January 4

Transcription

(Transcribed by TurboScribe)

Good morning, happy new year. Or in Afrikaans we say, which is more like prosperous new year. A blessed new year to you.

May the Lord walk with you every step of the way in this new year. Lord, thank you for your word. A word that always speaks into our lives.

An interesting word you have for us this morning. A word that calls us to look at ourselves and to ask the questions. Help us then, Lord, to hear, to listen, and to do.

In the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen. Going to the book of Hosea this morning, and we're not going to read immediately, Ted's going to give a little background.

So after Solomon died, the kingdom divided into two. So it was a united kingdom, and then it divided into two. There was the northern kingdom called Israel with 10 tribes, and Samaria was their capital city.

And then down south we had Judah with the two tribes with the capital city called Jerusalem. The northern tribes messed up a lot more than the southern tribes, and we're going to talk about them this morning. They only had two prophets that prophesied in the northern kingdom.

And easy to remember them because the people would always laugh at them. And how does it sound when you laugh? You say, ha, ha. So to remember them, ha, ha, H for Hosea and A for Amos.

Hosea and Amos were the only two that prophesied in the northern kingdom. We're going to look at one of those ha, ha's today, and his name is Hosea. Hosea had a difficult job because the northern kingdom assimilated very quickly with the Canaanite religion and the Canaanite people, and took on all of their religion as well.

So what they did is they would continue to worship the Lord and try and placate God on those days that they needed to take care of him. But the rest of the time, they were worshipping the Canaanite gods. So they had their idols in their homes.

They went to the Baal Fest and the Asherah polls, and they would worship them and go to the shrines where the temple prostitutes were, and they would go worship there. Now when I use the word worship there, it's loose kind of worship that I'm talking about. Fertility cult.

So that's what was part of this whole thing. It was a whole fertility cult. All the things that happened there had to do with what was going on with this.

The kings there followed one after the other because they were killed, or they were usurped, or they were just kicked out. It was a wild world. They did not trust in the Lord much.

They trusted more in their own ability of fighting. So they would buy lots of horses from Egypt to fill their chariots, to pull their chariots, and take care of their chariots on the Valley of Jezreel. They fought many wars and thought that they were invincible, until the Assyrians came.

And all of a sudden, they realised, oh boy, this is not so easy. But instead of going to God and talking to God, they worked with the Assyrians and started paying tributes to them. It would lead to the downfall.

722, the Assyrians would overrun them and take them away. A little bit of the background of what we're going to read. So God calls this guy called Hosea to be their prophet, pastor, priest, whatever you want to call him.

Hosea sits in his office one day, worried about what's going on. God knocks on the door, comes in. He says, let's talk a little bit, Hosea.

He says, I got some good news and I got some bad news. Hosea said, that's fine. Let's go with the good news.

Good news is, says the Lord, you're going to get married. Going to give you a wife. Wow.

What's the bad news? Well, she's a prostitute. She's going to be hanging around with a few other guys as well. Okay.

You know that I'm the prophet Lord. Yep. Why? Because Hosea, when you lie at home in your bed alone and she's not there and you're thinking, where is she? What is she doing? You're going to feel how it feels like to me because that's what my people do with me.

We are married in a covenant relationship and yet they sleep with the Baals and the Asherahs and they worship them and then they want to run back to me. And when your heart breaks, you're going to understand how to speak to them. Am I glad my name is not Hosea? Can you imagine? Got some good news Hosea.

What's that Lord? You're going to have three kids. Wow. They're not going to be yours.

Wow. We're going to give them special names Hosea. First one's going to be a boy.

You're going to call him Jezreel. Because there on the Jezreel Valley, so much blood has been spilled. That's where Jehu killed all of Ahab's dynasty.

Got rid of all of them. Jezebel as well, but he went way further than that and that did not sit well with me. Also on the Jezreel Valley, they think that they are invincible, but that's where they are going to all fall.

So when little Jezreel walks down the aisle on a Sunday morning and they see him come sit in the front pew with you, they will hear my words that on that same valley of Jezreel that you think that is your place, it's not going to be that easy. Then you're going to have a little girl. You're going to call her Loh Rukhama.

It's a Hebrew word. Loh in Hebrew always means not or no. Loh means no and Rukhama means mercy or compassion.

Imagine calling your little girl, hey little no mercy come here. No mercy because I will not have compassion or mercy with them anymore. I am done with what they are doing.

So when they see little Loh Rukhama walk down the aisle, they will start asking why does God not want to have mercy anymore. Then you're gonna have a little son again and you're gonna call him Loh and there's the knot again. Loh Ami.

Am means my people. Loh Ami, my people, not my people and that was a scary word because the covenant that God made with these people says I will be your God and you will be my people and God says I'm gonna cut that covenant. You will not be my people and I will not be your God anymore.

Scary way in which the book of Hosea starts isn't it? It goes on. So Hosea now marries this woman and you can see it in those first three four chapters. How he loves her and then she's out there with these other men and he says I'm gonna get rid of you.

