FORGETTING GOD
HOSEA 13:1-9
INTRODUCTION: WITH THE CONSTANT PRESSURE Of SOCIETY, PEERS, WORK ENVIRONMENT, GENERATIONAL ISSUES, AND EVEN MEDICAL ANOMALIES, FORGETFULNESS IS BECOMING EPIDEMIC IN OUR CIRCLES. EVEN PREGNANCY IS A CAUSE FOR FORGETFULNESS.
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO DEAL WITH TODAY IS FORGETFULNESS WITH RELATION TO GOD. IN OTHER WORDS, WHAT CAUSES US TO FORGET GOD, AND WHAT IS THE RESULT OF OUR FORGETTING GOD.
I. THE CAUSES OF FORGETFULNESS
A. PRIDE AND SELF-EXALTATION – 11:1 (HE WAS EXALTED IN HISTORY)
1. A “CATCH 22” CYCLE: WHEN WE FORGET ABOUT GOD WE NO LONGER NED HIM, AND WHEN WE NO LONGER NEED HIM, WE FORGET ABOUT HIM
2. THIS IS ALL IN OUR THOUGHTS – WE THINK WE NO LONGER NEED HIM, YET THE HYMN RINGS TRUE, “I NEED THEE EVERY HOUR”.
3. SELF-EXALTATION IGNORES THE “GOD FACTOR” IN OPERATION IN OUR LIVES
a. GOD IS SOVEREIGN; HE IS IN ULTIMATE CONTROL OF OUR LIVES
b. WHEN WE GET SO SELF ABSORBED AS TO THINK WE ARE ABLE TO ACT INDEPENDENT OF GOD, WE WILL FORGET HIS ULTIMATE INFLUENCE IN OUR LIVES.
In 1912, the Titanic was completed. The Titanic was hailed as the "Wonder Ship," the jewel of the White Star company.
The ship was eleven stories tall, the length of almost three football fields, 92 feet wide and weighed 92,000 pounds. It was built to be "unsinkable" by the construction of sixteen water-tight compartments from the prow or bow to the stern. This theory was based on the fact that not more than two compartments would flood and would not flow over the bulkheads into the next compartment.
The pride and feeling of invincibility gave the captain confidence to sail through dangerous waters, laced with icebergs at a speed of 22 miles per hour. Two days into its maiden voyage, an iceberg did ten seconds of surgery into 300 feet of the underside of the ship, making it a memory while it rested in a 13,000 foot watery-grave. This symbol of man's pride and cockiness, the unsinkable ship, became the first ship in distress from which the SOS signal was ever transmitted.
c. PRIDE AND SELF-EXALTATION NOT ONLY ALLOW US TO FORGET GOD, BUT THEY ALSO ENCOURAGE US TO MOVE DANGEROUSLY IN OUR LIVES.
B. STUBBORNNESS – 11:2 (THEY SIN MORE AND MORE)
1. STUBBORNNESS CAN BE DEFINED AS “ENTRENCHED REBELLION”
2. WE SEE IT IN CHILDREN
3. WE ARE CAPABLE OF DOING IT WITH GOD
4. THIS IS A SPECIFIC KIND OF FORGETFULNESS
5. WE FORGET WHO IS IN CHARGE.
6. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IS REMEMBERING THAT GOD CAN DO ANYTHING THAT HE WANTS
7. THIS IS MORE FOCUSED IN THAT GOD CAN DO ANYTHING HE WANTS WITH ME!
8. THERE IS INTENSITY HERE. STUBBORNNESS SINKS US DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO AREAS WE NEED NOT GO.
9. THE PHRASE, “THEY SIN MORE AND MORE” ILLUSTRATES THIS POINT.
10. THE REASON IS THAT OUR OLD NATURE IS NEVER SATISFIED, IT ALWAYS WANTS MORE!
C. SUBSTITUTION – 11:2 (THEY MAKE IDOLS FOR THEMSELVES)
1. PAST ACTIVITY HAS NO BEARING ON PRESENT ACTIVITY.
2. GOD HAD SHOWN HIMSELF FAITHFUL TO ISRAEL IN THE PAST, BUT NOW THEY HAD ABANDONED HIM
3. WE DO THE SAME THING. THINGS SEEM TO BE GOING OK, AND THEN WE FORGET ABOUT GOD.
4. WE NEED TO BE CAREFUL THAT GOD DOES NOT MOVE FROM BEING A GOD WORTHY OF WORSHIP TO A GOD FOR MY NEEDS OR CRISIS.
D. SHUNNING GOD’S WORD – 11:2
1. INTRINSIC IN THIS VERSE IS THE NOTION THAT IN ORDER TO BOTH INCREASE IN SIN AND MAKE IDOLS FOR WORSHIP IS THE NEGLECT OF GOD’S WORD.
