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to everyone it's good to be back in the House of our God on this Lord's Day evening for our call to worship you can turn to Psalm 29 Psalm 29 then I'll begin reading in verse one the psalm of David give unto the Lord oh you mighty ones give unto the Lord glory and strength give unto the Lord the glory due to his name Worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness the voice of the Lord is is over the waters the god of Glory Thunders the Lord is over many Waters the voice of the Lord is powerful the voice of the Lord is full of majesty the voice of the Lord breaks the Cedars yes the Lord splinters The Cedars of Lebanon he makes them also skip like a calf Lebanon and Syrian like a young wild ox the voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire the voice of the Lord shakes the Wilderness the Lord shakes the wilderness of kades the voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bear and in his Temple everyone says glory the lord sat and throned at the flood and the Lord sits as king forever the Lord will give strength to his people the Lord will bless his people with peace amen will please turn with me in your hym books to number 22 hymn number 212 and we'll stand as we sing [Music] together us our to sing to prise Father all glorious for all vior us anent might th and thy our our souls byly my S iny Ru in heart of to the great eternal prise mesty in glor and [Music] to well tonight as we will remember Shirley Crow she has surgery tomorrow so please remember her tomorrow in your prayers that all would go well for her so let us pray our blessed and holy father we gather together again on this Lord's Day evening and it is our privilege and a delight to come into the presence of God most high to come to the father through the son in the spirit and we pray that God would be all in all in this place that you would be enthroned upon the Praises of your people here that you would receive our prayer as it comes through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ that you would bless the proclamation of your Truth by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and bring these things home to Bear Upon Our Own hearts and Minds we ask that in all things we would approach you with that reverence and that that joy that is befitting the the conquered soul and we pray that you would be glorified tonight we ask that you would be pleased as well to look with favor upon the various needs in our congregation we ask initially that you would forgive us for all of our sin and unrighteousness God we know that you have called us to let let our conduct be worthy of the gospel and yet we find that proness to wander and proness to leave the god that we love remaining in our hearts so we confess that now trusting in the forgiveness of sin not because of our Merit or not because of our our earning it but because of the blood and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you and we bless you for him we praise you for the gospel of our salvation for his life his death his resurrection we praise you for his current session now at the right hand of the father where he ever lives to make intercession for us and where he functions and serves as our Advocate with the father God we rejoice in this and we pray that others that are here tonight that have yet to come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ would know The Nearness of God as their good that your Holy Spirit would convict them of sin that through the preached word they would hear of a glorified Christ a glorious Christ that is able to save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through him we ask as well Lord that you would bless our dear sister Shirley she goes for surgery tomorrow we just commend her to you and to the word of your grace and pray that all would go well we pray that you would give skill and and grace to the doctor that you would just bless this procedure and may it be for her good physically may she continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior and may she just rejoice in the fact that God is hers and she is Gods as well father we pray for each and everyone in this congregation we pray for those with ongoing physical trials and challenges we pray that they would know your goodness in the midst of Affliction the psalmist said it was good for me that I was afflicted that I might seek out your statutes God may you indeed impress these lessons Upon Our Hearts and for all of us God with the spiritual trials and the difficulties and The Temptations that we face give us the grace to keep our own hearts with all d Ence knowing that from them spring the issues of life and father we pray for your blessing to be upon other churches we thank you that here in this community we're not alone we pray for those other brothers that are proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ we pray that you would bless them bless these congregations and cause them to grow in their understanding of the great God and savior as well we pray for the church and Armstrong we thank you that our brother Pastor malar can be with us tonight we look forward to hearing the word of Truth we just pray for your blessing upon him we pray that he would know The Nearness of the spirit and his ministry and God bless that church and may you continue to work in their midst may you give Grace to them and may they shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation and may they hold forth that word of Truth we pray for the brethren in Suri we thank you for pastor Kirk Patrick and his faithful Ministry there pray God that you would continue to bless them add to their number such as should be saved and father we pray for your blessing upon the church in Northern Ontario we thank you for Dan and for Josh and for their labors on behalf of the the kingdom of Christ we pray that there would be a a faithful solid Church in that Community proclaiming the word of Truth dear uh dear God we pray that you'd bless our our brother and sister John and Melena as they're in the states we pray that all would go well with her hospital or her doctor visit tomorrow give them wisdom as they proceed and we pray that you would heal our dear sister and God bless the church and Elder it we thank you for that congregation we thank you for pastor Na and for uh Remy and Moses we just pray for your blessing upon those men not just simply there in Elder but throughout Kenya may they indeed have an impact upon that that nation and may you continue to save Sinners there and may you continue to build your church there and we know and trust that when Christ does this the Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against it and in this we rejoice and as well father we pray for the persecuted Church our brothers and sisters in countries where there is severe persecution of the Believers God we ask that you would uphold them we ask that you would grant them the grace and the perseverance necessary to deal with these hardships and and and trials and may they in the midst of these things testify of a gracious savior the Lord Jesus Christ and as well we pray for the situation in Myanmar continue to surround that Orange Grove with your your help and your Aid watch over the refugees watch over over the the orphans and the