I don't want you anymore and then oh but I love you. Oh I'm so mad at you. I love you.

This whole feeling of what the Lord experiences. Chapter five. Lord says to the people.

Sorry still got this silly cough going. Says to the people listen I'm done with you. I'm gonna close my ears.

I'm gonna close my eyes. You can bring as many sacrifices as you want. I'm done.

I'm not gonna listen anymore. I want nothing to do with you. Chapter six he says to him.

So he says let's go back. The Lord will be okay. He'll take care of us.

He'll love us again. The Lord says no no no no no. Your love is like the morning mist.

When the sun comes out it's gone. It's like the early dew. Before you know it it's not there anymore.

It doesn't help anything. And then from chapter seven to ten God tells them exactly what he's going to do to them. It's scary.

That's why we don't preach Hosea that often. Chapter 11. He calls them to court and he says I called you out of Egypt.

I taught you how to walk. I taught you everything and you've turned your back on me. What must I do with you? And then we get to the chapter that we are going to do today.

I always say it's Hosea's last sermon before he retires and before he's done. And this sermon I think he preached on his knees the whole time before this congregation. So read with me a little bit.

Then we'll do verse one to three and then I'll do four to five a little later. Returned and look at that word in Hebrew and I'll tell you why I say the Hebrew word. Return Israel to the Lord your God.

Your sins have been your downfall. So take words with you. Return.

There's that word again to the Lord. Say to him forgive all our sins and receive us graciously that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria cannot save us.

We will not mount war horses. We will never again say our gods to what our own hands have made for in you alone the fatherless find compassion. Can we just stop there for a second? So here's Hosea in front of these people that have been playing this game with God back and forth back and forth.

And Hosea says to them go back to the Lord. Go stand before him and talk to him. And the elders put up their hands they say Hosea can you not remember your own sermons? Remember in chapter five your sermon said the Lord said you can come to the temple.

You can bring all the offerings you want. I'm going to close my ears. I'm going to close my eyes.

I want nothing to do with you. We cannot go and talk to God. Because God will not accept our offerings.

We have nothing to take to the temple. Exodus says if you come to the temple you have to bring a sacrifice with you when you come into the presence of the Lord. So sorry Hosea we're done.

We can't do this. And Hosea says you've not been listening as always. I did not say bring come empty-handed or bring a sacrifice.

Listen to what I said. I said take words with you and say to the Lord. And then he plays a little bit of a word game.

We will bring you the fruit of our lips. Remember fertility cult. They were always with this stuff that they had to bring.

And he plays a little game but he says take words with you. Can I stop there for a second? You wrote me an email Gregory and you said I'm writing a little thing about repentance and how we talk about this. So I thought I'm not going to write you.

I'll give you a sermon on that. So you can go write that yourself. When we go to the Lord and we talk about our lives how do we do that? Do we often do the Hosea thing? Sit there.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Oh yeah that's so true.

He shepherds me every day. Thank you Lord. He leads me to green pastures, to quiet waters.

Oh yes that's true. Thank you Lord for the day. Thank you for my family and for the church.

Will you take care of them and bless me for tomorrow. I have difficult meetings. Thank you Lord.

Amen. Can we talk? Lord I'm really really tired. I have to go sleep.

Aubrey there's something that I need to talk to you about. Yes Lord we can do that tomorrow and then I just go to sleep. Tomorrow evening I get back there.

The Lord's my shepherd. I shall not want. Yeah that's true.

He leads me to green pastures and quiet waters. Lord thank you for the day. Thank you for my family.

Please bless my family. Forgive me all my sins. Amen.

Aubrey can we talk? Lord it was a tough day. I'm really tired but there's stuff that I need to talk to you. Can we do that some other day Lord? It's exactly what they did.

They would just kind of generally say oh yeah we're with the balls and this stuff but just forgive us all of our sins. If we just ask for all of our sins in general you know what God does. It's just a general well I don't know what to do.

And sometimes that's the stuff that trips us off because if we keep the stuff in here and we do not give it to the Lord what does that do? It breaks the relationship with God. It's like when I was a kid and dad told me to cut the grass and I didn't. And dad comes looking for me.

I'm around this corner and dad's around this corner. When he comes this way I go this way. In my language we called it I duck and dive.

Around the corner I duck and then I dive this way so dad can't see me. And that's what we start doing with God. And when we do that with God what does this do? It separates us from God because instead of having this open relationship now I'm scared of him and I don't want to talk to him.

And all God says is don't you just want to sit down? Boy we can sometimes make it hard on ourselves. And I'm not doing this. I'm doing this all the way because I'm good at that.

You know that. We all struggle because we're so afraid of that. But here's the thing.

Do you think God doesn't know? He knows it all. But what God knows is if I keep it to myself that relationship becomes so broken that at some stage we're not going to have that. It's just the Lord's my shepherd I shall not want.

Amen. And there I go. Instead of sitting down and saying like Paul said Lord I'm a wretched man.

Look at me. I so want to do the good stuff but I can't. Will you please help me? And then he can come to the conclusion.

