Title: God's Hope
Contents
♤♠♤ God's Hope / Hosea 5:15-6:6
*** Introduction
People have their own 'hope'. You have a desire to become what you want to become and to achieve while you live on this earth. However, the power of this 'hope' has a miraculous power to bring life to life even from dying.
There is a book called 'The Journey Without a Road' by a doctor named Scott Peack. This book tells the story of his experiences working in a mental hospital. he is,
“If you look closely at the patients in mental hospitals, there are two types. A person who has no interest, no joy, no desire, no challenge to the mystical world is hopeless. But he who has the will to grow has hope to heal.”
Said.
A person who has the desire to make it through, even when he is in the worst situation, never despairs. Hope not only creates the will to accomplish things, but it also governs the vitality of our body. So, a person with a certain hope has bright eyes and a tense body. Although the body is losing its vitality, a sure hope brings life to life.
Do you have a sure hope? What is that hope? Just as we have hope, so too does God. Today's sermon title was 'God's Hope'. In your opinion, what do you think is the greatest hope God has for you?
How many Bible verses shall we look at? First, let's look at Deuteronomy 5:29. “But I want them to always have this kind of heart, and they will fear Me and keep all my commands, so that they and their children may be blessed forever.” I want to know.” And in the New Testament, in 1 Timothy 2:4, “God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” In 2 Peter 3:9, “The promise of the Lord is slow for some. He is not slow, but is patient with you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
When our hopes are aligned with God's hope, the power is great. This state in which God and our hope are united is “in Christ.” John 15:7 says, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish. Then it will be done.” On the other hand, Romans 8 says, “Nothing in the world can separate us from the love of Christ.” Hebrews 11 says, “The world is not worthy of such a person.”
Then, what is God's hope, and how can we fit ourselves into it?
1. God wants us to know Him.
God wants man to know God more than anything else. That is, I want you to know the will of God for me. Verse 3 says, “Therefore, let us know the Lord. Let's do our best to know the Lord... ” The Prophet exhorts us anxiously, and verse 6 records God’s words, “I want to know God.”
There are two uses of the word “know” in this verse. In verse 3, the word “let’s know” ( /yada/ to know) means “knowing through observation and reflection” and “knowing through experience”. And by the word “knowledge” in verse 6, “knowledge” and “knowledge” are expressed.
Combining the meanings of these two words, we must first know God intellectually. What is intellectual knowledge? It can be obtained through the Word of God. In other words, you can fill it with reading the Bible or listening to sermons. Next, we must know God experientially through experience and deep meditation. This is emotional knowing. In other words, it refers to the couple getting to know each other through experience in their long married life. This is not theoretical knowledge, but mature wisdom given only through experience and meditation. In a word, it is personal fellowship with God.
This is part of the testimony of a woman saint.
This woman is the wife of a successful businessman, has raised three daughters and has maintained a loving family to this day. The women were well known as active women who were also actively involved in community activities. However, after the daughters grew up and left home, the woman's life was empty and she began to feel lonely. The husband loved himself as his wife, and he himself loved his husband. They preferred to give money to the Lord's work rather than to spend their money on personal things, but they lacked depth in their spiritual life. And on Sundays, they always went to church to worship, but that was all they had in their religious life. I had never had a deep and intimate relationship with God.
This woman had a younger sister, who was living a life of walking with the Lord in close fellowship with God. After careful observation of her sister's loneliness and frustration, the younger brother knew that a new change had to be made in her sister's spiritual life. So, I encouraged my sister to read the Bible every day, to pray, to spend time with God, and to pay attention to other people as well.
Following her brother's advice, this saint developed a lasting relationship with God, and gradually her attitude changed. The female member applied for a church school teacher, which she had never done since college, and began to love the children she was in charge of. One year after making this new change, the saint suddenly realized that he had not felt lonely in recent months.
As in this testimony, getting to know God deeply and putting into practice what you have realized is the way to deepen fellowship with God. God is guiding the steps of the saints through this life of fellowship.
2. God wants our hearts to be constant.
Earlier, God said that He wants us to know Him and have personal fellowship. Here, to have personal fellowship with God also means to be recognized by God. In this way, believers who are recognized by God and have personal fellowship should always have a constant heart.
Let's look at verse 4. This is God's expression of the hearts of the people of Israel, but it is that the hearts of the people of Israel toward God are not consistent. He said that the hearts of the people of Israel change as easily as the “morning cloud” or “dew” that disappears when the sun rises.
God does not take pleasure in people who are erratic and capricious. Even the prayers of such people are not answered by God. In the book of James, “Let no such man think that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man who is blameless in all things.”
So, God spoke to the Israelites through the prophet Hosea. “Even if you are beaten because of your change of heart, God is waiting for you, so please come back now” (Text 5:15-6:1). Why should I do this? The answer is simple. Because God has everything. Proverbs 8:14-18. “I have scheming and true knowledge, and I am understanding. Because I have power, through me kings rule, princes establish justice, and princes and nobles, all the judges of the earth, rule through me. I love those who love me, and those who seek me earnestly find me. I have riches and riches, and so are my riches and my intentions.”
Do you know the saying “The time you think it is too late is the earliest”? Not only the saints, but the lives of all people depend on God. Especially, believers who are called as God's people cannot succeed or live apart from God. Even though fish can live apart from water, believers cannot live apart from God. Therefore, setting your heart to God is the way to enjoy peace in your life.
3. God wants us to be restored quickly.
Verses 2-3 of the text are the promise of a speedy recovery. To whom is this promise given? This is given to those who turn from their ways and set their hearts on God. In order to be able to see and feel this fact, God used the family of the prophet Hosea as a model.
God gave the prophet Hosea's wife Gomer, who had bad conduct. Gomer left her husband and followed a foreign man. Hosea went and paid for the barley and returned to Gomer. I've done this several times over. God said that Israel was like Gomer in relation to God. Just as Gomer left Hosea in search of fleshly satisfaction and followed the Gentiles, so Israel also left God and went into the world in search of fleshly satisfaction. Quoting Gomer's words of leaving Hosea, he expressed the saint's excuse for leaving God as follows. “I will follow those who love me, and they will give me my bread, my water, my wool, my linen, my oil, and my wine” (Hosea 2:5). It's like looking for your own satisfaction.
But God does not just watch his chosen people go astray. He blocks and disciplines children who go the wrong way. See Hosea 2:6,7. “Therefore I will block the way with thorns, and I will build a wall so that he cannot find his way. “The only way to escape from God's discipline and restore to a life that receives God's grace is to turn away from your own path and set your heart on God.
God wants us as saints to restore our relationship with God and enjoy God's grace and live. This is Jeremiah 29:11 we know well. “I, the LORD, saith. I know my thoughts toward you, not evil, but peace, to give you hope for your future.”
That's right. God's hope is that we may enjoy a peaceful life in God and the hope of future salvation. Everything is in our God. All of that becomes ours when we align our desires with God's desires.
Are your minds anxious or shaken by the affairs of the world? Let's strive to know God and strive for personal fellowship with God. God takes away all our anxiety and shaking and gives us peace. And let's leave the things of the world behind, believe in God's help, and fix our hearts on God.
Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that you may fully enjoy the peace that is given by God's grace and love in an unwavering, sure hope for Jesus Christ.