2. JESUS SAID IT BEST, “YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MAMMON.”
3. WE CANNOT BE TRUE TO THE WORD OF GOD, AND NOT OBEY HIM
4. WE CANNOT BE TRUE TO THE WORD OF GOD AND HARBOR IDOLS IN OUR LIVES.
5. WE CANNOT BE TRUE TO THE WORD OF GOD AND PAY HOMAGE TO SOMETHING ELSE
E. NOT COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS – 11:4-5
A woman was visiting some people who lived on a farm, and she noticed a pig limping in the back yard with a wooden leg. She asked the farmer, "What happened to the pig?" The farmer said, "Oh, Betsy is a wonderful pig. One night the house caught fire and she oinked so loud she woke us and we got the fire truck in time to save the house." The woman said, "That's really something!" The farmer continued, "That's not all, one day my youngest fell in the pond and Betsy oinked so loud that she got our attention and we were able to pull my daughter out of the pond in time." The woman said, "That's really amazing! But I still don't understand why the pig has a wooden leg. The farmer said, "Well, when you have a pig that special, you don't want to eat him all at once
1. THE ISSUE HERE IS GRATITUDE FOR WHAT GOD HAD DONE.
2. WE ARE NOT FAST BECOMING, BUT HAVE ALREADY ARRIVED AS A SOCIETY OF THE HERE AND NOW.
3. WE NO LONGER LOOK BACK AT OUR BLESSING, ONLY FORWARD TO WHAT THE NEXT THIN IS.
4. WE ARE A PEOPLE OF “MORE IS ENOUGH”, AND NOT SATISFIED WITH WHAT GOD HAS ALREADY DONE
5. GOD HAD CARED FOR THE NATION EVERY STEP OF THE WAY FROM THE EXODUS TO THE PROMISED LAND.
6. THE PEOPLE COULD NOT TOUCH OR TASTE IT SO THEY NO LONGER ACKNOWLEDGE IT.
F. SELF-SUFFICIENCY – 11:6
1. GREED, SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND INDEPENDENCE FROM GOD HAPPENS WHEN WE SEEK OUR OWN SATISFACTION ABOVE ALL ELSE
2. “WHEN I FED THEM” OR “PASTURED” MEANS TO GRAZE PEACEFULLY.
3. THIS IS WHAT GOD HAD ULTIMATELY PROVIDED FOR THEM – PEACE.
4. PEACE IS WHAT ISRAEL HAD REJECTED IN FAVOR OF THEIR OWN PLEASURE
5. WHEN GOD HAS PROVIDED SO MUCH FOR US IT IS EASY TO DEVELOP AMNESIA TOWARDS GOD.
6. HOSEA SAYS THEY FORGOT GOD. THIS MEANS TO CEASE TO CARE, TO LET SOMETHING GO LEAN.
WHAT HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN ABOUT GOD?
G. STRIFE WITH GOD – 11:9
1. STRIFE IS BEING AGAINST GOD
H. SINFUL INFLUENCES
II. RESULTS OF FORGETTING GOD -- REMEMBERING ADAM AND EVE; WHEN THEY DIED
A. LOSS OF THE ABILITY TO SENSE AND COMMUNICATE WITH GOD
1. THEY HID FROM GOD
2. THEY KNEW THEY COULD NEVER APPROACH GOD IN THE SAME FASHION (THEY WERE CLOTHED YET TOLD GOD THEY WERE NAKED)
3. A FRACTURED RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AFFECTS MY ABILITY TO GO BEFORE GOD. GOD BRINGS CONVICTION TO MY LIFE!
B. LOSS OF OUR MORAL AND SPIRITUAL CHARACTER
1. WITH ADAM AND EVE WE SEE THIS IN THEIR ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS GOD POSSES
2. THEY BLAME SHIFT – HOW THEY TREAT EACH OTHER
3. THEY BLAME GOD
4. THEY TRIED TO EXCUSE THEIR BEHAVIOR INSTEAD OF CONFESSING THEIR GUILT. HOW OFTEN HAVE WE REFUSED THE CONFESSION OF OURSELVES BEFORE GOD?
5. FOR US TODAY, A FORGETFUL SPIRIT BEFORE GOD AFFECTS HOW WE DEAL MORALLY WITH OTHERS
C. ULTIMATELY, ADAM AND EVE DIED TOO. FROM DUST TO DUST.
1. FOR THE BELIEVER IN CHRIST WHO HAS “FORGOTTEN” GOD, THIS IS A CRUCIAL POINT. TO END THIS LIFE, BE TRANSLATED TO THE NEXT LIFE, WITH THINGS FOR GOD UNFINISHED.
2. FORGETTING GOD HAS PROHIBITED US FROM REDEEMING THE TIME WE HAD FOR HIM!
