Title: The Essence of Faith
The content is verse 10:10. “I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” The purpose of Jesus coming to this earth is to give us eternal life so that we can live abundantly through that eternal life. But today too many Christians do not live a life of abundance. They are content with just having eternal life that escapes hell, but they do not experience an abundant life. This is truly a pity.
The reason we cannot enjoy an abundant life is because we live a religious life based on a false belief system without the right knowledge of God. Today's text is God's message through Hosea to the people of Israel who are based on a false belief system.
1. The essence of faith is to know God and to love God.
The text exhorts us in verse 3, “Let us know the Lord, let us do our best to know the Lord.” Verse 6 is also mentioned. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice; I desire the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” The kindness spoken of here is loving God.
Dear brothers and sisters, what does God want in our life of faith? What God wants is to know God and to love God. To love God is to obey God's Word. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” To King Saul, who had disobeyed, Samuel said in 1 Samuel 15:22, “Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and other sacrifices, as does the obedience of his voice? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and hearing is better than the fat of rams.” To love God is to give up one's own stubbornness and obey God's commandments. Those who obey God's Word are those who love God. Dear brothers and sisters, the essence of faith is to know God and to love God. These two things are the essence and core of our faith.
Dear brothers and sisters, what does God not want in verse 6? Look at verse 6. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice; I desire the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” There are two things God does not want in this verse. What is? They are burnt offerings and sacrifices. But who commanded burnt offerings and sacrifices? Burnt offerings and sacrifices were originally to be offered by God. He even said that God is pleased with them. But in this verse God is saying that He does not want them.
So what does this mean? Does God sometimes like sacrifices and sometimes hate them? Absolutely not. God is unchanging. The book of Hosea is in the Old Testament, not the New Testament. It is the Old Testament era when sacrifices were made to God in the temple. So, how should we understand verse 6?
It is precisely this that shows us clearly the relationship between the essence of faith and consciousness. The essence of our faith is to know God and to love God. All religious acts and ceremonies, including sacrifices and burnt offerings, symbolize and express their essence. In other words, it is a vessel containing essence. In our faith, all religious acts and ceremonies are meaningful only if they contain essence because they are a means of expressing our knowledge of God and our love for God. If the essence is not contained in it, no matter how splendid ceremonies or sacrifices are, there is no meaning in the sight of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, the Israelites made many sacrifices and sacrifices. They strictly observed all the seasons. Not to mention the Sabbath, the new moon was kept, and all the conversations and feasts were kept. They offered numerous sacrifices to God at each feast. The sacrifices they offered to God, such as rams, bulls, lambs, and goats, were uncountable. They also offered many prayers to God. I fasted regularly.
However, God's response to their worship, offering, and prayer was very negative. God said he was fed up with all their worship and offerings and even hated them. He also said that all those gatherings and worship services are nothing but vain worship, such as walking back on God's court. Therefore, God said to them, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice, but rather the knowledge of God than burnt offerings.”
This is because their consciousness did not contain knowing and loving God, the essence of their faith. In other words, there was nothing in their lives to know and love God, the essence of faith. The love for God that the Israelites had in Hosea's day is compared to the morning mist and the fading dew. Verse 4. “What shall I do, O Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? Your kindness is like a morning cloud or the dew that fades away.” Fog and dew, no matter how many and thick, disappear as soon as the sun rises. In this way, the Israelites said they loved God a lot and performed many ceremonies, but they immediately gave up on God's way even if only a small sacrifice or disadvantage was required in their lives to live according to God's words and laws. I have forsaken the word of God. God judged them.
Dear brothers and sisters, the essence of faith is to know God and love God. God is pleased with the sacrifices and burnt offerings that contain the essence of this faith and gives blessings. However, God does not want sacrifices and burnt offerings, which are rituals without substance, and judges them.
2. Then, why did the people of Israel offer so many sacrifices and sacrifices to God, observe so many festivals, and pray so much, even though they did not have the essence of faith to know and love God? Did they think they didn't love God as the Bible says? no. They thought they loved God. Because no one knew that he did not love God, but he made so many sacrifices and attended all the meetings so diligently. So what was the problem?
A correct understanding of the faith was hidden from them. They had a different understanding of faith. That is, they had a false belief system. There was no right knowledge of God. However, they were zealous for their own religious rituals. Based on their zealous religious rituals, they were convinced that they knew God well. But in Hosea 4:1, God judges them to be “without the knowledge of God”. Hosea 4:6 also laments, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” They had a false belief system in which consciousness replaced essence. So they thought they loved God more than anyone else, but God said they did not love God.
Dear brothers and sisters, a good example of a false belief system is the Pharisees of Jesus' day. The Pharisees were convinced that they knew God better than anyone. He was convinced that he loved God more than anyone else. He was convinced that he believed the word of God more thoroughly than anyone else. But Jesus said that they did not know God, that they did not love God, and that they did not believe the word of God (John 5:37-47). Jesus answered the Pharisees who opposed him with a legalistic view of faith by frequently quoting Hosea 6:6 (Matthew 9:13, 12:7).
Dear brothers and sisters, it is the fact that in our faith, we can be full of consciousness without the essence of faith. It means that we can have a vague ritual of worshiping without knowing or loving God. What is your status? Do you meet and know God, love God, and obey God? If you know God, there will always be changes. If you love God, you must cast away your thoughts and obey God's commandments. Saints, how are you?
3. So what do we do?
Verses 1-3. “Come, let us return to the LORD, for the LORD has torn us, and he will heal us; he has struck us, and he will bind us up. After two days the LORD will raise us up, and on the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him. Let us know the Lord, let us strive to know the Lord; his coming out is as steady as the morning light, and he will come upon us like the latter rain, which waters the earth like rain.” The interpretation of these words is divided into the exhortation of Hosea or the exhortation of the people to each other. I want to see the people as an exhortation to one another.
We must exhort each other. We need to create a spiritual atmosphere for each other. What do you recommend? First, you must repent. We must confess our ignorance. We must admit our unbelief. We must repent of our disobedience. And we must return to Jehovah. Then Jehovah responds quickly.
Second, we must diligently know Jehovah. Dear brothers and sisters, here, when we say that we must know the Lord, we must meet God. It is experiential and experiential knowledge. It is not an intellectual knowledge of God. We must meet God who came as Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we must earnestly seek it. Deuteronomy 4:29 promises. “If you seek him with all your heart and all your soul, you will find him.” Today's text promises us three times. He comes to us like the morning light. He comes to us like the winter rain that must fall in winter. He comes to us like the spring rain that must fall in spring. If we strive to get to know Jehovah, he will surely come to us.