My Pulpit Message Notes: LOVING GRACE

LOVING GRACE

My Pulpit Message Notes are transcribed from the sermon preached at the Nairobi Baptist Church (NBC) Ngong Road on Sunday 26th February, 2023. Preacher - Reverend Evans Mutamba. Scripture: Hosea 11-14. Topic: Loving Grace

1. Determination of God - Hosea 11

2. Disobedience of Humanity - Hosea 12-13

3. Deliverance of God - Hosea 14

Determination of God - Hosea 11

Hosea 11:1 - God is showing how determined He is to love Ephraim. He is so determined to love Ephraim, not for a short while, but He is saying, “When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt I called my son.”

- We all remember how the children of Israel went to Egypt and out of starvation and famine there was no food and it was in God’s will and plan to take them there so that He will multiply them and cause them to blossom in number. Indeed there they flourished.

It was in God’s love to be with them and nurture and took care of them so that step by step the children of Israel will grow. So after they had fully grown and multiplied, historians suggest that over two million by the time they were being freed from Egypt. Tis is a combination of more than two million coming out. They went there, hardly more than seventy in number of people going to Egypt, but when they are coming out they were a fully developed nation.

- It is good to know that when Israel were still a small people in number living in slavery, which turned to become worse day by day and they began crying out to God because of the taskmaster. Te Egyptians and Pharaoh had commanded to have them punished and the Israelites cried out to God. Tat was the act of God’s providence and love.

And He took them out into the wilderness and there God made a unique declaration in Exodus 19:5-6, “5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

So God is declaring that Israel is special to Him. They are peculiar. A kingdom of priests. You will represent Me on earth. You are so much different from others and because I have chosen you.

- This reminds us of the words of Jesus Christ spoken to His disciples, He said, ‘You did not choose Me, I chose you. So God chose the children of Israel because of His own will and evolution.

- God was determined to love them. He was committed to love them. And He was said to love them.

- We see this when Jacob was by all standards a guy that He was not so close to. A guy who swindled the blessings of his brother. If a guy can make the animals reproduce differently and this is your employee. Tis is a guy you do not want to draw so close to. But God had made up His mind to love him. Not because he was so good, but because God had chosen him, to love him.

This reminds us of the words of Paul in Romans 8:8, “While we were yet sinners God demonstrate His love towards us by sending Jesus Christ to die for us.” He died for us not because we were good. He loved us not because we deserved, but because of His mercy and grace.

- Many times brothers and sister we come before Him and when we begin to introspectively look at ourselves we feel totally unworthy. We deserve not to come before Him, yet He allows us, He invites us, He welcomes us to come to Him.

- Not as improved people who have changed themselves, but we come as we are so that He can change us. That is God’s love.

- Hosea 11:3-4 we see that God is determined to care for Ephraim. He says,

“It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize, it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.”

- That is God’s care. He is so determined to care for Ephraim. As parents we identify with this. When we cared for our little babies and sometimes they misbehave, but continually reaching out to them, showing them how to walk, teaching them how to conduct themselves, supporting them so that they can stand on their own. Always there caring and never giving up.

- If there is one person that never gives up, it is the parent. And more so, mothers. They just never give up, and God is just showing to Ephraim that they / you never recognised of my leading and guidance, but I cared for you.

- Isn’t this true of us? How many time I have failed to recognise the care, the leading, the provision of God, but that has never stopped God from caring for us because He is determined to care. He can never deny Himself. He says He is faithful when we are faithful. And even when we are not faithful, He remains faithful because He can never deny Himself. That is the God we serve. Committed to care for us. And this is what He is showing to Israel / Ephraim in Hosea.

- They have walked away from Him, but God is still stretching forth His hands to care. When Israel was in her infancy, God was there for her. He literally took care of Israel. While they were in the wilderness He shielded then against the scotching heat of the sun by the pillar of a cloud and at night He ensured that they were not exposed to danger by providing a pillar of fire for guiding them to keep them moving, because God cares.

- The truth of the Scripture is, He changes not. God is determined to pursue His people. He is not planning to give up on you. Sometimes we give up on ourselves, but God is so determined, He says, “How can I give up Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? God has no plan of giving up in you.

- You could be at one of those worse places where you feel so disgusted with yourself, like the prodigal son. A son left taking care of pigs, wallowing in poverty and hunger and he looked at himself feeling unworthy coming to be a son. And sometimes we get there, feeling totally messed up with our lives and feeling we are not ft to be called sons. But God says, “How can I give up on you? That is quite refreshing and soothing to my heart. Just knowing that God is so committed to follow me through and has no intention in plan of giving up.

Disobedience of Humanity. Hosea 12-13

-From Hosea 11:12 we see that Ephraim was full of deceit and rebellion. Hosea 12:1 says “1 Ephraim feeds on the wind; he pursues the east wind all day and multiplies lies and violence. He makes a treaty with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.