widows and all of the people there and give special wisdom to Peter as he navigates a very hard and difficult situation and we do pray for a ceasefire there we pray for ceasefire in the Ukraine and in the Middle East we know Lord God that this is the antithesis when man exhibits his cruelty it certainly is opposite to The God Who is indeed love and we just pray that you would be merciful that you would be gracious that you would indeed cause there to be those things that that would bring peace in in these nations and Lord we ask for our own Nation we certainly live in a in a difficult age we live in a day and age where the the lawlessness and the wretchedness and the wickedness of man is on Full display we see it in abortion we see it in ma we see it in the sexual perversion that is so open openly openly uh uh uh encouraged and promoted and God in your wrath we pray that you would remember mercy and bless gospel preaching as it goes forth from from SE to see in this particular land and may there be a Revival of the Church of Christ may we think your thoughts after you may we pray to you may we intercede on behalf of the the situation as we perceive it and as well may there be Awakening for those who are dead in their trespasses and sins we know that now is the acceptable time today is the day of salvation so Lord bless your word as it goes forth may it run swiftly and may it be glorified and we ask this through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen you can turn with me again in your hym books to number 233 233 and we'll stand as we sing together you can turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy we're in in chapter 18 for our scripture reading tonight Deuteronomy chapter 18 basically with reference to this chapter you have concerns about the leadership in Israel first in verses 1 to8 you have the provision for priests and Levites verses 9 to14 the prohibition against Wicked Customs and then the chapter ends with the promise of another prophet in verses 15 to 22 so I'll begin reading in Deuteronomy 18 at verse1 the priests the Levites all the tribe of Levi shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire and his portion therefore they shall have no inheritance among their Brethren the Lord is their inheritance as he said to them and this shall be the priest do from the people from those who offer a sacrifice whether it is bull or sheep they shall give to the priest the shoulder the cheeks and the stomach the first fruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil and the first of the fleece of your sheep you shall give him for the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of the Lord him and his sons forever so if a levite comes from any of your gates from where he dwells among all Israel and comes with all the desire of his mind to the place which the Lord chooses that he may serve in the name of the Lord his God as all his Brethren the Levites do who stand there before the Lord they shall have equal portions to eat besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance when you come into the land which the Lord your God has giving you you shall not learn to follow the Abominations of those Nations there shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire or one who practices witchcraft or a soothsayer or one who interprets Omens or a sorcerer or one who conjures spells or a medium or a spiritist or one who calls up the dead for all who do these things are an Abomination to the Lord and because of these Abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you you shall be blameless before the Lord your God for these nations which you will dispossess listen to soothsayers and divers but as for you the Lord your God has not appointed such for you the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst from your brethren him you shall hear according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly saying let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God nor let me see this great fire anymore lest I die and the Lord said to me what they have spoken is good I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their Brethren and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him and it shall be that whoever will not hear my words which he speaks in my name I will require it of him but the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods that Prophet shall die and if you say in your heart how shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord if the thing does not happen or come to pass that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken the prophet has spoken it presumptuously you shall not be afraid of him amen well in that Central section the prohibition against Wicked Customs they were going into a land surrounded by people that didn't have the living and the true God so certainly they would invoke the occult they would use spiritists they would use mediums they would use use soothsayers and witches and all that sort of thing to try and gain contact in a supernatural sense well Israel was to be governed by the word of God remember it's in Deuteronomy you shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and when we compare a passage like this to say for instance 1 Samuel CH 28 remember when Saul goes to that witch at Endor because he wants contact with Samuel the witch brings someone up and so what we learn is that the Bible doesn't condemn this because it doesn't work the Bible condemns it because it's an Abomination it is a usurpation of the authority in the word of God Almighty to seek that which is not God to speak to matters of divinity and so the nation of Israel was not to be like the Heathen around that now of course we know as soon as they get into the land they are not faithful they engage in this sort of practice they engage in this sort of lawlessness and just as God cast out the Canaanites for practicing these these evil things so then he ultimately cast out the the nation of Israel both the northern tribes and then the Southern tribes because they imitated the Canaanites they didn't remain faithful they didn't hold fast to the word of God and as a result they invoked the Covenant curses and then that final section the promise of another Prophet is speaking specifically concerning our Lord Jesus Christ on the one hand it establishes the prophetic class it establishes that Moses will be succeeded there will be other men that stand between God and men to speak the truth but that prophetic class comes to an end or its Terminus in our Lord Jesus Christ so the Apostle Peter applies Deuteronomy 18:15 to Jesus in the book of Acts in Acts chap 3 as well on the Mount of transfiguration remember we see Moses and Elijah here and then the voice from Heaven the father says this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and then he says hear him and I think that is reminiscent to what we have here in 18:15 the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst from your brethren him you shall hear according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly saying let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God nor let me see this great fire anymore lest I die and then the chapter ends with a condemnation of false prophecy so they're forbidden from witchcraft they're forbidden from mediums they're