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The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
The Old Testament prophets were primarily forth tellers rather than foretellers.
They communicated the message of God to the needs of the day.
“Listen to the Major messages of the Minor Prophets’ is the title of the series we will be working through for the next few weeks.
Today we are talking about Hosea, Time to seek the Lord.
Text
Hosea 10:12 NKJV
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the Lord,
Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
Scripture Reading
Hosea 10:12-11:9 NKJV, Hosea 14:1-4 NKJV
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the Lord,
Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
13 You have plowed wickedness;
You have reaped iniquity.
You have eaten the fruit of lies,
Because you trusted in your own way,
In the multitude of your mighty men.
14 Therefore tumult shall arise among your people,
And all your fortresses shall be plundered
As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle—
A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.
15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
Because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
Shall be cut off utterly.
God’s Continuing Love for Israel
11:1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son.
2 As they called them,
So they went from them;
They sacrificed to the Baals,
And burned incense to carved images.
3 “I taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them by their arms;
But they did not know that I healed them.
4 I drew them with gentle cords,
With bands of love, And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck.
I stooped and fed them.
5 “He shall not return to the land of Egypt;
But the Assyrian shall be his king,
Because they refused to repent.
6 And the sword shall slash in his cities,
Devour his districts,
And consume them,
Because of their own counsels.
7 My people are bent on backsliding from Me.
Though they call to the Most High,
None at all exalt Him.
8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I set you like Zeboiim?
My heart churns within Me;
My sympathy is stirred.
9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
For I am God, and not man,
The Holy One in your midst;
And I will not come with terror.
Hosea 14:1-4 NKJV
Israel Restored at Last
1 O Israel, return to the Lord your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;
2 Take words with you,
And return to the Lord.
Say to Him,
“Take away all iniquity;
Receive us graciously,
For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.
3 Assyria shall not save us,
We will not ride on horses,
Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’
For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”
4 “I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from him.
Prayer
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Introduction
Hosea has been called “the prophet of the broken heart.”
His experience demonstrates that love yields the sweetest joy on earth and also the most profound sorrow.
The framework of the book is that of a shattered romance, a tale of unfaithfulness to the marital vow.
That this prophesy is the very Word of God is evidenced by the fact that this sordid story has little appeal at the secular level but runs much deeper.
Against the backdrop of his own personal problem, his shattered home and betrayed love, Hosea received a vivid revelation of the very heart of God.
He was able to see that God, too, was a sufferer, a victim of unfaithfulness.
Israel was the unfaithful wife, and God was the wronged husband, the victim of His beloved’s infidelity as she deserted Him to go off after false gods.
So great was Hosea’s love, so gracious was his forgiving heart, that he searched and found Gomer, long since deserted by the men she chased, and took her back into his own home.
After hat experience he preached God’s love for Israel and pleaded in verse 14:1, “O Israel, return to the Lord your God,”
Hosea anticipated what is written in John 1:11, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”
The one who was “A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” As we read in Isaiah 53:3.
The prophecy of Hosea falls naturally, but unequally, it two parts.
Part one is God’s Word through Hosea’s marriage, revelation through heartache (verses 1:1-3:5)
Verses 1:2-9 record the details of Hosea’s marriage and children.
Verses 1:10-11 are the account of the restoration of Israel and Judah.
In verses 2:1-23 we see the lesson that Gomer’s unfaithfulness to Hosea is symbolic of Israels unfaithfulness to God.
And the moral that Hosea’s love for Gomer illustrates God’s love for Israel in verses 3:1-5.
Part two is God’s Word through Hosea’a messages, revelation through proclamation in verses 4:1-14:9.
A historical retrospect and Israel’s current crisis in verses 9:10-12:14.
And the ways of life and death in verses 13:1-14:9.
Hosea wrote through turbulent times, the last years of the reign of Jeroboam the second.
Times had been good and were now turning bad.
After Jeroboam came a period of anarchy, assassinations, and confusion.
In quick succession Zechariah, Shallum, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hosea came to the throne, and all but the last came by slaying his predecessor.
