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I Did It My Way (Hosea 10)
28 Plays1 year ago
Sunday Message recorded 07 April 2024
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church -- Columbus TX
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Frank Sinatra's Farewell to Music
00:00:06
Speaker
Would you open God's word to Hosea, Hosea chapter 10? A few years ago, Frank Sinatra was having a dinner with some friends. And he told the friends, you know what? I've enjoyed my life. I've been able to sing a lot of different concerts and made some accomplishments and so forth. But he announced he's leaving the music industry. He said, I'm done. I think I'm facing the final curtain and it's over.
The Story Behind 'My Way'
00:00:36
Speaker
One man that was sitting there that night among his friends was another singer named Paul Anka. So he heard his friends share this and so he went home and he stayed up in the night. He said sometime around 1 a.m. the words began to come to him and he began to write the song My Way. He had heard the tune over in France and he couldn't get the tune out of his head but he didn't know what the words in French said but he knew what he wanted to say that would give his friend Frank Sinatra some encouragement.
00:01:07
Speaker
So Sinatra, after the song was shared with him, he made the song famous. As a matter of fact, it became his most requested song. If you were to look and say, what are the top 10 songs that have been recorded of all times? It's definitely in the top 10. Yet Sinatra himself said, you know what?
Sinatra's Love-Hate Relationship with 'My Way'
00:01:25
Speaker
I couldn't stand the song. And here's why. He said, I hated it because he thought it was self-serving and self-indulgent. He said, but.
00:01:34
Speaker
just like a piece of gum, it's stuck to my shoe and I can't get it off." And so he said, every concert, they want to hear it, they want to hear it. But there's something about sin that is a lot like the song, My Way.
'My Way' and Its Allegory of Sin
00:01:47
Speaker
It boasts of directing your own life, deciding yourself what you're going to do.
00:01:53
Speaker
Despite the applause somehow deep down inside, I don't believe sin satisfies us. I believe that we can spend a whole life sinning and going in the opposite direction of God. But in the end, I think that it's empty. And that's what this chapter is all about. It's about sin. It's about a nation of people that all collectively said, you know what? We're each going to do it our own way.
00:02:17
Speaker
And so I got to looking through this chapter and I saw in verse two a word that said, you know, your heart is false. It said, you bear your guilt, you're put to shame, you sin, there's iniquity, there's wickedness, there are lies, they're evil. So many different things because this prophet was called to stand on behalf of the Lord and confront a nation that was refusing to live God's way
00:02:46
Speaker
and defiantly saying we're gonna do it our own way. And so, like the message that Paul gave to Rome in Romans 5-8, as we've gone through Hosea, I keep going back to Romans 5-8, but God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You know that all the time we're walking in our own way, all that time,
Hosea's Call for Repentance
00:03:14
Speaker
There's a God in heaven who said, I still love you. I still love you. I still want you to come back. And that's why throughout Hosea's book over and over, he's calling them to repentance. He's calling them to turn from sin. And he could just say, you know what? That's enough. I'm tired of it. He could say that with the whole world. He could say, all of you, you're disobeying me. And so he could just say, I'm done with it, but he doesn't.
00:03:40
Speaker
So what I want us to do as we go through Hosea chapter 10 is I want us to dissect sin. Do you remember when you used to dissect frogs in biology class in school? Man, I hated the smell in that room. It was like, you can't get the, still it brings back pretty rough memories. But you do it so that you can see the internal anatomy of the frog. See his lungs, his heart, you see all different kinds of things that are on the inside.
00:04:09
Speaker
If you would like to dissect sin, then just think about how it's spelled. S-I-N. If you pull away the skin of the S and you pull away the skin of the N, there's only one thing left. It's the heart of sin. I. Do what I want to do. Do I want to go my way?
00:04:32
Speaker
You know, Isaiah wrote about that in Isaiah 53.6. He says, really, that's why Christ went to the cross. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Every one of us, it says, has turned to his own way. So that's why Jesus said, I will pay the price for their sin.
00:05:02
Speaker
Here in chapter 10, you'll see it again in verse 13, where he says, because you've trusted in your own way, this is what's happening in your life. This is what's going to happen later in your life.
00:05:17
Speaker
but we're gonna see that there's still some good news. But we have to come to the place where we say, you know what? I'm sick and tired of doing it my way. I wanna do it your way. I wanna surrender to you, God. For me, that happened when I was a freshman in college. I was so sick of what sin was doing in my life. It was like I was on a treadmill and going nowhere. And so I said to God one day in a small prayer time before Sunday school in Memphis, Tennessee,
00:05:47
Speaker
I said, Lord, I am so sick of my own sin. I'm so tired of doing it my way. I'm ready to do it your way. How about you? You know, Proverbs 14, 12 says, there's a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. You know, I think that's what Frank Sinatra's song admits, doesn't it? It says, and now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain.