forbidden from W uh uh uh soothsayers but they're also forbidden from the false prophet so as you might imagine if the only viable way to make contact with God is through the prophetic Ministry well there would certainly be those fakes and deceivers that would try to get in on that and so the test is very simple if what they say in the name of the Lord is not true you shall put them to death of course in the 21st century we hear that and we're horrified but remember this person is speaking in a deceptive way on behalf of God most high to to the Covenant people so it was a high crime a treasonous act and therefore the death penalty is mandated for those who would speak falsely in the name of Yahweh well let us pray our gracious and holy God we thank you for your word and certainly as we read through scripture we see its ATT attestation to itself that it is in fact the word of the living and the true God we pray now that as our brother comes to preach he'd give us ears to hear and hearts to receive that truth that the Holy Spirit would work in our minds that we would understand your truth that we would again see Jesus and His glory and his offices as Prophet priest and King we ask God that you would bless and and be glorified and strengthened and and enable each one of us to face this week in a manner that is consistent with what we find in Holy Scripture and we ask this through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen well for our final hymn before the preaching we'll sing Psalm 119 Psalm 119 m as in Mike Psalm 119 Mike will stand as we sing [Music] together holy Lord [Music] all for your are ever with me L the all might all your word [Music] you my [Music] sweet your I will Lord well greetings everyone from Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in in Armstrong a joy to be here again this evening to worship together with you and to uh look at God's word together uh you can turn with me in to the book of Hosea again the book of Hosea it's the first of the Minor Prophets you can turn to chapter 7 Hosea chapter 7 we're just going to look at one verse this afternoon or this evening verse 8 but I will read the entire chapter here just so we have the context um for us as we as we go on here so first um beginning at verse one sorry of Hosea chap 7 when I would have healed Israel then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered and the wickedness of Samaria for they have committed fraud a thief comes in a band of robbers takes plunder outside they do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness now their own Deeds have surrounded them they before my face they make a king glad with their wickedness and princes with their lies they are all alterers like an oven heated by a baker he he ceases stirring the fire after kneading the dough until it is leavened in the day of our King princes have made him sick inflamed with wine he stretched out his hand with scoffers they prepare their heart like an oven while they lie in wait their Baker sleeps all night and in the morning it burns like a flaming fire they are all hot like an oven and have devoured their judges all their kings have fallen none among them calls upon me Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples Ephraim is a cake unturned aliens have devoured his strength but he does not know it yes gray hairs are here and there on him yet he does not know it and the pride of Israel testifies to his face but they do not return to the Lord their God nor seek him for all this Ephraim also is like a silly Dove without sense they call to Egypt they go to Assyria wherever they go I will spread my net on them I will bring them down like birds of the air I will chastise them according to what their congregation has heard woe to them for they have fled from me destruction to them because they have transgressed against me though I redeemed them yet they have spoken lies against me they did not cry out to me with their heart when they wailed upon their beds they assembled together for grain and new wine they rebel against me though I disciplined and strengthened their arms yet they devise evil against me they return but not to the most high they are like a treacherous bow their princes shall fall by the sword for the cursings of their tongue this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt amen well let us pray Our Father in heaven we do come before you now and we appeal to you for the power of your Holy Spirit to be here among us this evening as we examine your word father we pray that you might be here in that special way that we might that this day or this time now would give us just a a foretaste of that uh Glory that is to come where we gather with your people in for all of eternity in your presence and hear from you and sing your praises and Lord we how we thank you that we have this this time now to hear from you through the word being preached and father we do ask that your spirit would be here now we know without the spirit that you you are the it is but a dead word so father we pray for that we pray that you would take this message you would use it and accomplish it uh for all the purposes that you have intended for it that it would be for the strengthening of your people for the the the edifying of your people and building them up that it would be for the Salvation of Souls and that it would be for your honor and glory and we pray this in Jesus name amen so the prophet Hosea he was sent by God to the nation of Israel as God's essentially as God's prosecuting attorney Pastor Butler preached half my sermon there when he commented on Deuteronomy 18 and but but that was the reality of it God had taken Israel he was their their own or his own special people that he had taken for himself he had given them a law to follow they were not to follow the laws of and the and the customs of the Nations around them they were to follow the law of their God Yahweh the Lord and they were supposed to obey that law in and in complete and in perfect Fidelity perfect faithfulness to him they were not supposed to add to it they weren't supposed to take away things he wanted perfect obedience perfect faithfulness to to him and in the book of Hosea if you know anything about it if you remember from a few months ago when I was here we looked at earlier in the book The comparison that of of the marriage relationship that God uses to show this to Israel essentially Israel was was yahweh's bride he had he was the bridegroom she was the bride he had taken her to be his bride but she had been an Unfaithful bride she had gone and committed spiritual adultery with the gods of the Nations that were around and and uh and worshiped those Gods so Hosea now is is God's prosecuting attorney and essentially what he's doing is God is Yahweh is filing for divorce he says I'm going to cut you off I'm going to divorce you but all through those Court proceedings in this book here we see God always promises that he's going to divorce them he's going to cut them off that is the just reward that they deserve for their sin yet he is going to provide a way that they can be reconciled that that relationship can be restored again because he loves them so much so he's going to provide that way where where they can be healed of that of their sin problem that God that uh that that put this U