WEBVTT 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:04.719 We are returning back to our sermon series on the book of Hosea. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:15.839 If you're new, recently we began this series several months ago, and we were looking this morning at chapter 10 in the Old Testament, the prophet Hosea. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:23.679 Follow along in the bulletin if you would like. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:29.359 Reading God's word. 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:36.399 Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:40.560 The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built. 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:44.479 As his country improved, he improved his pillars. 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:46.640 Their heart is false. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:49.280 Now they must bear their guilt. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:53.200 The Lord will break down their altars and destroy their pillars. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:58.560 For now they will say, We have no king, for we do not fear the Lord. 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:01.359 And a king, what could he do for us? 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:03.520 They utter mere words. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:06.799 With empty oaths they make covenants. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:12.640 So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:17.439 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth Avan. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:28.319 Its peoples mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priest, those who rejoiced over it and over its glory, for it has departed from them. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:33.680 The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria as tribute to the great king. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:39.680 Ephraim shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of its idol. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:45.280 Samaria's king shall perish, like a twig on the face of the waters. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:59.200 The high places of Avon, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed, thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, cover us, and to the hills, fall on us. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:03.439 From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:05.200 There they have continued. 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:09.360 Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah? 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:18.319 When I please I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them when they are bound up for their double iniquity. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:25.680 Ephraim was a trained calf that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck. 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:28.400 But I will put Ephraim to the yoke. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:33.439 Judah must plough, Jacob must harrow for himself. 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:47.280 Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love, break up your fallowed ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and reign righteousness upon you. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:59.919 You have ploughed iniquity, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies, because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:12.960 Therefore the tumult of war shall rise, arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbal on the day of battle. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:16.400 Mothers were dashed in pieces with their children. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:21.280 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great evil. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:25.599 At dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:34.159 This is the reading of God's holy and infallible and errant word. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:38.800 May we ask the Spirit's work in our own hearts this morning. 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:49.680 Father, we thank you that with sin, Lord, there is grace that you offer when we fall greatly. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.960 Lord, you are the one who restores us. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:56.719 So Lord, we pray by your Spirit's work this morning. 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:02.719 May the seed of your word not fall on hard ground in our hearts. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.159 Lord, would you soften our hearts? 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:08.560 Would you enlighten our minds? 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:16.399 Father, would you do a work in our wills that we might desire to trust you in all things. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:18.720 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:33.199 If there's a word to think of this morning, what Hosea is speaking about, that word might well be deception. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:45.759 Hosea has done a masterful job from the very beginning of describing what it looks like to fall away from God, to wander away from the Lord. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:57.120 He's used a multitude of images, different ways to capture what falling away, wandering away from the Lord actually looks like. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:03.920 Probably the strongest, certainly the first illustration that he used was the marriage of Hosea and his wife Gomer. 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:08.959 We're going back to the beginning of this series, to the beginning of the book. 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:21.839 A woman who proved to be unfaithful on many occasions, who eventually, as we saw, literally would be bought back by her own husband on the slave block. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:30.480 And we saw then, and we understand, that that's a spiritual representation of all of us. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:33.839 All of us were sold to sin. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:36.959 All of us were enslaved to sin. 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:39.519 No exceptions. 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:45.279 But the Lord saw us in our misery, and the Lord came after us. 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:49.439 This series title is A Love That Pursues. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:58.079 And we're learning to really grow in our appreciation for that truth of our God. 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:01.120 A God that pursues us in love. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:13.519 And just like Gomer was on the slave block, sold into slavery, each of us have been on the slave block of sin. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:24.720 And our husband, our truest husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to buy us back after we left him. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:29.759 That was the point of that story in Hosea with his wife Gomer. 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:45.439 But Hosea has used other word pictures, not just for a faithless marriage, Gomer's wandering eye, chasing after other lovers, illustrating the hearts of God's people, the northern tribe of Israel at that time in particular. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:58.480 Though God had been so good to her, her restless heart would remain restless until she finally saw with new eyes who her true husband really was. 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:02.319 Was it Hosea? 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:04.079 Yes. 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:12.959 But I believe that she came to see her truest husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:21.519 Just as he met her, bought her, redeemed her, so he does for all of his children, all of his people. 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:28.240 We come to verse 2 of this text, and it says, their heart is false. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:34.079 Other translations translate this, their heart is deceitful. 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:37.439 And that's what we're exploring more this morning. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:49.120 What this Hebrew word means, literally, is oily, slick, double-tongued. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:51.120 Okay? 00:07:53.040 --> 00:08:04.480 Something that is evasive, something that is slippery, something that's hard to really catch or hold on to? 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:22.000 James Boyce makes a statement, the idea that they went through the motions, the Israelites at this time are going through the motions of doing one thing when actually their intent was to do something else all the while. 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:25.120 Does that sound familiar? 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:40.399 We've all been guilty of saying one thing with our lips, but by our lives demonstrating that we are committed to another purpose, another end that we see that we think is attractive. 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:54.080 No doubt when Gomer went off with her other lovers, she would have said that she still loved Hosea, that she wasn't entirely unfaithful to Hosea. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:09:00.480 She probably would have said, but Hosea, at the end of the day or night, at the end of the week, I come back to you. 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:06.639 And we just immediately know how wrong that is. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:10.000 But it's not that we haven't done it. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:14.639 This was Israel's doing. 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:18.240 This is what they were doing. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:21.679 They were still giving to worship. 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:24.320 They were still going to worship. 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:27.679 They were still bringing their tithes and their offerings. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:30.399 They were bringing their animal sacrifices. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:35.679 Outwardly, it looked like they were doing a lot of the right things. 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:42.320 But inwardly, their hearts were very far from God. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:48.799 They were going to other altars that we read about throughout this book. 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:59.120 The prophets, the major and the minor prophets, speak repeatedly about the other altars that they built, the other gods that captured their hearts. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:06.879 And as we've seen in this sermon series today, no, they probably aren't stones. 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:11.279 But what about wealth? 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:12.960 What about career? 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:15.679 What about lust? 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:18.080 What about pride? 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:29.120 What are the things that infiltrate our minds, capture our hearts, and lead us away from worshiping God with an undivided heart? 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:33.039 That's what this sermon series is looking at. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:43.679 It's been said that in idolatry a third party gets in between God and the person, adulterating an exclusive loyalty. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:47.919 It's always about the third party. 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:56.879 The third party may be an actual person, but the third party may be again wealth. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:10:59.519 It may be self-fulfillment. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:02.799 You might say, well, it's something as simple as that, yes. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:08.080 I mean, just living for self is idolatry. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:22.639 Didn't God say that you must worship me and no other gods, including your own living for comfort or living for affluence, whatever that may be. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:29.679 The danger of third parties is that they are always wedge shaped. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:33.519 That's the way Cornelius Plantinka put it. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:39.519 The danger of a third party is that they are always wedge shaped. 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:41.840 They're always cutting in. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:46.720 They're always separating us from God, from the heart of God. 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:52.320 A pure heart is an undivided heart. 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:55.039 Divided worship destroys worshipers. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:57.519 Divided love divides lovers. 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:01.120 Sin is deception. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:05.919 I like the way Lewis Meads put it, and we looked at this briefly earlier in the series. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:14.000 Self-deception is a shadowy phenomenon by which we pull the wool over some part of our own psyche. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:16.159 We put a move on ourselves. