Knowing You
A Sermon by Pastor R. D. Johnson
Preached at the Ann Arbor, MI Free Methodist Church
Scripture Text:
Hosea 2, 4, 11
July 27, 2008
Sermon #0119 (based on #0111)
There was a secular song out a couple years ago that began with these lyrics:
Story of my life searching for the right but it keeps avoiding me
Sorrow in my soul 'cause it seems that wrong really loves my company
He's more than a man, And this is more than love, The reason that the sky is blue
The clouds are rollin' in Because I'm gone again And to him I just can't be true
If that’s not a soul crying out for God I don’t know what is. Think about the words:
Wanting to do what is right but doing the wrong we hate. More than a man? And this is more
than love? Sounds to me like the description of a Christian? And its not a stretch to think of
many Christians when the singer says, ‘And to Him I just can’t be true.’
The singer Rihanna continues in this song appropriately called ‘Unfaithful’ to say:
And I know that he knows I'm unfaithful , And it kills him inside
To know that I am happy with some other guy, I can see him dyin'
Followed by this chorus:
I don't wanna do this anymore, I don't wanna be the reason why
And everytime I walk out the door, I see him die a little more inside
And I don't wanna hurt him anymore, I don't wanna take away his life
I don't wanna be...a murderer
The death of Christ is not grace for those who have no faith, its murder.
 In Acts, both Peter and Steven call the Jewish leaders ‘Murderers of Christ’.
 Those who turn away from Jesus as Hebrews 6:6 says, crucify Him again.
This is a warning to all those who call themselves Christian.
 If we are disobedient to God, or chase after anything other than Him, we may turn the
grace of Christ’s death into a condemnation of us his murderers.
This morning God would have us learn how to remain faithful.
There was a man named Hosea, a faithful prophet of God. When God began to speak through
Hosea He told him to get married. He said, “…Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and
children of unfaithfulness…” (Hosea 1:2) What would you do about that? Hosea married
Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, who was or soon after became a prostitute. Now before we
ask why God would call Hosea to do that, let me paint you a picture.
It was a time of economic prosperity. The country was enjoying peace and plenty. There was
little fear of war because the nation had a grand army and hopes of alliances with the
surrounding nations. The people were comfortable. Though they claimed to know God, their
hearts were far from him. Because of their lack of knowledge of God, their sins increased.
They became selfish, materialistic, greedy, idolaters, and sexually immoral, and many did not
even recognize that what they were doing was wrong.
Those who did, convinced themselves that God did not see their sin or that God would not
punish them for it, after all they were His people, they were believers. But true and faithful
believers were a minority and a generally silent one at that. The people began to adopt some
of their neighboring nations worship practices and soon believed that all forms of religion
were ok to worship God. Soon they were not looking to God for safety and protection, but to
their military and treaties with other nations.
Many began to worship another god and gradually they became convinced that that god and
not the Lord God provided them with answers to life. Some religious leaders used their
influence for dishonest gain, pointing out the sins of the people so the people would give
them more offerings to clear their guilt.
Then God sent a man with great courage and conviction. A man who God called to warn the
nation of the spiritual adultery it had fallen into. He preached true repentance and turning
from sin was the only way to avoid the coming judgment of God. He invited the people to
return to the Lord, to know him more intimately, but the people largely ignored his invitation.
Their sin became worse, and worse, because they failed to seek the Lord.
God’s judgment would come!
Now some of you may be thinking that I just described Israel in the days of Hosea, but I
didn’t. What I described is nearly identical to that time, but the nation I am describing is the
United States.
 They claim to know God 80% consider themselves Christian
< 20% are actually faithful to the God of the Bible.
 They adopted other’s worship - An influx of world religions, paganism, witchcraft, and
atheism into this once Christian nation has turned us
into a pluralistic relativistic society.
 The other god Science and evolution, man’s explanation w/o God.
 Dishonest religious leaders - TV evangelists and preachers who have used God to
become wealthy, not only deceiving Christians but
defaming the Name of God.
 The godly man: Billy Graham - Yet our nation as a whole has rejected his message and
we will be judged at God’s appointed time.
And so the scripture for today is applicable for today. Our nation may soon face what Israel
faced, if we don’t listen to the warning of God.
Spiritual Adultery
Around 722 BC, Israel found itself in a similar condition and God sent Hosea to the people.
The nation had polluted their religion with idol worship and sexual fertility rites. They
claimed to be the people of God, but didn’t know Him. The nation was prosperous and the
leaders corrupt and the people would not listen.
The first thing Hosea was called to proclaim to the people is that they were committing
Spiritual Adultery. And Christians do the same thing in our country today.
Hosea didn’t just preach to the people what God felt, he showed them. God told Hosea why
he was to marry an adulterous wife. “because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in
departing from the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2-3)
God called Hosea to share His experience so the prophet would better understand and more
clearly deliver the message God had for the people. And Hosea understood. Gomer
committed adultery against him, and Hosea suffered the agony of jealousy, betrayal,
humiliation, and shame.