separated them there they had to acknowledge you can see if if you turn to chapter 5:1 15 they had to acknowledge their offense he says here to recognize that they had actually sinned against God that that that this was fair what God was doing cutting them off and exiling them out of the land they had to acknowledge their offense and then they had to seek the Lord for forgiveness in in uh chapter 6 verse one come let us return to the Lord he has torn but he will heal us God they they were to seek him for the healing for forgiveness there God always always provided that way but throughout this book so much of the book contains charge after charge of uh uh Yahweh charging his people for their infidelity their unfaithfulness to him and Hosea is presenting all the evidence and he's presenting the uh the evidence the justification for this divorce for this separation there and Hosea is the master of the analogy you probably picked that up when we read through this uh through this chapter here in verse 7 he's the master of the analogy here he's used several baking analogies in verses four uh 4 through through or 4 through 8 um actually he's we have an analogy of a silly dove in verse 11 not knowing how to not recognizing the danger that it's in of judgment God's judgment coming like a silly Dove the analogy of a of a bow with a floppy bow string translated here as a treacherous bow in verse 16 uh defenseless against God's judgment but today I want to look at the analogy in verse 8 there that Ephraim is a cake unturned now Ephraim here just so we're clear Ephraim is another name for Israel is um the northern kingdom in the context here that we're talking about um Ephraim was the biggest had one of the biggest tribes there so often Ephraim is used just to reference Israel in general so we're talking about Israel here so first we'll look at the analogy we'll unpack the analogy here of the cake unturned and we'll see how it applies to the nation of Israel in context and then we're going to see how it applies to us today so Hosea he's been using these these baking analogies he's been on a roll with them and now he comes he starts to use another baking analogy in verse 8 and he says here Ephraim is a cake unturned so he's describing Israel as a pancake a type of bread that was baked in a baked in a pan not not bread that was baked in in an oven but bread that was baked in a pan over a fire now the Israelites wouldn't have had you know the flapjack pancakes that that we think of today when we think of Pancakes um but the principle is the same mixing batter together cooking it in a pan and um just the way that we would make pancakes today so we can have the pancake you know the flapjack pancake in our minds as we as we help as in order to help us understand the analogy here so kids imagine that it's it's a Saturday morning and your parents say you know what let's go for breakfast let's let's go out let's go out for breakfast so they you go to Denny's or something I don't know if there's a Denny's in this town but we all know Denny's so let's go let's say we're going to go out to Denny's for breakfast and you go to the restaurant you sit down at the table the waitress gives you the menus and you start looking at the menu and you see the picture of this pancake it's beautiful it's just golden brown on there your mouth starts to water and then the waitress comes around and she says can I take your order and you you point to the picture on the menu and you said I want that I want that pancake it look it looks so good so you sit there feels like forever it's only a few minutes but it feels like forever but then the waitress starts to bring the food out she brings out your family stuff she she gives your your your brother she gives him his food he's ordered the pancake too you look at it oh it looks so good your mouth starts to water and then you just can't wait to get yours you can't wait to cover it in serp anch OFA Ser but we can't say that anymore can we it's now something else but you want to cover it and ser and you want to eat it it looks so good but then the waitress puts your plate in front of you and you take a look at it you sit back in shock it doesn't look anything like the picture it it's it looks it looks awful it's not nice and golden at all it's raw it's gooey there's gooey batter on the top of of the pancake and you kind of you you take your fork and you lift up the edge and you see it's just burnt on the bottom it's black it's gross well what happened well the cook never the cook didn't flip your pancake it's it's unturned to use the language here he flipped your brother's pancake that's why it looks so good and and and it looks like that one looks like the picture but yours it looks so it looks so gross it never got flipped it's and it's displeasing you you you take your plate and you you push it away it's displeasing what a disappointment well that's what God says to Israel here he says he says that's exactly what you are to me you're like you're like this pancake that didn't get flipped you're not pleasing you're you're revolting to me why because God had given Israel his law he had he had taken taken Israel they were his people he gave them a law the law was to reflect his his goodness and his Justice and or his his um his his truth and Justice it was they were supposed to live according to that law as a reflection of who he was and he pointed to that law like it was the Danny's menu and he says this is what I want I want this from you he pointed to that just like M the prophet Micah says he has shown you oh man what is good he pointed he said this is what I want Israel but Israel looked nothing like the picture Israel looked nothing at all they did not reflect that law at all they had violated that law in every way possible their sin they had and they and they looked nothing nothing like it well why was that well that's not the first part of the verse tells us Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples so this is another baking reference now that he's using again um here he's mixed himself the idea of mixing the batter like a baker who's mixed the wrong ingredients into the pancake batter Israel had mixed wrong ingredients into their life as a nation they were supposed to be a nation that was different completely different than the other nations what we just read in Deuteronomy 18 they were not supposed to do the things that the other nations did they were supposed to obey God's laws and and not mingle with the other nations there God had told them that many times through the Old Testament he he always said to them I've separated you from the Nations they were you were you were different you're to be different you're to you're to separate yourselves from the Nations around you and not look like them not mingle in uh the their Lifestyles and practices and worship of their God when in uh in numbers 23 that's the story of the prophet balum and Balo the king of Moab and he hired balum who was an ungodly Wicked man but yet God used that ungodly man Balo hired him to curse Israel but uh but balum instead God caused balum to bless Israel one of the things that he said about the Israelites he says I see a people dwelling alone not Reckoning themselves as one of the Nations Israel was supposed to be different they were supposed to represent their