But there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ because what can we do? We can take it and we can give it to Christ and he washed it away says Colossians. On the cross he took that IOU that was written against me and he washed it in his blood and he washed it clean. And all God wants me to do is to live with that clean slate.

But all I need to do is to give it to him. And that's what he recommends. He says go tell him.

Take your words and say to him we will not look at Assyria because Assyria cannot help us anymore. We will not jump on our horses and think that we can do it on our own. We will not look at those idols and say these idols are the things that can help us because they can't.

For them it was political, military and religious idols that ran them down. You can think of this world. Some people might need to hear that.

Those things will not last. And for the first time they go on their knees and they say Lord these are the things. Can we just say them? But did you see how they ended? We won't, we won't, we won't.

And then for in you alone the fatherless, the Hebrew word this can also be translated as orphans which is a better translation. For in you alone the orphans find compassion. Now hold on to your seats.

What was the little girl's name? Lurchama. I will not have compassion on you anymore. And when they come back and they stand on their knees what is their first plea? Will you please Lord have compassion? Will you have mercy Lord? What does God do when we are honest? When we are prepared to lay it all out there, the good, the bad and the ugly? What does God do? Will you read that with me? Verse four.

I'm going to be so angry that I'm never going to talk to you again. I never want to hear your name again and you are written, oh sorry I got the wrong book. I, I will heal their waywardness, backsliding, apostasy, turning away.

Interesting. I told you to remember that word for return. The word for return in Hebrew is shuv.

The word for waywardness is meshuvah. Did you hear the shuv there again? Return. But they turned away.

They were wayward. They ran away. I says the Lord, I will heal that waywardness.

And what will I do then? And I will love them freely for my anger is turned away from them. And I will be like the dew to Israel and they will blossom like a lily and like a cedar of the Lebanon. He will send down His roots.

They will be strong. So look at this. When we confess, when we bring this to the Lord, He does not turn His back on us.

He does not chase us away. He does not point His fingers of judgement. God takes us.

He takes us in His arms and He heals us. Did you hear the word heal? He doesn't take that horrible cancerous wound and take a little band-aid and put it on there and say, hope it's going to work. God takes this and He cuts it out and He cleans it out and He heals it completely.

When I bring my brokenness to the Lord, when I bring the stuff to the Lord that is hurting me, that is hurting my relationship with Him, God doesn't play with that. God takes it away and He makes me new, gives me a new lease on life with Him. And I will love them freely.

I don't have to try and earn that. I don't have to try and say, look at me, look how great I am because I'm not. I can just stand there and say, hey Lord, it's Aubrey.

He says, yep, I know. I've got some stuff to tell you, Lord. Yep, let's sit down and talk.

I love you. I love you not because you're so great. I love you not because you're so amazing in the things you do, because you're not.

I love you because of who I am and who you are in me, in Christ Jesus. Because when I look at you, I see you through the glasses of the blood of my son, Jesus Christ. And you are washed and you are cleaned and you are precious and you're my child.

Come here, let me give you a hug and let me hold you. That's what He does. And then He uses those images that they would know because fertility cult, you'll be like this lily that is beautiful, that lives off the dew.

What a beautiful image. Those of you who've been to Israel know that it's a very, very dry, arid country. But what keeps the lilies going on the Lebanon is that dew that falls every night.

And from that, they get this wonderful, wonderful water to be beautiful. I will be like the dew for you. And you will put your roots down like a strong, strong tree and you will not be moved when you are in me.

So as we look at this year, maybe it's important as we walk through this year to remember these words. Don't run away. Don't hide.

Come. Come stand before Him and say, this is who I am. This is what I need.

Thank you for who you are. Thank you for being a God who has compassion and grace, who heals and who loves freely. Amen.

Take a few moments of silent prayer. Thank you, Lord, for always coming to us and inviting us back. Inviting us to be in your presence.

For you are not an angry God. You are a God of compassion and love and mercy. And you give that freely.

We saw that in you, Lord Jesus. We just celebrated your birth. But we know that that would lead in 35-plus years around that to walk to a garden in which you were so alone.

To carry a cross to a hill called the Place of the Skull because so many would die there. And there you would open your arms. And you would take all of these things that so often we want to hide and to carry ourselves.

You took it all there. And you paid the price in full. So that we may walk into your holy presence and into the presence of our Father.

Not hiding. Not afraid. But humble.

To stand before your throne. A throne of grace. Thank you for loving us.

For calling us your people. For having compassion. Teach us every day, Lord.

To sit in your presence and allow you to just walk through our lives. To make it light, Lord. So that we might live lightly and freely with you and in your presence.

We take a moment, Lord. To just give you the things that maybe we've been hiding away and carrying in our lives that hurt us and hurt our relationship with you. Can we just give them to you in this moment and say, take them away? Like Israel said, it's Assyria, Lord.

It's the horses. It's the idols. Can we just give you our Assyria and our horses and our idols? For in you alone can the orphans, find compassion.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. It is our privilege to thank the Lord as we give of our gifts.