00:06:14
Speaker
There's somebody in here that could be facing a final curtain and we just don't know it. But maybe so far, you're like the Northern Kingdom persisting in your own rebellious way. And God all the time is saying, I love you. I got the plan for you. Why don't you come to me? Come to me.
00:06:31
Speaker
So God's man stands here saying to come to God, but he also is saying, if you don't come to God, then there's impending judgment ahead. I would like for you to stand in honor of God's word as I read through Hosea 10. Would you stand in honor of what he has said? Israel is a luxurious vine that yields its fruit.
Israel's Downfall Due to Deceit
00:06:53
Speaker
The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built. As his country improved,
00:07:00
Speaker
He improved his pillars. Their heart is false. Now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars and destroy their pillars. For now they will say, we have no king, for we do not fear the Lord. And a king, what could he do for us?
00:07:23
Speaker
They utter mere words. With empty oaths, they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furs of the field. The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-Avon. Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests. Those who rejoiced over it and over it, its glory, for it has departed from them. The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria
00:07:54
Speaker
as tribute to the great king. Ephraim shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol. Samaria's king shall perish like a twig on the face of the waters. The high places of Avon, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, cover us, and to the hills, follow us.
00:08:22
Speaker
From the days of Gibeah,
The Consequences of Gibeah's Sins
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Speaker
you have sinned, O Israel. There they have continued. Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah? When I please, I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them, when they are bound up for their double iniquity. Ephraim was a trained calf.
00:08:46
Speaker
that love to thresh, and I spared her fair neck, but I will put Ephraim to the yoke. Judah must plow, Jacob must harrow for himself. So for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love, break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord that he may come and reign righteousness upon you.
The Perils of Self-Reliance
00:09:15
Speaker
You have plowed iniquity.
00:09:18
Speaker
You have reaped injustice. You have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you've trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors, therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people and all your fortresses shall be destroyed. As Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel on the day of battle, mothers were dashed in pieces with their children. Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because
00:09:47
Speaker
of your great evil. At dawn the King of Israel shall be utterly cut off." Let's go to the Father in prayer. Oh Lord, I'm asking you today to put the spotlight, to turn on the lights on self-centered living.
00:10:05
Speaker
Lord, we may not even realize where we're going. We may not even realize what's happening around us. But with the help of your scriptures that illuminate our minds, we can see.
00:10:19
Speaker
With the help of your good Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, we can see what is real. And so show us, O Lord, what's happening. And if there are any in this room, perhaps everyone is Christ-centered. But I wonder if in a room this size, with so many here, if there's not someone, maybe more than one, that's still living a self-centered life, and they need to turn from it before it's too late.
00:10:47
Speaker
So bless us, oh Lord, as we look at this scripture, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you so much, you may be seated. Like I said in my prayer, I'm asking the Lord to highlight what does it look like whenever someone is living basically for self? Well, I wanna share with you a few quick things from this passage as we sort of go through the chapter together. The first one is found in verses one and two, and that is the deception of self-centered living.
00:11:15
Speaker
You know, sometimes we don't know what's going on. He says in verse two, their heart is false. And so right away we see if my heart is false, if my heart is deceitful and wicked, then it's not gonna tell me the truth. It's going to lie to me. And so maybe you're deceived in your assessments about your life. Maybe you're saying, look, I'm making lots of money. Look, I got a lot of friends. Look, I'm having a lot of fun.
00:11:44
Speaker
But what we need to say is, Lord, I need to know the truth, the truth of where I stand.
00:11:50
Speaker
with you and with your son. We can be deceived by attractiveness. Did you see the kind of vine that it says that Israel was? It says in verse one, Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. So maybe you're deceived by attractiveness. Maybe you're deceived by amounts. But look at what we can do with the amounts.
00:12:15
Speaker
What do you do with the increases that God gives to you personally? Look what they were doing. The more his fruit increased, the more altars. This is the false gods. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built. As his country improved, he improved his pillars.
00:12:35
Speaker
See what's happening? If you're just living for yourself, then you can decide what to do with everything. And imagine a whole nation like the nation of Israel, the Northern Kingdom. They could just decide what to do with everything. But the Holy Spirit tells us the truth. Just like Jesus, whenever two men come to him and one brother was saying about the other brother, he didn't divide the inheritance right among me.