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:18.159 Now we can relate to that, right? 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:20.960 We put a move on ourselves. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:26.240 We deny, suppress, or minimize what we know to be true. 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:31.679 We assert, we adorn, and we elevate what we know to be false. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:34.000 And listen to this phrase as he puts it. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:41.519 We pritify ugly realities and sell ourselves the prettified versions. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:49.200 We do pretti up, we try to make something ugly attractive. 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:53.120 Until it becomes attractive to our own eyes. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:13:01.279 And all of a sudden we find that we want to spend more time with it than with God. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:04.799 And we can take anything. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:18.000 And all of a sudden we find that increasingly our desire to be with God lessens and our desire to be with it grows. 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:24.159 It can be good things that we make too much of. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.240 We can promote things that are good into the things that are best. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:40.480 But whenever we promote anything else, the things that we've already shared or talked about this morning or not, whatever we elevate, whatever we promote will always come with it demoting God. 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:46.720 There is no such thing as having God and it on the same level. 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:48.960 It's impossible. 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:56.480 Jesus said, you will either love the one and hate the other, or hate the one and love the other. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:05.919 First, we deceive ourselves, and then we convince ourselves that we're not deceiving ourselves. 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:08.159 That bears repetition. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:14.080 First, we deceive ourselves, but it doesn't feel like that. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:17.919 It just feels like something's resonating with us. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:20.799 Something that makes you feel alive. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:26.960 And that could be seeing your stocks go up if that's what you live for. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:31.519 Work, performance, approval. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:38.159 I mean, how many of us, if we were honest, would say, you know what? 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:43.840 I think maybe sometimes I'm just living for the approval of others. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:51.440 I'm living for the approval of my boss, I'm living for the approval of my spouse, my children, my church, whatever it is. 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:58.559 Self-deception says, it's okay. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:00.879 That's good. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:09.919 First, we deceive ourselves, and then we convince ourselves that we are not deceiving ourselves. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:12.000 The outline is brief. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:20.960 We're going to look at deception exposed, deception judged, and deception confessed. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:26.399 Deception exposed, it's all over the chapter that I read, verses 1, verses 2. 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:31.200 Israel used to, Israel, I planted you as a precious vine in my garden. 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:36.480 And read through the Old Testament, you'll find it all over in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:39.039 The Psalms talk about this. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:49.120 God says, I planted you as a vine, and I did everything necessary to plant you with good seed, to water, to grow. 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:57.120 I sent the sunshine, I sent the water, I did everything necessary, but you just went wild. 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:03.919 And you didn't bear good fruit, you bore weeds and thorns. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:19.919 Jeremiah says in chapter 2, verse 21, you became a corrupt wild vine, almost always portrayed that way negatively in the Word of God, exposed by the deeds in their lives. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:27.919 We could ask ourselves this morning, how would we know what that really looks like very practically? 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:31.279 The weeds and not the fruit. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:36.000 Well, Galatians certainly speaks about that. 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:40.159 When we get the fruit of the Spirit, we also get the works of the flesh, verse 19. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:42.559 It says the works of the flesh are evident. 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:46.639 Sexual immorality, but let's remember how Jesus defined that. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:51.440 It's just looking at a woman or a man in your mind and lusting. 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:54.799 That's adultery. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:02.080 Impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity. 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:03.440 Now listen to these. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:30.720 Do we struggle with anger? 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.960 Rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:39.440 And he goes on. 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:41.519 Deception exposed. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:43.200 Make no doubt about it. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:48.000 Part of the point of this sermon this morning is that the Holy Spirit would show us. 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:50.960 Am I deceived? 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:54.720 Am I putting a move on myself that I don't even recognize? 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:57.839 If so, Holy Spirit, please show me. 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:00.160 Secondly, deception judged. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:03.599 Verses 10, 14, 15, and throughout. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:10.000 When I please, this is God speaking now, when I please, I will discipline these people. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:12.400 The nation will be gathered up against them. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:14.559 Nations will be gathered up against them. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:15.920 We've seen this in the series. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:23.039 Assyria, the emerging big political power of the world from the north, is coming down very soon. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:26.559 And they're going to decimate Israel. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:28.799 They're going to level Israel. 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:33.599 The ten tribes will never again live in that land as the ten tribes as they did before. 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:39.920 Verse 4, so the judgment springs up like poisonous weeds. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:57.599 God says, What I have in mind for you because of your idolatry, because of your adultery, what I have in mind for you is like a garden that started out like a pretty good garden, and all of a sudden the weeds were so overwhelming that you looked at that patch of garden, you said, It's useless. 00:18:57.839 --> 00:18:59.839 I'll never recover my garden. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:04.079 Verse 5, the glory has departed. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:07.440 They will soon be carried off to Assyria. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:10.079 Ephraim shall be put to shame. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:12.640 Israel shall be ashamed of his idol. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:17.119 Eventually our idols always shame us. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:31.839 Whatever the idol may be, eventually, and see the danger of it, of self-deception is we might well be hearing this this morning and thinking, well, I'm not sure if this is an idol, I'm not sure if this is dividing my heart from God. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:34.799 I'm not sure if I'm wandering into the arms of another lover. 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:36.559 I'm not sure, I'm not sure. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:42.240 But unless our idols are exposed, we'll never deal with them. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:48.880 And we will continue to go on until the time will come, and the time will come. 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:55.440 If they're not exposed, if they're not judged, the time will come when your idol will bring you down. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:09.119 Whether it's pride, approval, whatever it may be, the time will come when your idol will bring you down, and you'll be exposed. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:13.759 And you'll be surprised, perhaps. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:22.480 You might think at that moment, I didn't realize that this had that much power over my life. 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:27.119 That's what Hosea is saying. 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:32.640 Verse 8, you're gonna lose your kings. 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:36.000 Literally, they had like four kings in a very short period of time. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:42.480 Some of them were assassinated within the nation, and others were captured and taken off to captivity. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:44.000 You're gonna lose your kings. 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:46.000 And then they're gonna say, Well, we don't really care. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:47.599 We don't really need our kings. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:49.680 They're trying to just cover. 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:54.240 And listen to this verse 8. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:21:00.480 The day will come when they will say to the mountains, cover us. 00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:04.400 They will say to the hills, fall on us. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:11.119 These are really horrible words to think about, but we must. 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:25.599 He's saying to Israel, the day will come when you will be so miserable in your new captivity, where you will be abused and mistreated by the Assyrians like you can't imagine now. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:26.880 Punishment's coming. 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:30.079 You would say to the mountains, please fall on me. 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:39.359 You would say to the earthquake that we've heard of, we keep hearing about these earthquakes, you would say, Let the earthquake take me now. 00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:42.079 My life is so miserable. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:48.640 The language is very graphic to get our attention. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:59.599 Two times in the New Testament, this phrase is used May the rocks fall on us, may the mountains cover us in the rubble. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:15.119 The first time Jesus uttered the words on his way into Jerusalem for the last time, he prophesied that soon, within decades, and we know that it was 70 A.D. 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:19.839 when the Romans came in and just leveled the city. 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:22.559 They slaughtered the Jews. 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:26.319 It was a horrible time. 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:33.839 And Jesus saw that and he said, on that day, you're going to cry out, I wish I was never born. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:36.640 I wish I didn't have to deal with all this. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:40.400 But there's a second time we find this phrase in the New Testament. 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:42.960 It's actually in the last book of the Bible. 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:46.319 Revelation chapter 6. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:47.759 Listen to these words. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:50.720 It may be a while perhaps since you've heard these words. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:53.279 Beginning to read at verse 12. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:16.400 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, and the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:24.000 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:41.359 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and the rocks. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:42.400 This is what they say. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:44.160 This is what they will say one day. 