's way of being. 386 00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:59,680 Like, I see all this. Let me explain to you just how 387 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:05,600 bad it was. OK, historically, there's a 200 388 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:10,400 year spiral that's falling apart that Hosea is riding at the tail 389 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:13,280 end of. OK, at around 950 BC, the 390 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,120 Kingdom is united. All right, David hands it off to 391 00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:18,320 Solomon. Solomon hands it off to his son 392 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:21,680 Rehab Olam. And around 9:30 BC, the Kingdom 393 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:23,520 of God splits. I'm about to show you a map. 394 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:28,280 Check this map out. OK, Now you have Israel in the 395 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,000 north, Judah in the South. That's easy to remember because 396 00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:33,280 I comes before J. That's how I remember it. 397 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:35,680 Israel in the north, Judah in the South. 398 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,960 OK, and you'll notice on this map there's all the different 399 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:42,920 prophets and where they are located when they do their 400 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,720 ministry. All right, now just to show you, 401 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:48,880 this happens in 9:30-ish, what I'm about to explain to you. 402 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:53,040 So imagine 200 years after that, the first king in Israel was a 403 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,920 dude named Jeroboam, OK? He was not of the Davidic line, 404 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:01,080 the David line, the the God's King line goes with Judah in the 405 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:04,760 South. OK, so up in Israel, Jeroboam 406 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:08,440 gets this idea. If I don't put my stamp on my 407 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:10,760 reign right now, they're all going to go back to the David 408 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:12,040 line. So I got to do something. 409 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:19,000 So what he does is he says, let me get 2 calves, 2 false gods, 410 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:21,160 OK? And he puts one of them at Dan, 411 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,800 which is so far north it's above what our map can show you. 412 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:27,480 And the other one he puts in Bethel, which if you could see 413 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:30,000 Bethel, look all the way to the bottom of the green right above 414 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:31,640 where it says Jeremiah. That's Bethel. 415 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:33,440 Let me break down for you what he's doing. 416 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,080 No matter where you live in Israel, all the way up to the 417 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:39,120 top or the bottom or anywhere in between, you can come worship a 418 00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:41,720 false God and not have to go down to Jerusalem where God 419 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:45,560 requires us to worship. So he what he did, y'all was he 420 00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:49,040 created a new system and he said, this is what he says. 421 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,200 These are your gods who brought you out of Egypt. 422 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:53,080 Pay careful attention to what I'm about to say. 423 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:55,960 He didn't say we're done with Yahweh. 424 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,720 He twisted Yahweh into a system of his own making. 425 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,360 Are you with me? He took the story of God. 426 00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:04,200 He took all of it. He took all of the truth and he 427 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:08,040 just reapplied it in his way. He built new altars, He built 428 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:10,960 new systems of worship. And he could say, we're doing 429 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:12,280 the same thing. I've just made it more 430 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:15,520 convenient for you. Don't go to Jerusalem. 431 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:17,240 Don't worry about going down to Judah. 432 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:21,200 And so you can see, This is why you can put that map down. 433 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:24,880 This is why Israel falls sooner than Judah. 434 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:27,480 Judah will fall to the Babylonians in 586. 435 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:30,760 Israel will fall in 722 to the Assyrians. 436 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,360 Judah doesn't get corrupted quite as fast. 437 00:23:33,360 --> 00:23:36,880 And honestly, part of why the prophetic books are written, 438 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,760 some of them like Hosea, is to beg Israel to change because 439 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:43,800 your sister Judah is being tempted by what y'all are doing. 440 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:46,000 Are you with me? Like please stop showing them 441 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,440 how to be cheating on me because that's what y'all doing. 442 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:55,840 So hopefully what that gives you a sense of is that sinners have 443 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,480 this propensity in church. I need y'all to listen to me. 444 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:00,400 They're not Christians. This won't make as much sense to 445 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:01,960 the false lovers. Make sense to them. 446 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:05,960 What's unique to us Christians in the room is we take the real 447 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,360 thing and just twist it into our version of the real thing. 