God they were supposed to represent Yahweh by obeying his laws by reflecting who their God was their society as a nation in in a political outward way would reflect who their God was their society would be peaceful and stable if they followed all of those laws all of the Nations around them would be would be uh ruling uh ruling by according to the laws of their own Gods little G gods and their societies would be chaotic as a result of that there would be you can read Psalm 82 if you want to if you want to um to learn more about that but where where God indicts essentially he's talking to the gods of those Nations but he's saying there's there's no truth there's no justice how long will you afflict the poor and will you will you uh have um be unfaithful or and Injustice that's what the Nations around them were like Israel was supposed to be different they're supposed to display the glory of their God when they lived according to his laws as a nation but as a result of that as a result of mixing in the practices of the Nations around them they are no longer pleasing to Yahweh they're like an unflipped pancake now burnt on one side gooey uncooked batter on the other side good for nothing displeasing something you would spit out of your mouth and that's what God says to them now I want to see something something else here that's going to help us to to draw out a few points from the the pancake Motif is in uh in connection to Old Testament worship turn to Leviticus chapter 2 Leviticus chapter 2 verse we'll begin at verse four and if you bring as an offering a gr Rin offering baked in the oven it shall be un with unle unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened Wafers Anointed with oil but if your offering is a grain offering baked in a pan so that's what we're talking about here in Hosea it shall be a fine flour unleavened mixed with oil you shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it it is a grain offering and if your offering is a grain offering baked in a covered pan it shall be a fine flow with oil you shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the Lord and when it is presented to the priest he shall bring it to the altar then the priest shall take from the grain offering a memorial portion and burn it on the Altar and it is an offering made by fire a sweet Aroma to the Lord what is left of the grain offering shall be Aaron and his sons it is a most it is most holy of the offerings to the Lord made by fire no grain offering which you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to the Lord made by fire as for the offering of the first fruits you shall offer them to the Lord but they shall not be burned on the Altar for sweet Aroma and every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt and you shall not allow the salt of the Covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering with all your offerings you shall offer salt now I read all those verses because we see here very clearly this grain offering was about preparing something and presenting something to the Lord as a as an offering in as part of worship but very specific ingredients are listed here and they couldn't add any leavon they couldn't add any honey God was very clear what he required of them and they and they had to ensure they had they had the fine flour and they had the oil and they had the salt so mixing in any of these other ingredients he tells us very clearly was not would not be acceptable to the Lord and this specific grain offering is representative of the entire law of God that he's given to them here of all aspects of it there that they could not add they could not take away from them God had given the law he'd given them the moral law he had given them the civil law which told them how to structure their society he had given them the ceremonial law which told them how to worship him and he said this is what I want from you but instead they had used the wrong ingredients they had they had mingled themselves with the Nations they were displeasing to God as a result of that as from the moral perspective they had completely defiled themselves they were they were there was theft there was killing there was adultery lying cheating coveting worshiping other gods worshiping the golden calves that the king jeroboam had set up they were they were like the Nations around them they had mixed in the that that lifestyle immoral lifestyle into their owns from a civil perspective the the rulers didn't rule according to truth and Justice and truth and uh and truth and mercy in if you you go back to Hosea we see that in chapter 4 of Hosea that the the chart against the Israelites there's no truth or Mercy or knowledge of God in the land they're swearing lying killing stealing committing adultery breaking all restraint Bloodshed upon Bloodshed there so they were they there as a society life as Society was chaotic they were not following those civil laws from a ceremonial perspective they were and and when it came to the worship of God they were mixing in all types of other styles of worship such as the the the way the methods in which the pagans the Nations around them worshiped their God and they were they were full out worshiping those Gods as well they were worshiping Baal and mulok and and uh chimos Marduk all those other gods they were they were worshiping them but then and and the fact that they were mixing in Pagan worship Styles into their worship of of Yahweh what they said was worshiping Yahweh all of that made their worship so displeasing to Yahweh and then even as they tried to worship Him it it was displeasing to them Yahweh wanted complete Fidelity he wanted he wanted perfect faithfulness again think of the marriage relationship here a husband is not is not pleased if his wife even though she sleeps with another man that she still sleeps with him too of course not obviously not and that's how that's how Yahweh says this to Israel they they were Israel was that's what they were doing they were worshiping other gods being unfaithful the way that a that a that a that a a wife would be unfaithful to her husband their worship was abominable to Yahweh displeasing like this unflipped pancake and that's the reason if you look at the rest of the chapter we're not going to look at those verses but the rest of the chapter tells us God is going to send judgment upon them because of this because of their unfaithfulness to him because they have not kept those laws and kept them perfectly and presented them themselves as as um God had said here's my law pointed to it this is what I want from you like it was the Denny's menu and yet and all of their all of their sin and all of their unfaithfulness made them displeasing to God and worthy of judgment the rest of the chapter says that God is going to come and judge them for it but what does this mean for us we can read this we can look at the nation of Israel and think wow that's can't believe they would do that God they were God's special people God and all they had to do was follow his laws but they went after other gods but we're not looking we're not looking I think I said this last time we're not looking through a window at the nation of Israel we need to we need to look at this passage as a mirror how does it show what does it have to do with us well it's very similar it's the