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:54.559 Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come. 00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:56.720 And who can stand? 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:00.079 That's going to happen. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:09.359 Those words are referring not to 70 AD, those words are referring to when Jesus comes back to judge this world. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:21.200 And there are going to be countless people who are going to understand, who are going to think exactly these things as they see the cataclysmic return of Christ. 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:25.759 You think you're going to see something special tomorrow with this eclipse? 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:28.640 I'm telling you, that's nothing. 00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:31.839 That's nothing compared to what is going to happen one day. 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:35.839 A lot of people are getting all jazzed up about this. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:37.279 Okay, fine. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:40.559 This is just an eclipse. 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:43.359 It happens once in your lifetime. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:44.960 Okay, we get it. 00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:47.839 But that's nothing. 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:52.720 What the revelation is saying is going to happen on the day when Jesus returns. 00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:58.240 To the sun, to the moon, to the stars. 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:00.960 And there's going to be two kinds of people. 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:07.440 There's going to be the person that says, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, because you know the judgment's not coming for you. 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:16.160 And then there's the other person who's going to say, fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne. 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:19.359 That's God the Father, and from the wrath of the Lamb. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:23.039 Usually we don't associate the Lamb with wrath right now when he's seated, do we? 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:30.799 The Lamb of God, the precious Lamb of God, is not to be trifled with. 00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:34.240 The scriptures speak of the wrath of the Lamb. 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:39.279 When he returns, it will be blessing for his people. 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:43.359 It will be judgment for those who are not his people. 00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:48.319 The judging of deception. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:52.720 Stop putting moves on ourselves. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:57.839 But we can't do it alone. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:02.559 We'll never see this ourselves unless the Holy Spirit shows us. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:07.359 The Holy Spirit is the only one that can show me when I'm putting a move on myself. 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:12.559 The Holy Spirit is the only one that can say, wait a minute, I want you to think about what you're doing. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:14.079 I want you to look at your actions. 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:16.400 I want you to look at your attitudes. 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:19.119 I want you to be honest with yourself. 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:21.680 That's the Holy Spirit. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:24.720 You'll never figure this out on your own. 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:26.000 Nor will I. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:29.039 But let's look at the last part. 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:30.960 Deception confessed. 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:32.160 Verse 12. 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:34.240 What a precious verse this is. 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:38.319 Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love. 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:40.720 Break up your fallowed ground. 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:43.680 For it is time to seek the Lord. 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:47.200 Break up your fallow. 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:51.920 Some translations translate it, your unplowed ground. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:53.759 The unplowed ground. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:57.680 No, he's not talking about your garden and your backyard. 00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:00.799 You know what he's talking about. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:05.839 This unplowed ground in my heart. 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:13.519 Verse 13, you have plowed iniquity, you have reaped injustice. 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:18.880 This takes us back to what Pastor Howell preached on several weeks ago in Galatians chapter 6. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:24.400 Galatians chapter 6, verses 6 and 7. 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:31.200 We come back to these ominous words, these true words. 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:35.440 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:38.960 For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:45.359 For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap the flesh in corruption. 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:53.599 But the one who sows to the Holy Spirit will from the Holy Spirit reap eternal life. 00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:57.519 Now those are words to study. 00:27:57.759 --> 00:27:59.519 Those are words to understand. 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:01.519 Those are words to live by. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:06.240 We reap, yes, what we sow. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:10.559 Deception confessed. 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:13.920 Break up your unplowed ground. 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:19.680 Jeremiah says in chapter 4, verse 3, the hard ground of double plowing. 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:24.559 That's an interesting idiom in the Hebrew. 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:27.519 Your double plowing. 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:32.960 What we're saying here is the hard ground gets harder. 00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:36.000 Therefore, it needs a deep plowing. 