448 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,360 We aren't the ones who say I'm out with the Lord, bump it, I'm 449 00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:14,000 gone. So we think we're better than 450 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:16,040 everybody and we're self-righteous, but we have 451 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,440 created systems of our own making all the time. 452 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:23,680 We become our own purity police. We become our own priest. 453 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:25,360 We give ourselves the benefit of the doubt on things. 454 00:24:25,360 --> 00:24:26,880 We don't compare ourselves to God's word. 455 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:28,240 We compare ourselves to other Christians. 456 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:30,320 We compare ourselves to our neighbors, to our lost friends, 457 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:32,640 and we become a God unto ourselves. 458 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,240 And we don't look at it like we built a false calf. 459 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:39,080 But the main issue in the Bible for people who call themselves 460 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,480 followers of Yahweh, of Jesus, is that they build the whole 461 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,080 thing and it looks like the real thing, but it's their thing. 462 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:53,280 So sinners are false lovers, but sinners are also twisters, which 463 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:55,640 leads us to the opportunity we have. 464 00:24:55,640 --> 00:25:01,320 Y'all, the whole reason this book was written to plead with 465 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:04,840 them to turn back. It's not too late. 466 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,440 Turn back. And what can be confusing when 467 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,240 you read a prophetic book is in one sentence God will say it's 468 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:12,680 over and the next sentence will say it's not over. 469 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:14,800 OK. And it's like he's talking out 470 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:16,400 of both sides of his mouth, but he isn't. 471 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:18,240 But let me just bring you in on how that feels. 472 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:23,280 Look at Chapter 11, verse 5. They shall not return to the 473 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,760 land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king because they have 474 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:32,880 refused to return to me. So what God is saying is that 475 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:35,880 the world power of Assyria is going to come throw down. 476 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:39,920 Y'all are too far gone to not go into exile. 477 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:45,960 So they will go into exile in 722 BC, but that doesn't mean 478 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:49,480 that God is done with them. Look at chapter 14, verses one 479 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:53,240 through 4. Return, O Israel, to the Lord 480 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,480 your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 481 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:57,760 Take with you words and return to the Lord. 482 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:00,320 Say to him, Take away all iniquity, accept what is good, 483 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,280 and we will pay with bulls the vowels of our lips. 484 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:05,040 Assyria shall not save us. We will not ride on horses, and 485 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:07,280 we will say no more our God to the work of our hands. 486 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:11,400 In you the orphan finds mercy. I will heal their apostasy. 487 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,360 I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. 488 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:20,480 So what God was doing was giving them over to what they wanted. 489 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:23,320 And that means exile. It means this year is going to 490 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,920 take you over. But even as that happens, he's 491 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,360 hoping that they cut themselves to the heart and turn back to 492 00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:31,400 him. Are you with me? 493 00:26:32,360 --> 00:26:36,160 He's the parent that warns and warns and warns and warns. 494 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:38,560 And then eventually he's like, OK. 495 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:42,960 But even in the OK and give over, he's pleading that that 496 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,360 process brings them back. Are you with me? 497 00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:49,840 But turning back is not casual, y'all? 498 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:51,800 It's not just like, ah, this didn't work out. 499 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:56,320 Assyria set us up, didn't he? The Lord saw that one coming. 500 00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:57,480 Maybe the Lord will take us back. 501 00:26:57,480 --> 00:26:59,720 It's more like a violent turning back. 502 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:01,200 It's a turning back of the heart. 503 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:04,960 I want to show you one of my favorite verses in the book that 504 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:07,360 gets this idea of of turning back to the Lord. 505 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:12,600 Chapter 10, verse 12 says this. So for yourselves, righteousness 506 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:16,000 reap steadfast love, break up your fallow ground. 507 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:19,600 For it is time to seek the Lord, that He may come and reign 508 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:23,560 righteousness upon you. Somebody say break up your 509 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:27,440 fallow ground. Yeah. 510 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:29,840 And other translations say unplowed ground. 511 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,360 I heard one teacher give an illustration of what that means. 512 00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:34,760 So I want to give it to you because it helped me. 513 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,160 He basically said, imagine you have 100 acres that you are 514 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,000 farming and getting crop out of, and it's producing. 