Further than what I want to be

Hosea 7:1–9 (AV)

¹ When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without. ² And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face. ³ They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. ⁴ They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened. ⁵ In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners. ⁶ For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire. ⁷ They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

⁸ Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. ⁹ Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.

Today we are going to look at something that I've realized could sneak up on anyone. We are going to look at an apostasy that can come upon you unawares.

Waking up one morning and realizing that we are much further away from the shore than we've expected to be. It wasn't something that we've planned or deliberately did but all of a sudden we look up and just like the when the Lord said to Ephraim - you're losing strength and don't even know it. There are signs of old age and even death upon you, and you don't even know that it's there - everyone else can see it except you. I want to talk to you today about how far we can drift without even knowing it.

I remember as a child, one of the things that I've remembered hearing about was a rash of drownings. I've remembered hearing about my childhood neighbor Robert Fields getting a stomach cramp and drowning although he was an expert swimmer. Another friend, Alex Keventzel, had died drowning. What this had done to me was give me a healthy fear of the water that it stunted my learning how to swim at an early age. One thing I remember learning about was something called an undertow, has anybody ever heard of the word undertow? To understand how an undertow works, think about what happens when waves break on shore. The water obviously has to go somewhere, and this is what causes an undertow: as waves break, water from previous waves runs underneath them, creating a gentle current which runs back out to sea. When there is heavy wave action, the undertow may not be able to get out, and as a result the water builds up and looks for a weak point in the breaking waves. When the water finds a weak point, it pushes out to sea, creating a rip current. The important thing that I want you to take from this is the result of the undertow. If you are a swimmer - you can be going along fine, but at the same time not realize where you are or how far you are from the shore. This can lead you to a place that you've never intended to go in the first place.Hebrews 2:1 (NASB95)

Give Heed

1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.

It's not just attention but closer attention - which means that there has to be this diligence with it. And this deliberate observing of our lives with Jesus in order to make sure we are in line. Because there is always this undertow that is looking to take us away from the center of Christ.

We are living in a world/society that if there is not a deliberate effort to serve Jesus-this world will drag you away. There are things and forces that are present of wickedness on this world that if you are not beginning to move toward Christ - these things become like an undertow that will bring you away from Christ. That's why the Bible says,2 Corinthians 6:14–18 (NASB95)

14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?

16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,

“I will dwell in them and walk among them;

And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.

“And do not touch what is unclean;

And I will welcome you.

18 “And I will be a father to you,

And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”

Says the Lord Almighty.

But what he tries to show in the very beginning to this prospering nation, was that there was an undertow that was coming. Trying to show the people that though things were going well on the outside, something was starting to move their heart from serving God as the very center and focus of their lives. What Hosea does in the first few verses of chapter 7 was - paint a beautiful clear picture of the very images that he begins to see for the people that were there. In fact his overriding image in the whole prophesy is this image of marriage. Hosea the prophet married a woman that bore him three children, then left the marriage and became a prostitute. Gomer his wife became a prostitute and He literally had to go out and buy his wife back, and God was going to use Hosea's life and lesson for the entire nation of what actually was happening Spiritually to the people who were there. And he was trying to speak to them before they divorce God as their  husband. He was starting to bring them back from what they may perceive as everything being OK. They had everything set in their heart but they never realized that their heart was being taken away by an undertow, which brought them further and further away from God. And that's where we come to chapter 7 of the book of Hosea. It's as if the Holy Spirit stops, and begins to speak to this undercurrent that's beginning to take place , and begins to go after this very thing that took place among their people. And he begins to notice 3 things that we've got to go after, that we have to deal with.

The first thing that he does is declare that they have to beware of a superficial consecration.

Hosea 6:4 (AV) O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.
God said your goodness and your wanting to live holy is as volatile and disappearing as the morning dew, it shows up-and as quick as it comes is as quick as it goes.
There is no abiding holiness in your life. You can be holy in the morning and unrighteous in the evening. In this verse God says what shall I do unto thee - it sounds as if God was bewildered with this people. It's almost like schizophrenia - reading the Bible in the morning, cursing someone out in the afternoon. What we see is a superficial consecration that begins to come upon you, and it literally bewilders me is what God says.

The second thing is a partial consecration: Hosea 7:8 (AV) Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people - Ephraim is a cake not turned. Think about what that statement means. It's burnt one one side and doughy on the other. It's inedible, it's totally useless. Overdeveloped on one side deficient on the other, overboard with one thing and don't even have the other thing together. He says there is no balance in your life Ephraim. When the fire of the Holy Ghost comes He doesn't just want to affect one part of you, but he comes to go over every single area of your life. God wants our mouths as well as he wants our wallets, our Mondays as well as our Sundays. But if all you have together is your church lingo on Sunday and Ebonics on Monday through Saturday-you've become a cake unturned. If you know how to speak to people in the church but don't know how to speak to your spouse in the car you've become a cake unturned. Every single part of our lives need to be touched by the Holy Ghost. Every part has to be exposed not just so we can sing some worship songs, but so we can sing when we don't have any music. Because God wants to be there to bless your life everyday. Don't just expose yourselves on Sunday, but everyday-God hit every single area of my life.

