Knowing God - Pastor Chua Wee Hian - 7th May 2017

1. KNOWING GOD
HOSEA – a book of sharp contrasts :
Hosea and Gomer; God and Israel;
love & faithfulnessingratitude & infidelity;
fruitfulness and barrenness;
seeking God and deserting Him.

2. Hosea 6:1-6 Two Songs/Calls
The Prophetic Call to return and know God.
God’s Lament – Israel’s short-lived and fickle love.
‘Come, let us return to the LORD;
for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
he has struck down, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days he will revive us;
the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
3 Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD;
his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
like the spring rains that water the earth.’

3. 4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes away early.
5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgement goes forth as the light.
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.

4. DO YOU KNOW ME?

5. 1. KNOWING GOD
The call to know and press on to know the Lord v.3
Knowing God –Jn.17: 3 “This is eternal life that
they may know You”
True faith is not a religion, it is a relationship.
Knowing God – a life long experience where our
appreciation of Him increases.
Knowing God is reflected in intimacy
Hosea 2: 19,20
19 And I will take you for my wife for ever; I will take you
for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast
love, and in mercy. 20 I will take you for my wife in
faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.

6. 2. IGNORING & DESERTING GOD
Ignorance leads to destruction, idolatry and
moral chaos.
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
 Israel is guilty of prostitution.
Hosea 5:4 Their deeds do not permit them
to return to their God.
For the spirit of whoredom is within them,
and they do not know the LORD.
 Contemporary examples.

7. 3. LOVING GOD Hosea 6:6
“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.”
 What God desires of His people
Hebrew chesedh : covenant/steadfast love
 Illustrated by Hosea’s love for Gomer
and God’s love for Israel.
 Did God contradict Himself? Did He not institute
sacrifices? Micah 6:6-8.
6 ‘With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?

8. 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
 Contemporary examples of outward worship,
religious rites without inner purity and devotion.

9. 4. RETURNING TO GOD Hosea 6:1; 14:1-5
 Returning from back-sliding, deserting God,
sinful ways.
 The way back to God – repentance = metanoia
Paranoia (out of mind) and
metanoia (change in mind)
 Two symbols – the clenched and the open fists

10. CONCLUSION:
Knowing God. The time is now!
Hosea 6:3; Hosea 10:12