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:40.720 It needs what theologians call a, or farmers say, a plow plan. 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:46.079 Repentance is deep plowing. 00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:48.799 Everybody with me? 00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:50.319 This is the point. 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:54.079 Repentance is deep plowing. 00:28:54.319 --> 00:29:06.480 It's inviting the Holy Spirit in to see what we don't see, to confess what we need to confess, to receive the forgiveness that God is offering us. 00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:12.160 But it requires a deeper plowing. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:22.640 Repentance takes place when the light exposes the darkness, and we respond by admitting whatever has captured our affections other than God. 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:29.440 Break up your unplowed ground. 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:34.400 Notice the way the language, in the language, there's a part that you play in that. 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:36.640 There's a part that I play. 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:42.160 I have to invite the Spirit to show me what I'm not seeing. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:53.440 I need to confess and say, Lord, would you show me so that I can confess, so that I can acknowledge, so that the weeds will come up and the seed will grow up? 00:29:53.680 --> 00:30:00.319 Think of all the times in the scriptures where God talks about the sowing of the good seed, the parable of the sower. 00:30:02.079 --> 00:30:03.759 Don't be today. 00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:11.039 Don't be that person that the seed of this world, you're hearing this sermon, that the seed doesn't fall on the ground and just bounce off. 00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:12.400 Don't be that person. 00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:21.440 Don't be that person that that seed starts to grow up, and all of a sudden the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, overtake and choke that seed. 00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:22.799 Don't be that person. 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:29.119 You ask Jesus to show you. 00:30:29.359 --> 00:30:37.119 You ask Jesus to save you from what the enemy would do by taking the good seed that you're hearing tomorrow, today. 00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:45.039 Our union with Christ is precious. 00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:51.039 Jesus, I need you. 00:30:52.400 --> 00:30:55.200 I need you to be the lover of my soul. 00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:58.640 I need you to be the savior of my soul. 00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:05.039 You bought me at the price of your blood. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:07.519 I want to be yours. 00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:09.359 Yo only. 00:31:09.680 --> 00:31:10.960 No other lovers. 00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:13.759 Lord Jesus, would you please give me this? 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:14.880 Heart. 00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:17.599 Would you please give me this power? 00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:20.880 And watch what he'll do. 00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:24.400 As we end, we just say the obvious thing. 00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:26.559 Jesus alone is the true vine. 00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:28.240 We're the branches. 00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:31.759 Jesus, you're the vine. 00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:35.759 You're the life-giving force in my life. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:39.519 I need resurrection power flowing in my heart. 00:31:39.839 --> 00:31:40.960 How about you? 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:45.680 Jesus, I come to you. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:47.519 By faith. 00:31:48.079 --> 00:31:49.359 I trust you. 00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:52.400 You know how to forgive me. 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:55.359 You know how to bless me. 00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:00.319 Rescue me from my own self-deception, Jesus. 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:06.079 And so we repent even this morning of trying to be the vine ourselves. 00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:11.359 I'd ask you at this time to take your bulletin. 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:17.279 Would you turn to the confession of sin? 00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:25.839 Would you read silently this confession before we read it aloud? 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:05.839 Would you stand? 00:33:09.599 --> 00:33:11.279 Reading together. 00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:23.279 O Father of all righteousness, your prophets of old testified to the unplowed ground in the hearts of your people. 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:30.480 This day we acknowledge that the ground of our own hearts remains hardened. 00:33:30.799 --> 00:33:44.640 Even as we pray to you, we find it easiest to confess our most obvious surface-level sins, and even these sometimes remain rooted in our lives. 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:57.680 However, though this kind of confession may prick our conscience, the plow does not cut deeply enough to turn over the hard ground of our idols. 00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:05.440 We confess that we need a kind of change we cannot bring about for ourselves. 00:34:05.759 --> 00:34:16.639 Holy Spirit, please break up our heart's most unyielding soil and guide us to deep conviction and real repentance. 00:34:17.119 --> 00:34:28.400 We ask for faith to look to Jesus, our righteous high priest, for our forgiveness, our cleansing, and our healing. 00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:29.360 Amen. 00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:36.400 And listen to what David, the prophet, knew and experienced. 00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:39.440 I acknowledged my sin to you. 00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:43.119 I stopped covering my iniquity. 00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:51.920 I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. 00:34:53.519 --> 00:34:54.960 Think of those words. 00:34:55.280 --> 00:34:59.360 You forgave the iniquity of my sin. 00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:02.639 And that was not just for David. 00:35:03.519 --> 00:35:05.760 That's for all of us who would come to Jesus. 00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:07.199 Please be seated.