same essentially God created us mankind to be his image bearers that means that we are supposed to reflect the the character of God according to our creaturely capacities according as we as creatures we are to reflect God's character as it were as as His Image bearers we are to image him we are to be like God just like the nation of Israel as I said was supposed to reflect the goodness and the truth the justice and the mercy of of their God as a as a nation they were supposed to reflect that we on an individual level are supposed to reflect the goodness and the Holiness of of our God because we are His Image bearers to image him and God gave us his law that shows us exactly how we are to live he wrote it on our hearts he gave it to us in his word it tells us exactly how we are to live in a way that reflects his glory he pointed to that law like it was the Dan menu and says this is what I want from you this this is what is pleasing to me he saysi want you to look exactly like this picture this law as Peter says God wants us to we're to be holy as he is Holy and that's what we need to understand God demands Perfection he demands perfect obedience to that law he does not demand our best effort he doesn't demand he doesn't he's not satisfied with well I'm a pretty good person no he wanted Perfection that's what he ordered he gave gave us that law and he says this is what I want recently last week I had actually had a conversation with an individual and he said he said to me I'm not perfect but I'm not a sinner and and I I said what he said because he had he had classified in his mind little sins were imperfections and and you know the big Sins murder and adultery and and you know bank robbery those were sins but but you know he was just imperfect but he wasn't a sinner but it doesn't work that way God says that God tells us whatever is is not perfect obedience to my law is sin even if you've stolen a cookie from the cookie jar when you were a kid that was the only thing you've ever done that was wrong that's a sin or or looking with lust upon someone Jesus tells us clearly that's a sin you've broken that law and now you no longer look like the image that God wants you to be that goes for every single one of us maybe maybe you're like Israel maybe you've you've done you know some sort of an outward heartless religion you went to church maybe you went to church your whole life perhaps but that does not that doesn't matter that just like Israel that outward outward going through the motions of a heartless religion wasn't pleasing to God we've sinned we've we have we have mixed sin into the batter of our lives and that makes us displeasing to God as displeasing as an unflipped pancake in his and then we would push that away or displeased it's revolting as a result of that we're Bound for judgment just like just like Israel here God will come in judgment upon those who uh because of their sin because of the violation of his law unless of course just like Israel as I mentioned already chapter 5 unless we acknowledge our offense we acknowledge the reality that we don't have a perfect life to present to God because of our sin we acknowledge our offenses and we come and we return to the Lord in in an appeal for mercy and an appeal for forgiveness and an appeal for him to to heal us as he says in chapter 6 verse one trusting in the in the healing remedy that he has provided for us well we know as New Covenant Believers we know that the healing remedy that God has provided the Cure that God has provided for our sin problem is his son Our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ if we had to present ourselves on our own before God it's like presenting an unflipped a half-baked pancake that would repulse God but God made that way where we can have a new a new we don't have to present ourselves we have a representative we can have a representative who presents him self for us God's own son and Pastor Butler already said this before what did God say about about his son when he was baptized and on the mountain of transfiguration what did he say voice from Heaven said this is my beloved Son what in whom I am well pleased he God is well pleased with his son he's not well pleased with us with our presentation but he's well pleased with with his son we don't have we don't have that but but anything that's we can't present a perfectly pleasing life to God but Christ can Christ he took upon himself a human nature he came he was born in Bethlehem the last couple weeks we've been traditionally is the time of year when we consider those things the Incarnation that the Son of God took upon himself a human nature why did he do that so that he could come and live in obedience to this law born under the law says Paul so that he might redeem those who are under the law because the law we we have failed to live up to that law but Christ came you know and lived under that law in perfect obedience to the law and his life was was a life of perfect obedience and he could present himself the writer of of Hebrew says he's the express image of his person perfectly in in in his Humanity on this Earth perfectly imaged God perfectly ma matched up with that law with that picture of what God was was requiring Christ presented a life that was well pleasing to God he's the only one who's ever done that the only man who has ever lived a life that is perfectly well pleasing to God and it's his life that can become ours and and represent us before God so that we don't have to present ourselves to God and present our our half-baked unflipped pancake of of an excuse for a life for towards him we have Christ can be our representative think back to the grain offering that we read from in in Leviticus chapter 2 the person had to prepare this grain offering and they had to present it it was a pancake they had to present it as an offering to God they had to they had to make it exactly how God had determined the right ingredients none of the wrong ingredients there and present it to God and it was to be as a sweet smelling Aroma that pleases God turn to Ephesians 5 this is where we see Christ Christ doing this in his life Ephesians 5:2 walk in love as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet SM smelling Aroma remember the sweet smelling Aroma in Leviticus 2 if that that it would be to God if you did this just right and just perfectly and just so well we've already seen we can't do that we failed to do that in our lives but Christ did he gave himself as an offering the Greek word is is uh is is pro pharoh that means to carry something forward it means to to present something and that was his perfect life of obedience perfectly living in obedience to the law of God not to not to not to to to cheapen the work of Christ but to keep with the analogy Christ presented this the perfect golden brown pancake that matched exactly what the menu said it should look like that's what Christ did is he presented his life PR Pharaoh put his life forward as a as an offering to God perfectly accepted a sweet smelling Sac sacrifice a sweet smelling Aroma he says here but Christ also did something else it tells us he it says he gave himself not only as an offering but also as a sacrifice of uh that was well pleasing to God the sacrifice sacrifice is giving up something um not not putting something forward