515 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,000 You got workers, you got a system, OK? 516 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:46,400 And then through neglect or whatever it is, you fire a 517 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:47,560 worker. You can't keep up. 518 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:51,280 Now we're down to 90, OK? And over time, the 90 becomes 80 519 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,560 all the way down to where you're only using 20 acres. 520 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:59,400 Those 80 over time, the more time goes by, become rock hard, 521 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,040 no longer fertile. You're not planting, you're not 522 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:07,920 producing. Excuse me, That 80 is fallow 523 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,040 ground. The 80 had potential that 524 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:13,720 because of your neglect has been wasted. 525 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:16,760 Are you with me? It is the potential it had but 526 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:19,840 is now lost. And you're operating on the 20 527 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:22,960 and it going to act like there ain't the 80 that you wasted. 528 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,440 Are you with me? So I want to be very clear. 529 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:27,760 This is where the connections are for the New Testament 530 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:29,040 church. This is where the connections 531 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:31,920 are for Port City Church in the series. 532 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:34,240 Y'all. This series is not a guilt trip, 533 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:38,120 it's a field trip. OK Jesus calls us the salt of 534 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:39,200 the earth and the light of the world. 535 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:41,920 That is our identity. That's who we are. 536 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,680 No amount of us walking in good works in these things is going 537 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,800 to make God love us more. So should we just sit back and 538 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,480 Netflix and chill till the Lord comes back and maybe go to a 539 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:55,840 Bible study once a month? No you know what I mean? 540 00:28:55,840 --> 00:29:00,400 Like the the idea is break up the fallow ground means tap into 541 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:02,280 the potential you have with the Lord. 542 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,600 Not some of performance for the Lord, but what God intends to do 543 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:07,880 in us and through us for the good of others. 544 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:12,640 Think about the potential of the 80 acres, y'all, and our passion 545 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:16,720 for Jesus, our love of people are just turning our hearts up 546 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:20,000 and telling them and plowing them to say, Lord, please make 547 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:21,640 my life more than Netflix and chill. 548 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,680 And the goal of all that, y'all, is that we would become who we 549 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:27,200 made us to be. That we would host people at our 550 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,360 tables that we disagree with, that we would give money away, 551 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,800 that the poor would thrive, that our city would thrive. 552 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:39,000 That's what's at stake. Our neighbors are what's at 553 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:40,600 stake. God's glory is what's at stake 554 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,960 and our joy is what's at stake. And to get there we have to 555 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:48,880 break up the fallow ground. And if I'm honest, y'all, when I 556 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:53,360 hear about the potential and you hear motivating stories and 557 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:55,640 maybe somebody who lives in a different context and does 558 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,920 extreme things for God, what we can do is we can look at 559 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:01,960 ourselves and wish we were more and we like the idea of it. 560 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:06,400 And we have a pull ourselves up by the bootstraps kind of self 561 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:08,680 pity party. And if we're doing good, we get 562 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:10,520 private one. If we're doing bad, we feel bad. 563 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:15,640 I just want to say what the Lord has in mind with break up the 564 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,480 fallow ground is deeper than that. 565 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:21,520 It's even deeper than feeling bad. 566 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,920 It's deeper than just conviction for conviction's sake or 567 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:28,080 showcasing how bad we feel. And, and you know, walking 568 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:31,120 around weeping and things like that, you know what we're 569 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:33,600 talking about. Honestly, it looks like the 570 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,360 apostle Paul's life. I don't know if the apostle Paul 571 00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:38,960 encourages you, but he encourages me because he was a 572 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:42,360 Sinner. But it kind of shows us what 573 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:48,240 life is possible like in Christ. I just want to give you one 574 00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:50,960 example of his life that just blows my mind every time I think 575 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,400 about it. In Romans Chapter 9, we're not 576 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:56,360 going to turn there, but at one point in Romans 9, by the way, 577 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,120 he quotes the book of Hosea. So I encourage you to go read it 578 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:00,960 later. But one of the things Paul's 579 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:05,040 doing there is he is talking about the Jewish people as a 580 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:08,760 whole and how they are rejecting the Lord in general. 