260308 Resting in the Faithful God

Maybe you need to hear this. Maybe you've drifted. Maybe you've become cold. Maybe you've substituted duty for devotion. Maybe you've been living in fear so long that anxiety feels normal. Maybe you're spiritually tired, emotionally numb, and privately ashamed. And maybe you said, God, I'm done. And what God says is return. Return. Now maybe some of you are here physically, but you've been kinda absent spiritually. You show up, you sing, you serve, you smile, but in inwardly, you've been feeding on the wind. And you're tired, and you're cynical, and you're numb. Maybe you haven't abandoned Christ publicly, but you stopped resting in him personally. And Hosea is not just confronting you. He's calling you home. He's calling you home. Number five. Why? [00:48:30] (67 seconds)  #ReturnToGod

We pray, and yet we still are panicked and full of anxiety. We worship, but we still walk away in worry. We confess our need for God and immediately grab the steering wheel back. We say, Lord, I trust you, but what does it mean? I trust you as long as you follow my timeline. That's not rest. Rest is not passive. Rest is not careless. Rest is not irresponsible. Rest is active dependence on a faithful god. Isaiah Isaiah twenty six three says, you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you. Notice peace does not come from understanding everything. Peace does not come from having control of everything. Peace comes from a mind that's stayed on him. [00:44:35] (56 seconds)  #RestInGod

Some trust political power. As long as our side wins, we breathe easier. If our side loses, we panic as if the throne of heaven is suddenly empty. Some trust cultural approval. We don't want to look strange. We wanna not to stand out. And the truth is that so we soften, we we blur, we trim down, we polish over all of us so we can be accepted. Some trust in success. We build our kingdoms, portfolios, our reputation, our plans. Some trust busyness. We think movement is faithfulness. We think exhaustion is holiness. We think if we just work harder, think faster, plan better, stay later, then maybe life will be held together. [00:29:23] (55 seconds)  #FalseSaviors

Because the deepest problem is not your schedule. It's not your stress level. It's not your inability to manage your life. Your deepest problem is sin. A heart curved in on itself. A heart that doesn't trust God. It goes and wanders and trusts others. It reaches out to an Egypt and an Assyria. And so Jesus did not come to try to improve your heart. He came to die so he could raise it back up to new life. That means rest is possible. It's not that we have to get disciplined enough, but salvation is finished. The guilt is answered. The standing before God is secured. Your future is not hanging in your grip on Christ, but on his grip on you. [00:51:05] (52 seconds)  #GraceNotPerformance

It's like eating the biggest thing of cotton candy you can imagine. It looks big. It tastes great. It's sweet. And then the second, it disappears in your mouth and you're still hungry for more. Or it's like going to a Chinese buffet and eating all you can and you're just stuffed. And then suddenly, you get home an hour later, you're standing in front of the refrigerator going, what else can I eat? It doesn't nurse. It doesn't hold. It leaves you empty. And that's what sin does. That's what idols do. That's what false saviors do. They promise relief and produce restlessness. They promise control and produce bondage. They promise fullness and produce hollowness. [00:39:24] (46 seconds)  #EmptyPleasures

Because Christ, a faithful son who did not run. Everything Hosea exposes about Israel finds its answer in Jesus. Israel ran for security. Jesus entrusted himself to the father. Israel sowed in the wind. Jesus bore the whirlwind. Israel became useless vessel. Jesus was the the broken, poured out vessel for us. Israel was faithless. Jesus was faithful. Here's why it matters. The gospel is not that Jesus came to coach anxiety and anxiety anxious people to become calmer versus himself. The gospel is that Jesus came to save restless sinners who could not save themselves. [00:49:36] (42 seconds)  #JesusIsFaithful

Think about a child who's in a car seat in the back seat of a car driving through the night and is asleep. That child does not know the route. That child does not know how long the drive is. That child is not checking traffic. It's not looking at the gauges. It's not looking at the gas tank. Why? Because somebody trustworthy is driving. That is rest. And now imagine if that child in the back seat said, I don't trust the one driving, unclips himself out of the car seat, crawls up to the front, and takes over and starts to drive. That would be a train wreck. Right? But that is us. Because we're not made to be sovereign or in control. We're not able to calm ourselves. In fact, the more we take control, the more it terrifies us. [00:45:31] (75 seconds)  #TrustTheDriver

And beneath all that is a great lie. And the great lie is, if I can secure myself, I'll be safe. If I can secure it myself, I truly be safe. Scripture says, though, in James four four, says, you adulterous people. Do you not know that friendship with the world is an enemy with God? Amenity. Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. So don't miss this. Scripture adultery is not only loving or doing bad things. It is trusting good things more than God. [00:30:17] (56 seconds)  #NoSelfSecurity

Because the world the world is fine if you have religion. They don't mind you having some religion as long as it stays inspirational and never becomes exclusive trust. The world says, sure. Have your faith. Have your bible. Have your church. However, if you really want to feel secure, if you really want to have peace, if you really wanna have a good life, you need more. You need more money, you need influence, you need control, you need the right people in your in in power. You need to manage your image. [00:26:34] (38 seconds)  #MoreThanReligion

So we act though, the future of the church, our family, or even the world is hanging on our shoulders. And it's not. Jesus already said, I will build my church. Not you, not me, not our frantic effort, but him. There's a line I remember from the the church when I first started in ministry and the president of congregation came up to me and he was saying, look, you're you're just you're working really hard. And and I said, well, you know, we're just gonna get through this season. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. And he says, you gotta be careful because the light at the end of the tunnel is often a train. And you're headed right to it. [00:37:39] (49 seconds)  #JesusBuildsTheChurch

