Relentless Mercy: God Refuses to Give You Up

See, sin is serious, but it's not stronger than God's mercy. Some of you walked in today thinking, I think I maybe wandered too far. I wonder if I just failed too many times. I keep doing the same stupid sin. I got such a mess. God must be done with me. He can't use me. But listen to Hosea. God does not say, why should I take you back? He says, how can I give up on you? And the answer to that question is the cross. [00:51:03] (80 seconds)  #MercyStrongerThanSin

See, the entire bible tells a story of humanity running away from God. And Hosea tells a story of God who refuses to stop running after us. So the bottom line, God is a resilient missionary who refuses to give up on you, so he gave up his son instead. Amen? [00:52:23] (26 seconds)  #GodRunsAfterYou

I mean, imagine standing in a courtroom and all the evidence there in the courtroom is overwhelming. It's saying you're guilty. You're guilty. You're guilty. All everything points to you. There's no escaping it. And so when the judge gives his verdict, he says, you are guilty. It's no surprise. But what is surprising is the unthinkable that happens. For the judge gets out of his chair, he takes off his robe, and he takes your place, [00:37:54] (33 seconds)  #JudgeTakesYourPlace

If God is just and he is just, we've seen his justice, and and sin must be paid for and sin deserves judgment, then then how can mercy win? How does mercy win in this situation? When there's to be justice for the sin? And the answer is the cross. It's the cross. See, b, God reveals the tension between his justice, mercy, and at the cross, his mercy satisfies his justice. [00:32:04] (30 seconds)  #CrossSatisfiesJustice

It's like when a hiker is lost in the wilderness, the rescue team doesn't say, well, we'll just let him find his way back. I'm sure he knows where it's at. They launched helicopters. They send search dogs. They comb the mountains. Why? Because something that was valuable is missing. That's the picture that Isaiah is bringing of god's heart. You are valuable and you are missing. God does not wait for the lost to find them. God comes after them. [00:42:30] (34 seconds)  #GodSearchesTheLost

See, God doesn't just merely forgive sinners. See, that's the problem. We think, oh, God just forgives us, and then he forgives us, and we just go live our life. No. He forgives you and adopts you and brings you to his home. He brings you to his family. His family is his church. There are no orphans in God's family. We all belong. That's what he does. That's what his grace does. An adopted child asked their parents, why'd you choose me? [00:48:51] (35 seconds)  #AdoptedIntoFamily

Have you ever tried to give up? Have you ever you just tried to give up on someone, and then you realize you couldn't. Right? Parents know this feeling. Right? You say something like, that's it. I am done. I have had enough of you. And then minutes later, you're making a sandwich for them. Parents parenting has a lot of those moments like that. You threatened to sell your child on Facebook marketplace, but then you remember they're yours. Love does something strange to us. It refuses to quit, and that's exactly what we see in Hosea today. [00:21:47] (53 seconds)  #LoveRefusesToQuit

Has said means God's love is not based on your faithfulness. It's based on his faithfulness. It's based on him who is faithful and perfect in every way. Lamentations three twenty two tries to capture. It says, the steadfast love of the lord never ceases his mercies, never come to an end. God's mercies are not running out. They never run out. In fact, they overflow. [00:35:28] (35 seconds)  #SteadfastMercyOverflow

If you can spit while you say it, you're even better. But Hesed, and it's often translated as a steadfast love, loving kindness, but it means deeper than that. Hesed love is a covenant love. It's a kind of love that says, I am committed to you even when you're not faithful to me. It's not a fragile love, a temporal love, a conditional love, an emotional love. It's a love that refuses to quit no matter what. [00:34:58] (30 seconds)  #HesedCovenantLove

See, God's mercy does not ignore justice. It satisfies justice at the cross. Jesus was the one put forward for us. It was a propitiation. In other words, was by his blood was the atoning sacrifice. He paid the debt in full for us and therefore satisfied the justice of God, satisfied the punishment for our sins, and so mercy is released from the cross. From that one who is just gives it to those who believe and become the justice and the righteousness of Christ. [00:33:53] (35 seconds)  #MercyPaidAtTheCross