581 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,520 Obviously there's always exceptions and his heart is just 582 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,920 broken. He's like, yo, they don't care 583 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,280 my brother, they don't care my brothers. 584 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:20,120 According to the flesh, they don't see who Jesus is. 585 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,800 They're blinded. And he says it's just an 586 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:27,560 astonishing statement, says I wish that I could be cursed so 587 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:31,480 that they could be brought in. I wish I could be cut off that 588 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:35,520 they might find life in Christ. I wish I couldn't see so they 589 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:39,680 could see. Why do I bring that up, Church, 590 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:42,720 When we read the New Testament, do you get the sense that we're 591 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,160 just some moping around? We don't really love the Lord 592 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:47,240 the best we can hope for. I just wait till we get to 593 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:48,840 heaven. Or do you get the sense that 594 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:52,520 full of the Spirit, the church can actually walk in newness of 595 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:55,920 life is actually possible. Not that that means we're 596 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:59,040 sinless, but when you read Paul's life, you get the sense 597 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:03,040 that we can actually live with Jesus. 598 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,560 It's possible to go from continually breaking the Lord's 599 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:10,840 heart to actually sharing his heart. 600 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:14,560 Paul enter God's heart. He shared in his sufferings. 601 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,960 He was a participant in grace. This is the New Testament 602 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,560 church. It is not like woe is me, I'm a 603 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:22,000 cheater on the Lord at all times. 604 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:25,640 Yes, the New Testament church is sinful, but we have given 605 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:28,640 ourselves over to the Lord's heart and full of the Spirit 606 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:31,920 breaking up the fallow ground, we are Co reigning with Him for 607 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:35,120 the good of our city and the glory of God and our own joy. 608 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:37,520 Are you with me? So y'all, if that weren't 609 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:40,440 possible, we wouldn't be having this conversation. 610 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:42,800 That's the new covenant. That's what makes Christ better 611 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:44,560 than the old covenant. That's what makes the new 612 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:45,760 marriage better. Amen. 613 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:50,120 So let's talk about that point #4 behold our Redeemer, the 614 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:54,760 power. We need y'all to do this takes a 615 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:57,880 different kind of power because if we're honest, y'all, what we 616 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:00,840 can do when we hear about intensity and loving the Lord a 617 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:04,680 lot is we can just start to step outside of ourselves and stare 618 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,800 at ourselves and berate ourselves and make pledges and 619 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:09,600 and start to just New Year's resolution. 620 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:12,120 This thing of how we're going to be better and our attention 621 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:15,920 ironically goes on to ourselves. Do y'all see that we don't like 622 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:17,760 ourselves? Maybe if I try harder, I like 623 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:19,240 myself. Maybe if I'm like that person, I 624 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:21,920 like myself and our eyes just go down. 625 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:28,320 Well, if we're honest, when we look at ourselves, what we see, 626 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,080 what we hear is I should be a Hosea, but I feel like a Gomer. 627 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:36,600 I feel like the spouse who is still stepping out on the Lord 628 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:40,880 and y'all, that's because we still kind of are right? 629 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:46,720 Let's read Hosea 3 one through 3 again and the Lord said to me, 630 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:52,720 go again. Somebody say again love a woman 631 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,920 who was loved by another man as an adulteress, even as the Lord 632 00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,240 loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods. 633 00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:03,280 I love cakes of raisins. I wish I could go deep on the 634 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:05,520 raisins thing. Y'all come to equipment. 635 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:08,159 We will talk about raisins. OK? 636 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:12,800 So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and a Homer an olefic 637 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:14,920 of barley. And I said to her, You must 638 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:18,080 dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the horror or 639 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:22,600 belong to another man. So will I also be to you, y'all, 640 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:28,800 The point of the book of Hosea isn't about Gomer's life change. 