And He  warned them of their partial separation v.8 Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people- there was a wrong association with the world that takes away our voice, so that we lose our witness. The bible is clear that we are not supposed to be isolated from the world Jesus would eat with the pharisees and associate with the tax gatherers. He associated with those who everyone considered  to be castaways and those that the Jewish people would consider as pagans. But, what God is telling Ephraim here is that there is a right mixing and a wrong mixture. When I'm with unsaved people it ministry - when I'm with the lost I'm thinking how can I get them to Christ? And that becomes the difference between the word "ministry" and the word "fellowship." You minister to the world you have fellowship with believers. What God is saying over here is that you've blended in and lost your voice of authority. The power of God is no longer present in your lives. Nobody even knows that you are a believer anymore. You've mixed right in- they may know that you go to church, but that's all they notice. They see that you only have one day that's committed instead of a life committed to Christ. God help us - I don't just want to be known as someone who just goes to church - I want to be known as someone who surrenders his life to Jesus. I've seen a play by Tyler Perry called "Meet the Browns", and something really hit me about what Tyler had said about the lead actor and actress in the play, David and Tamela Mann. He said that they don't only play Christians on the play, but they live it on the set, off the set, and throughout their lives. There is a consistency in their walk. I don't want to be known as somebody that just comes to church on Sunday or someone who has a fake metal fish in the back of my car. I want to be someone who is sold out for Jesus Christ. There's a big difference between going to church and serving Jesus. In Hosea what God was talking about was a people with a partial separation - they have mixed themselves among the nations, but yet are still called the people of God.

Finally what He tells them about is this unconscious deterioration which we've read in verse 9: Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. - Yesterday I was working at the Home Depot store in Mill Basin and I saw people I haven't seen in over 5 years. One of the people was a young guy in the paint section who remembered me very well and when he saw me he said wow you got gray hairs poping up all over the place. I wanted to lay hands on him like Sanballat and Tobias. He was right though, what I've began to realize is that you don't ever think about it, I never thought about how many grays come out, the change is so gradual. Nobody notices the transition of hair from brown to gray, it doesn't show up in a night - they are not there in one day - it's just this unconscious thing that begins to happen. Gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. It's almost as if he's showing us that backsliding is usually unintentional, it's something that you begin to start drifting away and don't know it's there. People begin to see it and they begin to take note of it. All of a sudden there is a little bit of a fervor that is lost, the effort of being in the House of the Lord is lost, and all of a sudden it just happens - and everybody notices it but you! Over the years someone can see you and say wow you've gained weight or gotten gray - because you haven't seen them.You don't notice the aging, gray hair, or weight gain. The image that Ephraim is living under is the image that something is happening to you and you don't even notice it. It's a Spiritual decline that everybody is noticing as the gray hair. This happens because we are not even looking in the mirror of His word like in James 1 says. And because we are not looking in the mirror of the word daily we don't even know the decline that we've undertaken. God says to Ephraim - although every thing looks fine on the outside your righteousness is becoming as quick as the dew - here in the morning and gone in the afternoon. You are involved in a holy mixture and you are losing all the voice of authority.

You have found that you can play games and get away with it because nobody will ever know - go on the Internet, look at questionable sites, hang out with that friend who plays the whore - nobody will ever know. Like Ephraim you have mixed yourself with the nations, but nobody sees a distinction with your life anymore. You've become a cake not turned - you don't yield over every single part of you. You justify the things or attempt to justify the things that you don't want exposed to the fire of God. That Elicit relationship, that dirty movie or the R rated films that you sit to watch. Do you realize that the more you look at that stuff the more insensitive you get? 1 Timothy 4:1–3 (AV)

¹ Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; ² Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; ³ Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

Romans 1:28–32 (AV)

²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; ²⁹ Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, ³⁰ Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹ Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: ³² Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Lord don't leave me unturned, deal with everything in my life-mind/heart/motives/tithes/me as a spouse - don't let me get so religious that I know all the traditions of the church, but lose the freshness of being in your presence. God let the fire of the Holy Ghost even touch that area - touch every single area. Because if all I'm doing is singing songs, but lost the joy of my salvation-shine upon that area.

God don't let me miss it when you are beginning to speak to my heart - I don't want to be the one who walks into this place and people notice a change in my walk, how I carry myself, devotion where somethings missing, declension in my spirit. And everybody else sees it, but I can't even tell that it's upon me. When the worship stops the image of the gray hair that shows that everything is slowing down and in my walk and eventually dies - and I don't even notice it! And I am asking you lord to come and examine me again - don't let me drift Holy Spirit. Don't let me drift from the shore.

Now look with me in Hosea 14 - I thank God that He doesn't just reveal the problem and leave you to your own devices. But He shows the way to victory.Hosea 14:1–3 (AV)

¹ O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. ² Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. ³ Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

The first thing that God provides is repentance in verse 2 turn to the LORD. See the problem with Saul and Pharaoh was that instead of doing 180s they did 360s. They'd take a few steps in the right direction, but go right back to their ways. Just turn to the Lord and He will take away all iniquity. The word iniquity is the bend or your natural tendencies which are at enmity with the Lord, that natural tendency to sin.

Lord take away not just the bad thing but everything that brings me to the place that I am predisposed to sin in. That's the old friends that I used to have, the old places that I used to go, that old music that made me in the mood to do something nasty or get angry, Lord take away everything but Jesus.

And then watch this in verse 3 there is not just a repentance but a renouncing of things.³ Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. Do you see what he says here?

He says you declare to the thing that have drove you away you are not my God, but I have a God that will be a father to the fatherless. Your hands will not get me through - its the hands of God that will get me through. Theres not a people/career/finance or job that can do what God can. He says you need to learn how to renounce the things of this world and realize-we have no other person but God Himself.He says Everything else will fail you one day/not be there. Jobs will leave you - everything will go away, but there is a God in heaven who will be there every step of the way. Hosea 14:4 (AV)

⁴ I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

When you repent and you begin to turn, the result is this - God promises to bring a freshness to your life. Hosea 14:5–7 (AV)

⁵ I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. ⁶ His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. ⁷ They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

Fragrance - is a distinctness, something different about you. You are not the same as everyone else. Hosea 14:8 (AV)

⁸ Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.

I have nothing more to do with the stuff ,I've heard Him- now fruitfulness has come into my life, and I'm productive.