As the people laughed at him, he understood how God felt about Israel, they understood
Hosea’s message when they saw his relationship with his own wife. Gomer defiled herself
and hurt her husband; Israel defiled herself and grieved God. Christians today defile
themselves with love for this world and the things in it that we chase after and we grieve the
Holy Spirit.
To the unprepared virgins, to the many who cried ‘Lord, Lord’, Jesus said, “I do not know
you.” John 10:14 says “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,”
(Read Hosea 2:2-7, emphasize 7) God’s reason for disciplining his people is to make them
realize that every good thing comes from Him, that perhaps they will return to Him saying ‘I
was better off than now.’
Can you see how much God loves us? Even when we are ignoring Him, or rebelling against
Him, or neglecting our relationship with Him, He still looks for ways to draw us back. His
anger over our Spiritual Adultery wouldn’t last a minute after our true repentance. All His
judgment is meant to turn us back towards Him.
God desperately desires to reconcile with His people, not just the Israelites but with all of us
who say we belong to Him but whose hearts are far from Him.
Knowledge of God
God says through Hosea that the reason our hearts are far from Him, the reason we so easily
get caught up in Spiritual Adultery, chasing after other things and not Him, is because we
lack knowledge of God, we don’t really know Him.
(Read Hosea 4:1-2,6, emphasize 6)
The Christian life is about walking in a relationship with God; that’s why we pray, study the
Bible, worship, and meet with other believers. These things help us to gain knowledge of
God as well as to know Him better, to grow closer to Him.
Hosea was challenging the Israelites to know God. Only then could they live as God
expected them to.
Jesus quoted Hosea 6:6 saying “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not
sacrifice’”. Even in His day, the people still did not know God, even though they went
through all the religious motions.
Do you want to turn from your sin? Do you want to be rid of an habitual sin? Do you want to
please the God who paid with His life to redeem you from Satan and the fires of Hell? Then
make an effort to KNOW HIM! Don’t be content any longer with knowing about God, but
seek Him until He is found. Pursue Him until He blesses you. Know him like a wife ought to
know her husband and be faithful to Him in the same way. We are His bride.
“my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6)
Today, in the church, we don’t lack knowledge, most of us know all about God and the Bible.
We are destroyed from a neglect of relationship. When God says we lack knowledge He is
not talking about information, but intimacy.
Here are just a few of the hundreds of passages about knowing God:
 Joh 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom you have sent.
 Phi 3:10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his
sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
 Tit 1:16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are
detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
 1Jo 2:3-4 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his
commandments. Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is
a liar, and the truth is not in him,
 1Jo 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
God’s Frustrated Love
In chapter 11 of Hosea we find the prophesy that Jesus fulfilled “out of Egypt I called my
Son.” And the chapter continues to explain God’s love for His people (Read Hosea 11:8).
God LOVES You! I know you’ve heard it over and over again, but it should never be seen as
a common saying of little value. Hosea experienced God’s pain and frustrations with Israel
by living it with his wife Gomer. I pray you never have to feel the pain that adultery brings
into a family or what divorce does to it, but we must consider it and KNOW that God feels
that pain every time something else is more important in our lives, every time the stuff of
earth takes our allegiance.
Rich Mullis wrote a song called “If I stand” where he says ‘The stuff of earth competes for
the allegiance I owe only to the giver of all good things. So if I stand let me stand on the
promise that You will pull me through, and If I can’t let me fall on the grace that first brought
me to You.”
Verse two of Rihanna’s ‘Unfaithful’ song says:
I feel it in the air as I'm doin' my hair preparing for another day
A kiss upon my cheek he's here reluctantly as if I'm gonna be out late
I say I won't be long, Just hangin' with the girls, A lie I DID'NT have to tell
Because we both know where I'm about to go and we know it very well
When I first heard this song on the radio, it made me angry. Why didn’t she just stop doing
it! How hard is to NOT commit adultery? But the second time I heard it, I nearly cried. How
many days do I wake up and prepare for a day that is all about me? Days that I feel God with
me in the morning trying to call my attention to Himself so I say a prayer and ask Him to
guide my day even though we both know I have no intention of altering my plans. Then I
spend the day working out my will, ignoring His. How badly do I want to give my whole life
to God but I keep living it for me? Why do I do it? How can I stop?
The problem with the song and with our thinking most of the time is that we think that
feeling bad about it is good enough. It’s not. WE MUST STOP. And in Hosea God says the
way to stop is to Know Him better.
Seeking God is not enough. When that holy man, Mahatma Gandhi, was dying, one of his
relatives came to him and asked, “Babaki, you have been looking for God all your life. Have
you found Him yet?” “No,” was the reply, “I’m still looking.” The humility, the
earnestness, the sheer goodness of a great teacher like Gandhi shine through a remark like
that. But it stands in the most stark contrast with Jesus’ claim, “No one knows the Father
except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” (Matthew 11:27)
“my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6)