641 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:38,360 It's about Hosea, right? It's about how God chases down 642 00:34:38,679 --> 00:34:42,120 Gomer's. The point of the book, yes, we 643 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:45,719 got some ground to plow, y'all. We've got some things to change. 644 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:50,760 But the point of the book is this the imagery of again, words 645 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:52,880 like again, just jump off the page. 646 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:58,520 So I bought her for 15 shekels. This is an image of Hosea going 647 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:03,720 to one of the lovers and paying them to get her back, which 648 00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:06,320 obviously points to what God is doing with Assyria and then 649 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:08,160 using like he's he's the payment price. 650 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:14,040 But it points to the truer and greater Hosea, who is Jesus, who 651 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:16,160 would pay for us with his own blood. 652 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:20,320 He did not buy us because we're first round draft picks who are 653 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:25,800 going to be faithful, right yo the the New Testament teaches us 654 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:28,840 that though we are faithless, He remains faithful. 655 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:34,200 Guys, we have a Redeemer who will not stop buying us, who 656 00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:37,240 will not stop paying the price, who will not stop chasing us, 657 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:42,080 who will not stop cleansing us. This is not about your 658 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:44,840 willpower. This is about his redeeming 659 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:48,640 power as you behold him loving you. 660 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:52,400 When you're loveless, you will become one more who loves those 661 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:55,240 who are loveless. You will say things like Paul, 662 00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:59,080 not so much as you just bootstrap yourself towards Paul, 663 00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:03,960 but as you see the Christ that Paul saw, as you see him, you 664 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:06,400 will become like him. Paul never lost sight. 665 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:09,920 He says I am the chief of sinners, I'm the chief Gomer. 666 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,560 He never lost sight of that. He was not like, what are y'all 667 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:14,720 doing in Corinth? Y'all a bunch of idiots, you 668 00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:16,920 know, like a little bit. He's like, oh, I got to plow 669 00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:19,320 some ground. Y'all doing some crazy stuff and 670 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:20,760 some crazy stuff was going down in Corinth. 671 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:25,280 But he never said it above them. He said it like hey grace, 672 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:30,520 Jesus, gospel, this whole thing. Okay, so at every turn the power 673 00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:33,800 to be different comes through seeing the Christ who buys you 674 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:35,240 and makes you different. Y'all? 675 00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:38,680 There's something so powerful about being loved when you don't 676 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:42,440 deserve it. Ironically, I'm convinced the 677 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,440 power for the church to change is still just the same old 678 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:48,400 gospel. What we do is we get into the 679 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:51,760 church, we become Christians, and you just think, now it's on 680 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:54,080 you. Now it's about you showing how 681 00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:56,920 you looking at Jesus as an example and then in your own 682 00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:59,200 strength going and doing it makes you different. 683 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:02,800 But y'all, the power to be who God is calling you to be comes 684 00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:07,040 to still being the faithless bride that God keeps loving 685 00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:09,600 anyways. And it's as you keep looking at 686 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:12,280 that in the face and receiving it that you will become who he's 687 00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:17,400 calling you to be. Are you with me When I was 19 688 00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:22,520 years old, I was a new believer and I was still the worst. 689 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:25,720 I still am the worst. I'm not and this is not I used 690 00:37:25,720 --> 00:37:29,000 to this is a this is this is what the last 15 years have been 691 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:32,040 like between me and Jesus. OK, the guy who led me to faith 692 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:35,480 was a guy named John. John was the man. 693 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:36,960 John was better than me at everything. 694 00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:40,360 OK, But one day I had a basketball game coming up and 695 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,640 John rebounded for me for 30 minutes straight and did not 696 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:47,000 shoot once. OK guys, just imagine being my 697 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,480 friend, OK? John is rebounding for me. 698 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:50,880 He's way better than me at basketball. 699 00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:56,120 At 1 moment, John gave me a piece of feedback about 700 00:37:56,120 --> 00:37:58,760 something I was doing, and I told him to shut up and give me 701 00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:04,840 the ball. Whoo, y'all, Even as I tell you 702 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:06,680 that that's an embarrassing story. 703 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:08,320 But y'all, you know what John didn't do? 704 00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:11,400 He didn't sermonize me. He didn't moralize me. 705 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:14,080 He didn't lecture me. He kept rebounding for me, and 706 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:15,320 we went and got some dinner after. 