- Deceit and rebellion. Not following the rules of God and choosing to rely on another nation. Not relying on God. As if they never knew the truth, that cursed is any man who trust and depends on another man, but blessed is he who makes the LORD his fortress - who trusts in the LORD.

So Israel decides to rely on Assyria and Egypt. They paid their taxes there. They depended on those nations and chose not to walk in the counsel of the LORD.

But this is the condition of the human heart. It is not unique only to Israel. Hasn’t the Scripture told us, the heart of man is desperately wicked. Who can understand it? But I the LORD searches the heart.

Sometimes we begin running away from this reality with a nice, good feeling and failure to search our hearts constantly, like David saying, Oh, search me Oh LORD, and if there be any uncleanliness would you cleanse my heart. Search me that I may be clean.

- It is critical that we constantly search our hearts. Take care of your heart for there, flows the issues of life. Constantly check your heart and see if it is still in sync with the LORD, or maybe it is no longer feeling Him.

Ephraim was also full of dishonesty, oppression and arrogance.

- Hosea 12:7-8

“ The merchant uses dishonest scales and loves to defraud. Ephraim boasts, “I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.”

Folly, deception of the heart, makes one to feel arrogant and be arrogant. Using false scales to rob others and oppress those who are in need. Feeling that because I have this and that, therefore the LORD will find no sin in me. Just like that foolish rich man. Eat and be merry for you have so much in store for you, and that very night the LORD came for his breath and everything else was a waste.

Just like the preacher would say, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. When all is said and done, check your heart.

- How many times have we in this country experienced dishonest scales? You go a shop to buy one kilogram of sugar and it is just 0.95 g. They don’t take much, just a little. It rains and you are using public transport and the fare just shoots up. You drive into a petrol station and because they speculate the prices are going to change in the evening and so there is no fuel. Landlords - they will talk about the paint and the taps and the deposit will not be refunded.

How many times do we witness the oppression of the poor? You have a house manager and you know for sure what you pay is not suffcient to keep this person or their family’s upkeep and because that day she knows she is going home and there is no food and you haven’t arrived and just takes part of the four in the house and the following day she is fired. ‘You are a thief!’

Sometimes we witness the display of arrogance of citizens on their fellow citizens in this country. What will you do (Uta do?), where can you take me? (utanipeleka wapi?) Arrogance.

- We never care about those who seem to be less because they are less privileged. They are needy. But this term needy also doesn’t have a clear definition in this country? Who is needy? But at least you and I know very well that we can put food on the table, we can afford do many other things. Most likely our children are not in public schools, but private schools, but we still say, ‘who is needy, i am also needy? There is ambiguity and there is no clear demarcation.

- Ephraim was fully committed to pursue idolatry because that is what their hearts decided. When Ephraim spoke, people trembled. He was exalted in Israel, but he became guilty of Baal worship and died.

- Similarly it is so easy in this country to say I do not worship the moon, or stars, or I don’t face the mountain, like in my village where I come from, when not facing the trees, I will face Mount Elgon, and we give it a name e.g Mount Zion. I could not be facing Mount Zion, but there are things that I hold on to so dearly and will pursue them at the expense of pursuing God. I will do anything to make extra money. I will do anything to ascend in rank. I will do anything to stand higher than the rest. And the preacher would say, ‘Useless, useless, all is useless.’ They may seem to be useful in this life now, but in the age to come, they may be a hindrance.

Deliverance of God - Hosea 14

God sets a condition for Him to deliver His people. He says, “O Israel, return to the Lord your God,

For you have stumbled because of your iniquity; 2 Take words with you, And return to the Lord.

Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, For we will offer the sacrifces[a] of our lips. 3 Assyria shall not save us, We will not ride on horses, Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’ For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”

- Friends, it doesn’t matter where we have been. It doesn’t matter the conditions of our hearts. Te LORD saying, ‘Return to Me.’ We may have missed the way / slipped / messed along the way, but the solution is not giving up / or feeling sorry for ourselves, blaming ourselves, or others. Te solution is come to the LORD. Like the prodigal son, I will go back to my Father.

- Once upon a time I was a Sunday School teacher and there was this song, ‘With Jesus Christ on the boat I can go sailing home.’

- We can always have Jesus Christ in this boat, and with Him in the boat we are safe, we can go sail home.

- Friends we are invited to return to the LORD regardless of where we are, or going through and the LORD says, “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them. 5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily.”

- When we return to the LORD, He will heal us.

Conclusion

- You are there and struggling to know whether God loves you or not. I have come to assure you that He deeply loves you. Maybe you have been through a situation and doubting, does He really love me, does He care for me? Because of what I’ve gone through does He care for me? I have come to assure you the He does.

- Yes it is possible that you have also not acted well and you feel, I don’t deserve to be loved by Him. Paul reminds us, that while we were yet sinners, God still cares for you. Return to Him and He will heal your heart / state / condition. He will make a way where there seems to be no way.

- This is not a religious statement, but a Biblical truth, He will come through for you.