See, be God's wrath does not disappear. It falls somewhere else. It doesn't fall on Israel. It doesn't fall on you. It falls on Christ. It falls on Christ. God's wrath is not satisfied by people perishing. He isn't in heaven going, I'm winning. I'm right. It's only satisfying when the wrath falls on Christ who was perfect and obedient in every way Because in that, you can win. Isaiah reminds us he was pierced for our transgressions, our sins. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. [00:38:33] (44 seconds)  #WrathFallsOnChrist

See, it's at the cross is where God's heart, his is is fully revealed to us. It's where justice and mercy finally meet. It's how he makes a way where there is no way. He brings a way for us to come back home and be with him. It's a cross that shows you that God's love refuses to quit on you. And it shows number three, god pursues the lost. He pursues the wanderer, the drifter, the self assured, the discouraged heavy laden. [00:39:16] (52 seconds)  #CrossMakesWayHome

I mean, if you really wanna save the world, it's not through politics. It's through Jesus. If you wanna change the world, if you wanna leave a legacy, it's not having millions of dollars. It's sharing Jesus. It is leaving a legacy of I discipled one who discipled another who discipled another, and there's a generations of a faith family that's you are gonna is rejoicing. Heaven is rejoicing. Heaven doesn't say, I'm glad you cut that deal. Let's rejoice. [00:46:54] (38 seconds)  #DiscipleToDiscipleLegacy

And so see, God's first instinct towards sinners is not abandonment. I'm done with you. I had enough. No. It's compassion. Even in the Old Testament, it's compassion. He's passionately refusing to abandon them. It's a reminder if we've been in a series of this great Hebrew word, the old testament, that again and again describes God's love. And that word is Hesed. [00:34:29] (30 seconds)  #HesedNotAbandonment

God does not wait for the lost to find them. God comes after them. I mean, Jesus told the parable, right, in Luke. What man of you having a 100 sheep if has lost one of them? Does not leave the 99 in an open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, say to them, rejoice with me for I have found my sheep that was lost. [00:43:00] (31 seconds)  #ParableOfLostSheep

The church is not a museum. It's not a a gathering for a holy huddle. It's a group of people in a rescue mission for sinners. Or I like to say a resilient missionary, one who doesn't give up on others, who goes out and has a life saving medicine that can save someone. It's the gospel. It's what the gospel does. It gives life where there's death. It wakes up to sleep and gives eternal life in Jesus. [00:46:17] (37 seconds)  #ChurchAsRescueMission

Because Hosea answers a question most people never dare to ask. And the question is, what does God feel when his people wander? What goes on in the heart of God when his people who he loves, who he's created, drift away? Most of us assume we know the answer. We assume a god's god eventually says, that's enough. I'm done. I'm done with you. But Hosea has an astonishing different answer. [00:25:35] (41 seconds)  #HoseaAnswersTheHeart

God, the heavenly father, knows all, sees all. And and we know he's seen their spiritual adultery. He has seen their betrayal. He has seen their outright rebellion, and he still says all he says, I how can I give up on you? It raises the question. If God is just and he is just, we've seen his justice, and and sin must be paid for and sin deserves judgment, then then how can mercy win? How does mercy win in this situation? [00:31:41] (36 seconds)  #HowCanIGiveUpOnYou

Sin breaks God's heart, and sin, if God is a just God, has to be punished. And so how can Jesus show such mercy to this woman caught in adultery? How can he show such mercy to her and to us? It's because why? Because God deals with our sin. He gets his hands dirty. Paul writes in Romans three twenty five. He says, in whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. [00:33:02] (31 seconds)  #GodGetsHisHandsDirty

The book of Hosea is written to three kinds of people. The first one is the wanderer. People who know deep down, they have drifted away from God. Not necessarily loudly and dramatically and wildly, they just slowly, quietly drift over time. Prayer got thinner. The word got quieter, and other things are more important. And if they're honest, there it goes. Sometimes They wonder, has God found The second is the believers. [00:22:41] (57 seconds)  #HoseaSpeaksToWanderers