707 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:18,800 Now, who's the Gomer there? Who's the Hosea? 708 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:23,080 You're looking at the Gomer. OK, that was the Gomer. 709 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:25,360 He was the Hosea. But this is what's important, 710 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:27,640 y'all? You know who John felt like? 711 00:38:28,720 --> 00:38:30,720 John felt like Gomer. You know what was going on in 712 00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:32,600 his head, Lord? I got about this. 713 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:34,240 Much more patience for Tanner. I love him. 714 00:38:34,240 --> 00:38:36,280 Help me to love him. He's really hard to love, Lord. 715 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:38,880 But I know you have loved me when I'm unlovable. 716 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:40,600 So help me to love him when he's unlovable. 717 00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:42,400 So here. Here's what's ironic. 718 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:46,280 There's not Gomers and Hosea's. You know, the point is, the more 719 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:49,520 you allow yourself to be a washed but stumbling broken 720 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:52,000 vessel, who is a Gomer? Somebody's going to look at you 721 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,080 and say you were Hosea to me and you'd be like Father God if you 722 00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:59,120 only knew in my parenting, in my teaching, in my whatever it is 723 00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:00,960 you do. You feel like you're holding on 724 00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:04,080 by a thread, but you're being empowered by a vessel with 725 00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:09,960 endless, unfathomable grace. It is as you allow yourself to 726 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,440 just put yourself in the positions the Lord's calling to 727 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:15,360 put you in. He wants you in not because you 728 00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:18,960 are sufficient in Hosea, but you are a dependent Gomer. 729 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:21,920 Somebody will look at you and say you are a Hosea and I'm a 730 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:25,160 Gomer and you can be like, you have no idea because I'm Gomer. 731 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:28,640 Does that make sense? This sermon is not about making 732 00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:32,200 you into a Hosea as much as it is realizing you have a Hosea in 733 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:34,720 Christ. And if we will put ourself where 734 00:39:34,720 --> 00:39:37,840 the New Testament calls us to be loving our enemies, which is so 735 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:42,040 hard y'all, there's like 1000 things in the New Testament you 736 00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:47,280 don't have the power to do. But as you step into them and 737 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:50,760 let the Lord love you when you are so hard to love, you will 738 00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:53,720 demonstrate Kingdom power for people who need it. 739 00:39:53,720 --> 00:39:56,480 And they will look at you and say what planet are you from? 740 00:39:57,280 --> 00:39:59,560 And you'll just say it is not me, it's Christ in me. 741 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,800 Amen. If you are a Gomer, pray with 742 00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,680 me. Our Father, we love you and I'm 743 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:08,240 just so grateful that you love us when we're unlovable. 744 00:40:08,240 --> 00:40:11,400 We thank you for the gospel. We thank you that at great cost 745 00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:16,320 to yourself, Father, you sent the Son full of the Spirit, just 746 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:19,760 like us, yet without sin. At the end of his life, God, he 747 00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:24,280 took death. God took death on a cross, a 748 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:28,960 violent criminal's death, to purchase us for yourself so that 749 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:31,560 when we trust you, when we turn to you, when we believe you, 750 00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:34,600 when we let go of our lesser loves, when we just throw 751 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:36,360 ourselves down for mercy, God, you give it. 752 00:40:36,720 --> 00:40:40,360 So Father, I pray for anyone in here who does not know you that 753 00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:42,960 they would see you chasing them down in your love. 754 00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:46,920 God, please help them to see how much you love them more than 755 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:48,360 anything else they're chasing can. 756 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:49,760 And Father, I pray for your church. 757 00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:53,120 May we not feel like we've graduated from being a Gomer. 758 00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:55,600 God, may we just get good at being Gomer. 759 00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:58,920 May we be loved by you. May we be good at seeing that 760 00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:01,560 you're the Redeemer. God, you are good. 761 00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:04,760 And Lord, may we not run into sin so that grace may abound. 762 00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:09,520 God, may we be ones who who throw ourselves into your law of 763 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:13,280 liberty and love of neighbor God and just trusting that you will 764 00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:16,280 provide the power in the moment of need and God, would people 765 00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:19,160 get saved through our stumbling? Would people get saved through 766 00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:22,160 our loving them when they're unlovable because you love us 767 00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:24,760 when we're unlovable. God do it for your glory. 768 00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:27,200 Save sinners. Strengthen your church. 769 00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:28,520 We pray in Christ's name, Amen.