Title: The Joy of Knowing God
2005-10-09
“I desire mercy, not sacrifice; I desire the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6).
I. Background of the text
The book of Hosea is a prophetic book written by Hosea, the prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel, and is set in a time when the northern kingdom of Israel was prosperous.
Hosea's cry of "Let's return to God" is a message from God at the present time, and a cry that shows that the time will come when the Israelites will confess so in the future. Hosea was a prophet who took a promiscuous wife and loved him. He was a prophet who showed God's heart toward the promiscuous people of Israel through his life. In fact, the life of faith means that we know the heart of God. We often want God to know our heart, but if we know God's heart deeply, we don't need God to know our heart.
II. affliction in prosperity
A. Falling in love with oneself: idols, the world
Loving God and love of the world cannot coexist, but loving oneself and love of the world coexist. So people easily betray God and go to the love of the world according to the nature of the old man who did not die in them. Prosperity is sometimes a test because it provides the best environment for good, but also the best for evil. It is not only in the days of Hosea to exploit the opportunities that human desires have given us by prosperity. Look at America, a country founded by people who came to the New World to defend their faith. In the midst of prosperity, on the contrary, faith faded and people became increasingly corrupt. The same was true of European countries, where all countries were united by faith. This is happening to us right now. Moreover, our speed toward corruption in prosperity far exceeds that of the United States or European countries. These things of forgetting God in prosperity can only be prevented by the gospel of God.
B. Trouble is coming
As the people of Israel forgot God in prosperity and fell in love with themselves, they met a day of affliction. Falsehood and pretense in faith are those who want to be truthful in their hearts but turn away from the truth in their actions. Hosea likened Israel to an unturned rice cake (Hosea 7:8), which is like an unturned rice cake in which the religious state of Israel was burnt on the bottom but raw on the top. Because it was too weak to turn toward you. As a result of this hypocritical religious life and ultimately pursuing only their own good, the people of Israel were in a difficult position. The prosperity of this world may nourish the body, but it cannot save the soul in need.
III. Israel's solution:
The text shows that sacrifices and burnt offerings were the methods that the afflicted Israelites had to solve their situation.
A. Sacrifice of Atonement
The sacrifice of atonement as well as the burnt offering of devotion were taught by God to the people of Israel. But God says he doesn't want this now. Why? God revealed the atoning sacrifice as a system for confessing that he was a sinner and having his sins forgiven by God. However, this is possible only when the heart of the sacrificial disciple is sincerely offered with this sacrifice. In other words, this is not to say that the sacrificial system is not necessary, but rather emphasizes that what the Israelites need now is not the sacrificial system, but a conversion and change of heart.
B. The burnt offering of dedication
The burnt offering was a way for the Israelites to enjoy wonderful grace. They offered a burnt offering of sacrifice and pledged their devotion. But God says that this burnt offering is also not what he wants. He showed that in order to enjoy the amazing effect of renewal in the means of grace, the means of grace must be connected to knowing God's heart and disposition.
IV. What God dictates:
The text shows that the way the Israelites get out of their afflictions is through mercy and knowing God.
A. Inae (“Hesed”)
Chesed refers to the love God has for us, and at the same time speaks of the love we have for God. This means supreme love. In order to become a sacrifice that is pleasing to God, the presenter must have the heart of this Hesed. And this is also what God is looking for in our hearts as we attend worship today. This kind of supreme kindness grows well in those whose sins are forgiven. Because repentance purifies our hearts. In the end, God's desire for mercy from the people of Israel was to demand their sincere repentance.
B. Knowing God
The word ‘know’ in Hebrews is also used in the sense of ‘slept with’. In other words. In the Hebrew context, knowing is empirical knowing. Always remember the love and grace you have received from God. Always remember and always feel that while we were still sinners, Christ demonstrated his love for us by dying for us!