00:13:02
Speaker
And Jesus said, you know, you guys need to be aware. You need to be aware. You need to be aware because covetousness can come in unexpectedly.
00:13:15
Speaker
Do you deal with covetousness? These two guys were dealing with that. And so one brother was upset, like I said. And so Jesus said, you know what? I'm going to tell you the parable of the foolish farmer. And the foolish farmer, things were going so well. He said, you know how to just keep building barns, build it bigger and bigger. And that way, whenever I get to the end of my life, I can just kick back and enjoy it. But then God said, what happens if you die that night when you've built all the big barns?
00:13:46
Speaker
There's deception that can happen to someone who's saying, I'm calling the shots. I sit on the throne. I'm at the command center. I'm behind the wheel. I'm gonna drive where I wanna drive. So let's move to the second thing. Let's say that you are driving the life that you're living. Are you satisfied with it? Do you feel that there's any downsides to what's happening?
00:14:13
Speaker
They were not seeing the downsides to what they were doing as a nation. So God said, well, let me share with you the downsides. So he starts listing the losses. You ever do a profit and loss statement? Well, on the loss side, he says, you know, you're losing confidence in leadership.
00:14:31
Speaker
You know, if you get a whole nation like the Northern Kingdom that they don't want anybody to lead them, then you know what? You're going to lose confidence in anybody leading you. But then there's also a loss of consciousness of the Lord. See, if you're on the throne of your life, then you're saying, I don't want to fear God. I don't want to reference God. I don't want to obey God. I don't want to surrender to God. I don't want to love God. I want to make the decisions that I want to make.
00:14:59
Speaker
And so it just goes on and on. They lose control of their lips. They're saying all kind of false things they don't mean, even in their covenants. They're making these promises that they're not keeping. A loss of commitment to loyalties, a loss of the courts to lawlessness, a loss of counterfeit laughter. And finally, when you get down to verse six, by that time it's the loss of the country to a whole nother land.
00:15:27
Speaker
Some of you may have heard this if you've been around the block a few times, like I have. Have you ever heard anybody say this? Sin will take you farther than you want to go. It'll keep you longer than you want to stay, and it'll cost you more than you want to pay. I think we ought to think about that very seriously if we're living life based on what we want to do. We don't care about God, what we want to do.
00:15:55
Speaker
One reason is there's a downfall coming. The downfall of self-centered living, I think, is hinted at in verses seven and eight. You know, Proverbs 16, 18 says, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. You know, I've always thought that about people who tell me, I've got my own religion.
00:16:13
Speaker
And I've thought to myself, wow, that's incredible that you have your own religion. You get to decide what's right and what's wrong. Can you imagine anything more prideful? Can you imagine anything hauteer than someone saying, I got my own religion. I don't need Christ. I don't need God. I don't need religion at all. I'm perfectly fine the way I am. The Northern Kingdom of Israel
00:16:41
Speaker
was facing a crisis, and the crisis was this. The Assyrians were gaining in strength around the world, and the Assyrians were about to topple their whole nation, and yet they're living in a dreamland. And so they were defenseless before the downfall. Look at what it says in verse seven. Samaria's king shall perish like a twig on the face of the waters. A twig can't do anything. It just kind of floats down the river.
00:17:10
Speaker
wherever the current's gonna take it. That's the defenselessness before downfall, but then there's the devastation after downfall. When he says the high places of Avon, this is where they were offering up false sacrifices to these false gods. The sin of Israel shall be destroyed, thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars.
00:17:32
Speaker
Wow, thorn and thistle. I thought to myself, where have I heard thorn and thistle? And then it came back to me. Genesis, Genesis three. Wasn't that what God told Adam? You know, that the ground was going to be, it wasn't going to be fruitful. It was going to bear thorn and thistle.
00:17:50
Speaker
If you see somebody that's got a fruitful yard, fruitful trees and so forth, they put some work into that because all by itself, it's just thorn and thistle. My yard, if I don't mow it, man, dandelions, I'll be facing that battle all summer long. But I'm just saying there's a devastation that comes after a life is lived totally your way.
00:18:12
Speaker
I'm just trying to protect you. There's also the desperation during the downfall. During the downfall, it can be so scary whenever it says that they shall say to the mountains, cover us, and to the hills, fall on us. Isn't that scary? You know what that tells me? That's somebody who feels so desperate. They're like, there's no escape from this.