I mean, this is one of the sharpest lines in all Hosea. If you sow in the wind, you reap chaos. If you plant emptiness and you expect a harvest, you invest in illusion and you expect life. You build on sand and you hope it will stand. And what comes back is not just wind, but a whirlwind. It's not just emptiness. It's intensified emptiness. It's not just trouble, but chaos. It's not anxiety, but destruction. See, a, activity without substance is what's going on. It looks like a crop from a distance. It looks like it's good. It looks like it's fruitful. It looks green. But there's no there's no movement, no activity. There's a disappearance. [00:34:36] (46 seconds)  #FruitlessBusyness

It may mean you finally named a thing that you've been treating as a savior. And you named the idol that slipped into your heart. It may mean turning the noise long enough, turning down the noise long enough, and sit in solitude that the word of God just would fill your heart and mind. It may be praying, Jesus, I've been trying to manage what belongs to you. It may mean repentance, not just obvious sin, but the functional unbelief that you've been using. It may mean refusing to let fear make your decisions. It may mean going to bed without be able to solve tomorrow's problems. It may mean saying, Lord, I'm not in control, and let's be good because you are. And that is Christian rest. [00:54:02] (50 seconds)  #RepentAndRest

And Hosea says, Ephraim has hired lovers. How tragic is that? They are paying for what they think will save them. They're investing themselves in something that cannot love them back. See what it is is a, it's misplaced trust is spiritual adultery. Israel trusted Egypt and Assyria. And to be honest, we do the same thing. I mean, we're smart enough, a little more sophisticated. We don't have carved statues, little shrines in our homes. But we still bow down to promises that the world gives of things that will bring security. [00:28:29] (54 seconds)  #MisplacedTrust

See, when we start to name these things and see these things that we really truly trust in, what we see is that we have functional gods in our lives that give us security. A child was learning to swim will sometimes panic in the water. And the lifeguard, a parent, is right there and is just saying, look, lean back. Trust me. I got you. Just float. But they're frightened. And the child starts failing and splashing and they fight and they wear themselves out. And the very thing that could hold them up feels impossible because panic says, do something now. And that's us spiritually. [00:32:28] (49 seconds)  #PanicVsFaith

the challenge is the challenge we have that we doubt God's love. We doubt that God is truly faithful, that he's truly present, he's truly good, he's truly enough. And so therefore, I secure for myself. And the that is the autonomy of anxiety. If God does not come through fast enough, I need another plan. If God's not healing the way I want it to be handled, I need to take control. If an eye cannot see what he's doing, I then need to make something happen. And then we sanctify. We call it wisdom. We call it diligence. But sometimes, it's just unbelief. [00:43:52] (43 seconds)  #UnbeliefDisguised

Like marriage is good. Family is good. Work is good. Planning is good. Money is helpful. Government has its place. Technology is useful. But the moment any of us become where our become where our hearts goes for ultimate security, they stop being gifts and start to become gods. And that's the deeper issue. The problem is not merely that Israel made poor strategic decisions. The problem is they did not believe God was enough. And before we get too hard on them, we should let Hosea expose us too. I mean, is it that you reach out to when you feel threatened? [00:31:13] (47 seconds)  #GiftsNotGods

God is inviting us to just trust him, lean back on him. That means be vulnerable, be open, and allow God to take control. Allow him to hold you. But no, we say, oh, that's too much. And we frantic. We say, we gotta do something now. So we flash around, and we do not rest, and we sink deeper into fear. See, the greatest danger to church is not persecution. It's this dependency dependency on what is not God. It's the idols in our heart. And see, this is what Jose is talking about. These false saviors, they are there, and they never stay small. They always take us somewhere. [00:33:16] (52 seconds)  #LeanBackTrust

But thanks to God, he did not leave us staring at our in our restlessness. And this is the turning point of the gospel, his covenant love that does not disappear while we wander. Number four, God's covenant love does not chase the wind. It chases us. Even in the middle of rebuke and judgment, Hosea I mean, this is hard words. And yet, what does he do? God refuses to abandon his people. Hosea eleven:eight, he says, How can I give up on you, O Ephraim? How can I let you go? I mean, it's astonishing. These people have run from God. They have wandered. They have prostituted themselves spiritually. They have fed and win. They have trusted lies. And yet the Lord says, how can I give up on you? [00:46:46] (55 seconds)  #CovenantLove

See, he can't because God is a God of covenant love. It's not sentimental love. It's not, well, I love you as long as you're doing well. It's a stubborn love. It's a pursuing love. It's a faithful love. I mean, second Timothy, Paul writes to Timothy two two thirteen. If we are faithless, he remains what? Faithful. I mean, praise God. Amen. Right? Now, that don't mean we take this verse and say, well, you know what? Sin doesn't matter because he's gonna be faithful. I don't have to be faithful. No. Hosea makes clear sin destroys. But it does mean that god's mercy is greater than your wandering. [00:47:41] (48 seconds)  #FaithfulMercy

So Isaiah takes us underneath the behavior. This is not merely about a poor decision. This is not just about habits and strategies. This is about trust. As soon as we're free, it's a failure to rest in his covenant love. The issue is not simply Israel made alliances with Egypt and Assyria. The issue is why they made those alliances because they couldn't trust god. They didn't believe the lord who brought them out brought them out, saved them, fed them, kept them, claimed to be his was enough for them. [00:42:27] (33 seconds)  #TrustTheDeliverer