Stamping Out Spiritual Stubbornness
Hosea 4:16
Hosea 4:15-19
15 "Though you, Israel, play the harlot, let not Judah offend. Do not come up to Gilgal, nor go up to Beth Aven, nor swear an oath, saying, ’As the LORD lives’--
16 "For Israel is stubborn like a stubborn calf; now the LORD will let them forage like a lamb in open country.
17 "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.
18 Their drink is rebellion, they commit harlotry continually. Her rulers dearly love dishonor.
19 The wind has wrapped her up in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
A stubborn heifer or a willing lamb?
The Condition...
"Stubborn, like a stubborn heifer."
Spiritual Stubbornness is Resistant to Spiritual Check-ups!
Yet for many years You had patience with them, and testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets. Yet they would not listen; –Nehemiah 9:30
…having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. –Ephesians 4:18-19
Spiritual Stubbornness is Resistant to Spiritual Chastisement!
"You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; –Acts 7:51
When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. –Acts 7:54
Spiritual Stubbornness is Resistant to Spiritual Challenges!
But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." –Luke 9:62
The Consequences...
"How then can the LORD pasture them...?"
Stubborn Christians Forfeit Precious Relationship with the Shepherd!
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; –Romans 1:28
Stubborn Christians Forfeit Practical Revelations from the Shepherd!
’Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not: –Jeremiah 5:21
Stubborn Christians Forfeit Personal Revival from the Shepherd!
Though he is fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come; the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness. Then his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up. –Hosea 13:15
The Cure...
"...like lambs in a meadow?"
Develop a Genuine Humility before the Shepherd’s Leading!
"because your heart was tender, and you (Josiah) humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you," says the LORD. –2 Chronicles 34:27
Develop a Genuine Hunger for the Shepherd’s Pastures!
My soul breaks with longing for Your judgments at all times. –Psalm 119:20
(NIV) My soul is consumed…
Develop a Genuine Hearing of the Shepherd’s Voice!
For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: "Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness—Psalm 95:7-8