00:18:34
Speaker
I suppose that the greatest downfall of all time is going to be during the Tribulation. It'll be a seven-year period of time worldwide when Revelation 6 verses 15 through 17. I know some people would probably say, yeah, yeah, yeah, but Hosea happened a long time ago.
00:18:50
Speaker
But you know what? We can't say that about Revelation 6, 15 through 17. Because Revelation 6, 15 through 17, it hasn't happened yet. This is where we're headed as the human race, as the world. And it says, then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks and the mountains, followed us
00:19:19
Speaker
Hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand." See what they're saying? Same thing that they were saying in the day of Hosea. It's because God says, I want you to live for me. I want you to find your purpose. I've got a great reason why I created you. But if you're gonna be on the throne in the control center, then you're gonna do it your way.
00:19:48
Speaker
So all along the way, what does God do if we reject Him? We reject Him, we reject Him, we reject Him. Well, He has this thing called discipline. If you look in Hebrews 12 verses 5 through 11, He says that we should not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor to be weary when reproved by Him, for the Lord disciplines the one He loves. That's it.
00:20:12
Speaker
See, his discipline is not out of anger. His discipline is out of love. He's trying to say, no, I've got more for you. I've got something better for you. But when does discipline come?
God's Timing in Discipline
00:20:23
Speaker
Well, you look at verse nine and I think it would tell us discipline comes when God says stop and we won't stop.
00:20:32
Speaker
So discipline comes when sin is persistent. Maybe some people say, you know what? I've been doing this in a long time and God hasn't sent a lightning bolt to bust me yet. But look what it says in verse 10. When I please, I will discipline them. When I please.
00:20:50
Speaker
And you know what? Just because God doesn't, you know, do this to you, you don't lose your job, you don't lose all your friends. Maybe just like with Sinatra, when you sing that song, I did it my way. Maybe the crowds are like crazy for it. Sing it again. Sing it again. And yet we have to wait and say, wait a minute. You know, God could bring me to my knees in another way.
00:21:16
Speaker
And so discipline may come in another way, and it's gonna come however God plans. And that's what he says. When I please, I'll discipline them and nations shall be gathered against them when they are bound up for their double iniquity, nations. So this is too much for them to resist and to hold back. And so he says, you won't be able to stop this one. And then he says something interesting in verse 11.
00:21:44
Speaker
I learned that threshing is a far easier thing than plowing because threshing back then was for those that didn't have to put quite as much effort, not as much strength, but the plow to pull the plow, it's harder. And so God says, you know what? I've got a plow. If you won't do it my way, then I have a plow.
00:22:07
Speaker
And you will pull the plow. And when you pull the plow, it will make life so hard. You ever feel like it's so hard? In Acts chapter 9, an example of a man that was trying to go in the opposite direction and God was trying to slow him down was Saul.
00:22:23
Speaker
And he said to Saul, you know, it's hard when you kick against the goats, isn't it? So God's got a plow that he may cause us to have to pull so that he can get our attention and say, I've got something better. I love you. You're ignoring me. Life is about a personal relationship with me. You're making it all about things or all about crowds. But I want you to know that just like Saul,
00:22:50
Speaker
What's God's desire? His desire is not to punish you. That's not his desire. You know what his desire is? He wants to bless us, but he's not a bless me anyway type of God. And so what he does is he tries to woo us back through messages like this, through Sunday school teachers, through parents, through grandparents. They tell us, please come back to God. Please come back to God.
00:23:14
Speaker
And so God's desire when we're living for self is that we would simply turn around. Just turn. Just turn and go toward Him. You know, realize that it's time to do that. He says, for it is the time to seek the Lord.
A Call to Seek the Lord
00:23:29
Speaker
There's some people who believe we may be getting to the end times.
00:23:33
Speaker
It's time now. If you've not turned to the Lord, it's time right now to turn to Him. It's also time to break up the fallow ground. Fallow ground is ground that's been ignored. It's ground that's been neglected. It's hard and crusty. It's overgrown.
00:23:50
Speaker
And so God's saying, it's time that you break that up because I want to do something fresh in your life. And it's time that you start sowing righteousness rather than wickedness. It's time that you trust me, the Lord would say, to give you a faithful harvest out of my faithful love for you. I think we need to follow Jesus's way. When he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was on his knees, the cross was coming.
00:24:17
Speaker
You know, remember what he said? He said, Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. See, Jesus wasn't singing that song, I did it my way. Jesus was saying, Father, I want to do it your way. Would you say that today? I want to do it your way.