Confusion in the nation reflected the confusion in Hosea’s own home.
Sin was everywhere.
Hosea 4:2, By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed.
That is the fertile field of ripened fruit from which our text is taken.
Hosea 10:12 NKJV
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the Lord,
Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
These words are no random saying out of touch with the main line of the books thinking.
This was the heart of God’s appeal to Israel, and it is God’s appeal to us.
If the time to plant seeds has past, the farmer sows his grain wth more diligence.
Seeking the Lord is the privilege of every day, but there are special seasons when by His providence and grace it is time to seek Him in a peculiar and urgent manner.
How potent is this text against the background of Hosea’s day!
How pertinent is it for today!
It is time to seek the Lord!
- For who is it time to seek the Lord?
It is time to seek the Lord for the councils of the world where representatives of nations meet.
Only God can transform the United Nations into an organisation for good.
But until now He has been left outside.
His name is not in the charter nor mentions in their discussions.
It is time to seek the Lord in the parliaments and congresses where the fate of people hangs in the balance.
These lawmakers have a huge responsibility!
Do we pray for them?
It is time to seek the Lord in our own government .
There is nothing more shocking than news of corruption and double dealing and the lies that come out of our national and state leaders, unless it is the failure of people in general to be shocked by it.
It is time to seek the Lord in our communities.
Pastors measure the success of their church by attendance.
But if they knew the number of people who lived in their city and then subtracted the number of church attendees from that they would discover how many people don’t attend any church.
Its time to wake up church!
It is time to seek the Lord in our churches.
The indifference, the lack of interest in inviting people to church, the few who are being won outside of the families of our own members, the failure to train leaders that have a call that isn’t just entertaining people.
All this is appalling.
The churches failure to train leaders a generation ago is being reaped in the lack of leaders now, and a weak church.
It is time to seek the Lord in our hearts.
Our hearts are cold.
Our minds are divided.
Our hands are idle.
Dutifully, though not joyfully, we haul our carcasses to the church and plunk them down in our chosen places in a sparsely filled auditorium, and what happens?
Nothing!
Friends, it is time to seek the Lord.
2. Why is it time to seek the Lord?
Why should we be urgent?
Why should the Christian’s witness be as Timothy said in 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”
Why should the unsaved person “give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.” (Hebrews 2:1)
Let me give you some reasons why now is the time to seek the Lord.
The time for sowing is passing, the harvest time is coming.
And what will the harvest be?
It all depends on whether we seek the Lord.
Here is our exact image, Hosea 10:12, Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap in mercy;
Break up your fallow ground,
For it is time to seek the Lord,
Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
We are already beginning to see the harvest in secular education.
We are already seeing the harvest of the influence of pornography, violent video games, violent TV shows, the glorification of drugs.
It is time to seek the Lord and to keep on seeking until He comes and rains righteousness upon us.
The time when we may seek the Lord will end.
The owner of a fig tree had sought fruit for three years but to no avail.
His patience ended, he said to the vinedresser, “Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?” (Luke 13:7)
And why didn’t they cut it down?
Because of the vinedresser’s plea in Luke 13:8-9, “Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”
The day of grace for the fruitless tree was a year.
The point is that every period of grace has an end.
The time when we may seek the Lord will end.
The results are immediate and eternal.
Those who accept Christ as Saviour are not going to receive eternal life one day in the future, they have already received it.
For the Christian, eternal life has already begun.
Conclusion.
Does someone ask, “How can I be sure? How may I know?”
This is the plain and urgent word of the Scriptures.
2 Corinthians 6:2, For He says:
“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
This is the confirmation of our own observation.
Who doesn’t know someone who delayed seeking the Lord?
This is the inward testimony of our own conscience.
Isn’t your heart repeating the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 39:7, “And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer.
Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at www.refinerylife.org
When it comes to prayer, we believe that God wants to meet your needs and reveal His promises to you.
So whatever you’re concerned about and need prayer for we want to be here for you! Or even if you just want to say Hi, you can contact us
2022 IS A YEAR OF REPENTANCE AND BLESSINGS
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