but the giving up of something for God the the giving up of his life is what it was there Christ because he was perfect because he was pleasing to God he became worthy and he became acceptable in God's eyes but he also but he also became then a sacrifice for that was acceptable on that cross that when he when he offered himself to pay for all the sins and all the shortcomings and all the failures of his people all those they had mixed in all of that sin and that had caused them to be this un displeasing unflipped pancake Christ takes all of that sin pays for it all in full so that we can be forgiven that's the gospel that's the good news here according to to this to Hosea that we we don't have this in and of ourselves we can't present ourselves acceptable to God because we are not perfect God demanded Perfection but Christ is Christ is perfect and Christ also pays for our failure to be perfect so that we can we can be accepted with with God that's for everyone who believes in Him everyone who recognizes that reality as he as as already said in chapter six or chapter 5 acknowledging your offenses recognizing the fact that you aren't perfect and God demands Perfection because he is so holy and he said this is what I want from you and then and and again that doesn't matter if you've committed the most heinous of sins and meanus of crimes you can imagine or if you've as as RC Sproul would say committed the tiniest padillo whichever one it is either way we can't present that perfect life but but Christ can and Christ does that's for all who believe in him he will represent them before God and then we can be forgiven and we can be accepted in God's sight the relationship can be restored again because of Christ and don't don't ever lose sight of that believer if you're here if you're a Believer don't lose sight of that we talk a lot in the reformed traditions we talk a lot about living a life of obedience to God living according to his laws that we're we're supposed to be doing that and we're right but never subconsciously start to think that because I'm doing so well and I'm living in obedience to God's laws that's what's making me right with God or that's what's making God uh my my entrance into heaven uh God accepting me into heaven because of that never lose sight of the fact that it is Christ him alone it's his perfect life his death that that allow entrance into heaven for anyone for all who who believe in him but for those who are believers in Christ redeemed we're redeemed image bearers that's what Paul says we're redeemed image bearers and we are that then to be conforming our lives and changing our lives back to look like back to image Our God again to be conformed to the image of Christ because that's to be conformed to the image of God for which we were created we are supposed to be uh we are supposed to be doing that Transforming Our Lives casting out sin putting putting on putting on Good Works turn to Hebrews chapter 9 for a moment Hebrews chapter 9 verse 13 for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a hepher sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh so he's talking about Old Testament worship there and then verse 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God cleanse your conscience from dead Works to serve the Living God Christ's death on our behalf cleanses our our conscience it breaks Us free from the bondage of sin as Paul as Paul says in Romans in Romans chapter 6 he talks about that but it breaks Us free of that so then we can serve the Living God so that we can do works that are that are uh that are that are pleasing to him having been redeemed having been broken free from that turn to to vers chapter 13 in Hebrews if you're still there verse 20 now may the God of Peace who brought up our lord Jesus from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen so Christ Christ by the power of His Spirit working in us with us working us striving to that end we are we are to be conformed back to the image of Christ we're to be complete that's complete is is the the the word the Greek word Telos reaching its its goal the the its purpose the purpose for which we were created image bearers of God we broke that where we fail but Christ redeems us and now he's conforms us back towards that end towards that goal of being like Christ being an image bearer of God and again this is not so not so that we can be accepted with God this is because we are through Christ if we have faith in Christ this comes after we have to remember your your pastor tells you this all the time the law points us to Christ because we failed to keep the law but we come to Christ we find forgiveness and then Christ points us back to the law and and again that law it's it's like the the picture on the Denny's menu we we need to we want to be conformed to that we want to change our lives so and and through the life of what we call sanctification cleaning up our lives in order to look more and more like in obedience to his law and look like that picture on the on the Denny's menu and now if we if you're back in in Hosea turn back there again what was it that made Israel unacceptable with God and so displeasing well was the fact that they were mixing themselves among the peoples mixing themselves among the Nations around there mixing themselves with the world so as we work by the power of the Holy Spirit to conform our lives back to the image of the one the image of God the one whose image we are created in we need to remove worldliness we need to remove sin excuse me from our lives ridding ourselves of whatever is is in opposition to the will of God to the revealed will of God turn back turn to Colossians sorry I'm getting you to jump around a lot here but you could turn to Colossians where we see this chapter 1 verse 9 for this reason we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding so that you may walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing him and being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God he pray Paul prays here that they would that they would be filled with a knowledge of his will the knowledge of God's will that's his law that's his word his law that tells us how we are supposed to be living it's the Denny's menu with the picture on it that we are supposed to conform ourselves too so we need to grow in that and study that and so so we know what it is that pleases our maker and Our Redeemer removing the sin from our lives now we we we we ought I Hadad section here about the about doing that on a corporate level when it comes to worshiping worshiping on a on a corporate level but and we can apply it that way but I think you're very familiar here with the regulative principle of worship it's that same principle removing the worldliness and only doing what God requires here but anyways we'll I want to keep going looking at this on a on a personal level here we ought not to be mingling worldliness in with our Christianity in the sense of Our Lives as Christians who we are as redeemed image bearers where we all all week we go to work we look like the world we we we there's no difference about us then we come we come to church on Sunday and we you know then we look like Christians again or maybe all wherever whenever we hang out with our friends we look like the world and then we're home with our