00:24:39
Speaker
Well, if you read the rest of chapter 10, verses 13 to 15, you would see, you know what? God doesn't make us puppets, does He? You're not a puppet. You're not a robot. God made you a human being. He gave you a free will. And so God says, this is what I want you to do. So if you want to obey Him, you can. If you want to disobey Him, you can do that as well.
00:25:04
Speaker
And that's what they chose to do. Sadly, the Northern Kingdom trusted their own way. Look again at verse 13. They did it their way. Because you've trusted in your own way, that's what they did. And so therefore, look what happens in verse 14, the war. Tumult. Tumult is coming. The consequences will be terrible in verse 14.
00:25:27
Speaker
But what is it really all about? The reason for the destruction was all those trespasses that you refused to confess to the Lord. Because of your great evil, he says. You know, some people are born with a strong will. Some people are born very compliant. And they're not going to cause trouble. They're not going to buck against the system. But some are born with a strong will. But you know what? If you're born with a strong will, that's a gift.
00:25:56
Speaker
See, it's not the strength of your will that's the problem. It's who are you submitting that will to. What are you doing? What's the direction of the will that you have? Are you saying, I want to please God?
00:26:11
Speaker
You know, it all comes back to who we permit upon the throne of our lives. Remember when we talked about the Spirit-filled life, Christ-centered life, as opposed to the natural man, or as opposed to the carnal man? Because with the natural man and the carnal man, Jesus is not on the throne of their life. No self is back on the throne. And so they're going to continue to have hard times.
00:26:36
Speaker
But whenever Jesus is on the throne, the Holy Spirit can really work freely in our lives. I was thinking about that from 3 John the other day. And I read verse 9 about a man named Diatrophies. It says that Diatrophies like to put himself first. Have you ever been around anybody like that? If you're putting yourself first, I just want to ask you this one question. You like being around other people that put themselves first? Probably not. Nobody likes that.
00:27:05
Speaker
God doesn't like that. I think God knows that his son is worthy to be at the control center. He's worthy to drive the car. And so that's why I thought, oh, look at there. There's another man. That second man is not Diatrophys, but Demetrius. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone and from the truth itself. In other words, he's pleasing the Lord. He's yielding the Lord.
00:27:32
Speaker
You know, in some ways, I think that life is a lot like a concert. Life is like a concert. You've been born, and here's the thing. God has given each one of us in this room a microphone. You're given a microphone. So here's the question that God would want to ask you.
Life's Concert: Your Way or God's Way?
00:27:50
Speaker
Be honest with him. What song are you singing? Are you singing, I'm doing it my way? Or are you singing another song? You're saying, you know, I won't thy way.
00:28:01
Speaker
Toby Mac is one of the artists I enjoy listening to. He has a great song that says, Steal My Show. If you want to be blessed sometime, you should listen to a video clip of Toby Mac in concert in Louisiana. He gives the background of that song. It's about a five minutes counting the song, so it's not too long. But he says to the people of Louisiana that each one of us
00:28:24
Speaker
We have to decide, is life more than something bigger than me? Or is life really? It's all about me. He said, song is about anybody that will be willing to give their lives for something bigger than themselves. And in the chorus of the song, he says, if you want to steal my show, sit back and watch you go. He's saying to God, sit back and watch you go. If you've got something to say,
00:28:55
Speaker
then go and take it away. Man, that's what every day I wake up, I say, God, I wanna glorify you. I wanna live for the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that the song you're singing? That's the song you can sing. That's the song you were made to sing. So sing it wherever you work, wherever you live, wherever you go, sing that song with your whole life and say, God, I want to sing for your glory.
00:29:23
Speaker
I want us to stand to have a time of invitation. The song says, my Jesus, I love thee. Do you love him? Are you singing for him? Are you singing your life song to him? That's the highest. Sing it to him. Sing it to the Lord and let him be honored and glorified in your life. Let's pray together. Lord, I pray if there are any here who need to be saved today,
00:29:49
Speaker
They're in here that are still living for self. They're not surrendering to Christ as Lord and Savior. I pray that, Lord, you would help them. Help them to come to that point where they surrender all today to say, I love you, Lord, so much. I'm going to trust you with my life. I love you so much that I'm going to allow you to sit down on the throne of my life, and I'm going to take a knee.
00:30:15
Speaker
And I'm going to bow. And I'm going to give you all the glory. I'm going to give you all the honor. I believe it all starts whenever we say, please save me. I've messed up my life. I acknowledge my sin. I admit my sin. And so now, Lord, I want to come back to you and say, please forgive me and cleanse me of my sins. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:30:43
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.