Title Unturned Rice Cakes (Hosea 7:8-9)
Contents
"Unturned Jeonbyeon" refers to a piece of unripe rice cake that has one side overcooked and burnt to black, and the other side has not yet been turned over and the dough is intact. So, one side was burnt and could not be eaten, and the other side was unripe and became uneatable. If the whole thing is not cooked, you can turn it over and bake it again, but if one side is too burnt, you have to throw it away. Jeonbyeong was originally a meal offering cooked in fine powder to God. If you don't turn it over because you are distracted or distracted when you bake it, one side will burn and the other side will become undercooked.
Prophet Hosea, through today's text, said that Israel, God's chosen people at that time, was like this "unturnable warfare". What was the reason?
Look at verse 8.
“Ephraim is mixed among the nations, he is a bread that cannot be overturned,” he said.
At the time of the prophet Hosea, syncretism was rampant among the Israelites, claiming to serve God and serving other things as well.
I know it would be better if I mixed it. I know it will be stronger when mixed. They are not satisfied with one, and they keep adding idols. That's how you know how to be safe. But it is not.
God's people must make a covenant with only one God, serve Him uprightly, and obey Him. That is our strength. “Delight in the Lord, for that is your strength,” he said.
However, they are worshiping false gods in one form or another to replace God. Those who serve God externally and serve as idols are called syncretists. At that time, such syncretists were rampant in Israel.
In English, a man who has an affair and lives in two houses is called a 'Part-Time Papa'. He is a double-faced person who acts as a father for a while, going back and forth between this house and that house. That's why he's a father who can't be faithful to either side. One day, neither this house nor the other house can go, and he appears to be desperate in the middle ground.
Those who serve God and the world dually become Part-Time Christians. A true Christian should always serve only God. A full-time Christian is a true saint. Not Sunday-Christians, but Everyday-Christians are full saints.
And it is said that Israel's foodiety is not overturned.
Israel was God's chosen people. The sacrifices were also well served. Everyone was a tithe of everything. He even made countless laws that were incidental to one commandment and tried to keep them. But they didn't have two. There was no sincere heart, and there was no concrete practice of the Word. In the end, their beliefs were reduced to a mere hypocrisy. Hypocrisy has been a chronic disease that has continued throughout Israel's history.
According to Isaiah 1:12-15, "You come to show me, and who has required it of you? You have only trampled on my courts. Bring no more vain sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me; As it is with gatherings, I cannot bear to do evil with holy assemblies. My heart hates your new moons and your appointed feasts, which are a heavy burden to me, and I am weary to bear them. When you spread out your hands, I cover my eyes. You will pray a lot, but I will not listen, for your hands are full of blood.”
Today's verse 9 also says, "Though gray hair grows, they do not understand it." We may have this error today. Especially long-belief, prayers and hymns can be fluent, but the heart can be cold. You can serve, but not with a single heart, but with your own zeal. It's something to be very wary of. It must be the emotion of redemption on the cross and the true worship and life offered in the midst of it. This is what God wants.
Jeonbyeong should be turned over evenly on one side and the other side. That way, it is baked into a rice cake that can be eaten well cooked. Jeonbyeong is a meal offering made of fine flour that is offered and offered to God. These rice crackers need to be turned over evenly on both sides.
When we as God's people turn over like a rice cake, it means actual repentance. It means changing your values. It means being reborn as a new person. Unturned rice cakes cannot be commodities, cannot be sacrificed, and cannot be eaten as food. To get a well-baked Jeonbyeong, it must be turned over.
We must turn the spirit and the body together. We need to turn our faith and our lives together. We need to turn over the home and the church together. If you insist on only one side, you will end up becoming a useless pancake like a rice cake that doesn't turn over.
Those who have not been saved will be saved by turning over. We must be turned over by truly believing in Jesus. We need a life experience that is enriched because of Jesus. The church is in turmoil because of those who do not turn over to Jesus. The growth of the church will be hindered.
The history of the Bible testifies that when Israel truly asked God, He answered them. Psalm 37:39 tells us, "The salvation of the righteous is with the LORD; he is their fortress in times of trouble."
The politics, economy, and religion of our country are like a war that has not been overturned. Many of you may think that there is not one or two places to turn over. But first, our faith personality and life will be turned upside down. From here, the history of politics, economy and religion will also be turned upside down. Even if the whole world is turned upside down, if history does not occur in which one person himself is turned upside down, his spirit will still be like a warlord who does not turn over.
If you eat rice cakes that are not turned over, you will get an upset stomach. Like the foolishly irreversible rice cakes, Israel set out to serve God and the two masters of the world, but eventually they were abandoned by the world, and they were judged by God. Likewise, never one life can serve two masters. There is only one God in our lives. We believe that we should live separately according to the will of God.
I hope that you will keep the purity of your faith with a single heart, serve only God with all your heart, and have a pure faith that completely depends on God.
Jeonbyeong needs to be turned upside down well to become a well-ripened Jeonbyeon.
Now we know what God really wants and is pleased with. You want a 100% pure faith with the same front and back sides, just like the rice cakes cooked evenly on the front and back. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will become the saints who are served as ripe rice cakes before God.