families then we act more like Christ again or we watch we watch movies we watch you know listen to music that the world promotes now I want to be careful here that doesn't mean that we can only only listen to choirs singing Salters and we can only watch Kendrick Brothers movies that's not what I'm saying at all here but we have to we we need to make sure that and be on guard that what we're watching what we're listening to how that we're not using the world's standard of of what's acceptable but we're using God's standard as revealed in his word word it's not we cannot mix Christianity and the world Christianity and or sin in our lives God wants our heart we saw that he wants Fidelity he wants faithfulness to him so we ought to be working to that end do not quench the spirit the spirit who's working in us to conform us to make us complete to bring us to that uh to that goal don't quench that work with him don't try to live with one foot in both camps uh one one foot in the world and and one in the church we want to be we want to be living a life in accordance with his will conforming Our Lives more and more growing to becoming looking more and more like that picture on the on of of the pancake on the menu there he God he wants us to be conformed to his image that is why we were created that is our purpose for being here if you ever ask yourself why are we here what is how how do I know what my purpose is in this life that's your purpose to image God that's the only thing that can give you purpose in this life you to to be redeemed to to be restored to be renewed as an image Bearer and then work to that end that needs to be the ultimate goal that is the only only thing that can bring you purpose last week at at Trinity I preached on from second Peter chapter 3 17 and 18 sort of as a as a New Year's resolution he Peter says beware lest you fall from your own steadfastness and be led and being led away with error of the wicked but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we are to be steadfast diligent Peter says in verse 14 to be diligent intentional in our walk with the Lord growing in in the knowledge of our savior so that then and the knowledge gives us the foundation so we can grow in the grace of or th in grow in those Christian Graces living that out in our lives don't have a lacad isical attitude towards the Christian Life there's we see that unfortunately so much around us those who who who have no worry that they're mixing themselves with the peoples they're in this sense of mixing sin into their lives they're not so concerned about that oh I'm in I'm in well God says no be he does not want that that's displeasing to him we are to be conformed to His Image we don't have that lacad isical attitude be intentional be steadfast be diligent as Peter says conforming Our Lives to his image using his word his will growing in that understanding that we sang uh Salter 19 how many of you can can say that what we sang I how I love your law I meditate on it day and night I keep your Commandments yes we we need to be working to that end but again we can never forget the gospel never forget the gospel the the good news the fact that that as we're working towards godliness as we as we desire that as his people never forget for one that our shortcomings are are forgiven we try and we see ourselves fail and we and we want to beat ourselves up about it but God says no you're forgiven you're accepted in Christ you don't it's not about your performance that makes you accepted with me you're accepted because of Christ's perform performance again that's not an excuse to sin but if our heart is right we'll it's a blessed reminder that we have while we're striving to live in a way that glorifies him it's a blessed reminder that that that our sin is Forgiven all those failures and shortcomings are forgiven but again never forget the fact that we are saved we are accepted with God we are pleasing to God we're loved by God because of Christ because of his perfect obedience because he's paid for all of our our shortcomings never lose sight of the Gospel yes we want to live in obedience to him but but it is a we accepted with God because of Christ he he is our represented representative before God we're United to him by by faith we're accepted by God in God's sight because of Christ remember what I said at the beginning this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased well if we have faith in Christ he's our representative and now God is well pleased and we're accepted because of him never forget that and if you're here this evening and if you're not a Believer what we've just talked about the last few minutes here about removing Sin from your lives that's not where you start you don't start by trying to clean up your act trying to trying to fix yourself trying to make yourself acceptable to God somehow you can't you've sinned you failed you've already you've fallen short you can't try you need to believe in Jesus that's where you start believing in him the one in who with whom God is well pleased trust in him acknowledge your offense recognize the fact you have sinned you can't present a perfect life to God but Christ can and he says whoever believes will be forgiven will have this righteousness that makes you worthy that you are then accepted in the Beloved as Paul says our sin is Forgiven and we no longer stand deserving of the Judgment that is spelled out in the rest of the chapter here judgment uh of Hosea 7 judgment for violating the law but we can be forgiven of that trust in the Lord Jesus today that's where you begin then we go on then we go on to to live a life of obedience intentional as Peter says diligent steadfast growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ well let's close there in prayer Lord how we do thank you for this passage of scripture we thank you for these analogies that Hosea gives to us that make it so clear the gospel so clear to us in our our precarious position before you if we were to present ourselves on our own worthy of being uh pushed away by you Cast Away thrown into outer Darkness because we are so displeasing but father how we thank you for that one who offered himself as a sweet smelling Aroma accepted in your sight Lord so that we can have acceptance with you again and that we by our Union with him through faith can now be accepted in the Beloved and we can be reconciled with our creator and with our uh through our your son Our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ father please take this message and apply it to the hearts here that your people would leave here encouraged strengthened in the reminder that we are that it's not about our performance that makes us right with you encourage to press on in our walk with the Lord in our Conformity to the image of Christ father we pray you would take this message and apply to the hearts of any here who may not be in Christ who have not acknowledged their offense who have not come to you for for forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ that today that they would see that the Savior and come and trust in him and him alone and know there then that they are right with their creator and and that they are bound for Glory With Him Father we pray to that end we pray you be glorified here now and it's in Jesus name that we pray amen e