Hosea 6:1-11

Hosea 6:1-11

True Repentance = True Transformation

I.                    True heart repentance results in true life transformation, so we must truly repent so that we can truly and fervently pursue knowing God and live in a manner which glorifies Him (Vv. 1-4)

a.       God has just rebuked Israel’s apostasy and now they respond by calling for a return to the Lord, acknowledging that He’s the One who has torn and wounded them, He’s the One who will heal and bandage them, and He’s the One who’ll revive them, raise them up, and give them life. They acknowledge the need to aggressively pursue knowing God by diligently and fervently chasing after Him; and that they can count on Him for certainty, renewal, refreshing, and sustenance. It all sounds so good, but is it? To “return to the Lord” is the language of repentance, but it appears that all it is merely talk. To ask for forgiveness in vague confession isn’t true heartbrokenness over transgressing the holiness of God, it’s only remorse for getting caught, and ultimately just an attempt to manipulate God and presume on His goodness. True repentance is when we move from God having to tell us the ways in which we’re unfaithful to Him, to us telling Him the specific ways in which we’re unfaithful. God also reveals that their hearts aren’t truly repentant through His exasperation with them. Their proclaimed repentance and loyalty isn’t real, they’re like a morning cloud or dew, which burns away quickly in the heat of the sun when it rises. They seem committed to Him now, but they’ll soon drift away, and their lives will reflect their lack of true repentance. Even after we belong to the Lord, the cycle of death and resurrection only continues and grows by His grace, through truly repentant faith. These hard-hearted people assumed that God would continue to renew and resurrect them because He had promised to and had always done it before. But their assumptions were based on an incomplete understanding of God resulting from their lack of repentance and faithfulness to pursue Him. We’re not only saved through the One raised up on the third day, we must also be renewed in Him every day through continual and specific repentance and surrender. If we claim to be a Christian, and we can’t genuinely say we’re continually growing in knowing Christ, we’re only presuming on Him. Any hope we have for a truly satisfying, purposeful, peaceful, and joyful life depends completely on truly repenting of our sins, dying to ourselves daily, giving everything to Christ, and seeking after Him. That is also the only means by which we properly impact the world around us for Christ. (Vv. 1-4; Deut. 32:39; Ezek. 34:1-14; Ps. 51:1-12; 73:21-28; 78:34-37; Matt. 13:3-23; Luke 9:23-25; 14:33; 18:9-14; John 17:3; Rom. 6:3-7; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; Eph. 4:17-24; Phil. 3:12-16; 4:4-8; Col. 2:9-15; 3:1-17; Heb. 12:1-3; 1 Pet. 1:10-16)

II.                 True heart repentance results in true life transformation, so we must truly repent so that by God’s grace, we can glorify Him by bearing the fruits of true repentance in our lives (Vv. 5-11)

a.       God has continually and faithfully confronted His people with the truth of His Word, and continually increased the difficult consequences in their lives in order to reveal the fruits of their sinful ways and persuade them to repent and turn to Him. The people thought they honored God with their empty gifts, but what He truly desires is loyal love and a burning desire to continually know Him more intimately. However, the people continued to choose their own way, live disobediently to God’s Word, live fraudulently, tolerate evil, worship falsely, and deal selfishly and harshly with others; even the priesthood sought to pounce on unsuspecting people and destroy them for personal gain. They thought their wicked ways were hidden from God, but He saw all the horrible things they did and would hold them accountable. He promised to restore them, but true restoration and transformation will only come through exposure of their sin and healing through genuine repentance. The conditions we see in our world and lives today are no less the chastening of God to move us all to genuine repentance and true life transformation. We must see the light God is shedding on our hearts, and we must consider how God desires us to respond to our current circumstances. Will we simply endure them to regain comfort, or will we submit to God in true repentance and be truly transformed to bear the fruits of faithful love and growing knowledge of Him? Generations drift from the Lord because they never see what it truly looks like to love Him faithfully and grow in intimacy with Him. They look into the lives of those who say they love God, and often only see a more self-righteous version of the rest of the world. Only true brokenness before God produces true transformation in Christ and live lives which truly glorify Him. (Vv. 5-11; Deut. 30:14-20; Ps. 51:16-17; Isa. 1:11-17; Amos 5:21-24; Matt. 5:3-16; 9:13; 12:7; John 4:23; Acts 17:30-31; Rom. 10:8-15; 1 Cor. 11:27-32; 2 Cor. 7:1, 8-10; Gal. 5:19-23; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Heb. 4:12-13; 1 John 1:8-10; 1 John 3:1-10)