260222 Judge and Healer

One of the most interesting statements that I've heard more than once concerning the book Hosea is folks have said to me in life groups and other times, I don't recognize the God of the Old Testament. A lot of folks have not been exposed a great deal to the Old Testament, and they do a lot of study in the New Testament. We know our gospels. But sometimes when we get deeper into the Old Testament, we don't always recognize that God because we're blessed. We live in 2026. [00:21:23] (50 seconds)  #OldTestamentGod

So we are post cross, post resurrection, we're post Pentecost. We have God's full story that we carry in our heart. We carry him with us. We have the spirit living and indwelling in us. And so when we look at stories like Hosea and Gomer, we're a little confused. But you see, we have to understand that the reason for the cross, the reason for Christ taking our sin is because as judge, God gave a price for sin. [00:22:14] (60 seconds)  #PostCrossPerspective

Because from here on now, we're going to be looking at God's relationship with Israel. We're kinda done with looking at Hosea and Gomer. He's he gave us them as a picture of how he feels about Israel. And so we see in that marriage a picture of our relationship with God. And we see that God deals with Israel first as a judge and then a healer. [00:24:18] (49 seconds)  #JudgeThenHealer

You see, this is some great news today because God's relationship with those of us whose sin begins as a judge because he's righteous. He's just. He can't even look at sin. He has no relationship with sin, and so he can only punish it. He can only judge it. And so looking at Israel and looking at even at us in the modern day church is every time we cross the Lord, we're reminded that there's a price being paid. [00:27:05] (51 seconds)  #RighteousJudge

He begins as judge, but he's calls us to confess our sin. God is judge, but he seeks us. He calls us by name. God comes for us. Now I'm gonna tell you something beloved, that gets close to some hallelujah ground. The judge comes to save. He is a judge but also a healer. And so he calls us to confess our sin. He said there in verse 15, [00:27:56] (54 seconds)  #JudgeWhoSaves

I'm gonna return again to my place that is on the throne as judge until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face. Until we recognize our sin. And as we confess our sin you see, point eight says, the God who wounds to heal. In other words, we know God's moving in our heart today as conviction from the Holy Spirit. We know the pain of breaking fellowship with our father. Don't we? [00:28:49] (47 seconds)  #GodWoundsToHeal

We know sin hurts. We know sin cripples us. We know sin breaks our fellowship with the Lord, and he is calling us to confess that. He wounds us only to heal us. In fact, in first John he says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [00:29:36] (40 seconds)  #ConfessAndBeCleansed

See, there are many in society today, many in the world today who think God's mad at them. They think God's angry. They are not sure they wanna come to God because they're not trusting how he feels. Well, beloved, I'm gonna tell you, I would rather come to God as my savior than my judge. I would rather see the cross for what it is, and that is that that's taking the punishment intended for me. [00:30:58] (50 seconds)  #GodAsSaviorNotAnger

So how can I look at that God as being angry or mad when in fact he's already paid the price for me? I just have to agree with him my sinful condition. In fact, letter b says Gomer's story shows us the natural condition of humanity. We are born in sin. We are by nature in opposition to God And that's why he comes for us. He comes for us. [00:31:48] (52 seconds)  #BornInSinGodComes

He put his son on the cross so that you and I would not have to pay the price for our sin. We would not even have to, catch this, we don't have to continue to sin. Now I'm gonna say that again because some of you are excusing yourself. We do not have to sin. We choose to. [00:32:40] (38 seconds)  #YouDontHaveToSin

You see, God can take a place as judge, but he'd rather be healer. He shed the blood of his son in order to be healer. But for him to be our healer, we must know repentance. God must create repentance. He turns us from false saviors. We do not talk enough. I don't believe, about repenting. [00:33:51] (46 seconds)  #GodCreatesRepentance

Now what most many people think is that the further they get from sin, the further they sin, deeper in sin, the further they get from God, which is so true. But they also think that when they repent, they've got a long way to go to get back to God. We think of the prodigal son who woke up in the pig slop and had to make his way back to his father. [00:35:49] (40 seconds)  #RepentanceIsNotADistance

Here's the best news you may hear all day. When I repent, guess where God is? Right there. Right there. I don't have to crawl to him. I don't have to hike back to him. I don't even have to look for him. I don't have to wonder where did God go. God doesn't stop seeking. God doesn't stop coming for us. [00:36:29] (40 seconds)  #GodIsAlreadyThere

And when he creates repentance, when we realize we've been trusting in the wrong things, he and we begin to turn back to him, is what he called Israel to do. Return to the Lord, when we do that, he's right there waiting for us. Now again, we've had two hallelujah moments and silence. K. [00:37:08] (38 seconds)  #ReturnAndHeWaits

We are seeing a picture of God that is glorious. You see Israel was trusting in false saviors. I gave you a little list there. Israel's list. Here's what they were trusting in. They were trusting in Assyria which was a political security. They were trusting a neighboring nation. B, they were trusting in their own horses, their own military strength, and the work of our hands or idolatry. [00:37:46] (45 seconds)  #FalseSaviorsOfIsrael

You see they had their false saviors and that's why they say in verse three that Assyria won't save us. We'll not ride on horses and we won't call the work of our hands our God anymore. Those were the things they were trusting in instead of returning to God. We have our own list. [00:38:31] (36 seconds)  #GiveUpFalseSaviors

We can't fix it. We're not strong enough. If we were, we wouldn't do it. Think of a sin that has been habitual in your life and ask yourself why you haven't been able to just stop on your own. I've challenged people through the years, take your day, swing yourself out of bed, and tell yourself from this moment, I am not going to sin today, and see how long you can last. [00:40:30] (55 seconds)  #StrengthIsNotEnough

Some of you will sin right after that thought. You'll at least sin before breakfast. Some of us sin during breakfast. It's called gluttony. We can't not sin. We don't we don't have the capability. We're not strong enough. We can't trust in our own strength. We can't trust in our works. The bible doesn't the bible's very clear that our works aren't gonna get us there. Now, it says also that our faith without works is dead. [00:41:25] (53 seconds)  #WorksDontSave

In other words, works are to be produced in our life. We're to live for Jesus. We're to work his preordained will for our lives, but our being changed by his blood is first. We don't work our way to salvation. Salvation puts us to work. We're to be equipped for what he wants us to do. We can't trust in our works and this may really break your heart. [00:42:18] (40 seconds)  #SalvationProducesWorks

We can't trust in our wisdom because some of us think we're pretty smart cookies. And we have seen wisdom. We have seen folks trust in their own wisdom. I have had people when I have shared Christ with them, tell me, you know, preacher, I'm just not ready for that. I'm gonna figure it out. And I just look at them and good luck. Can I tell you now you're not gonna figure it out? [00:42:58] (46 seconds)  #WisdomWontSaveYou