“The Case for Christ - Following On in Him”

What is really important for true spiritual life? 

Tonight, I would like to concentrate on this one question for ourselves - and for the whole world. 

And, to start, let us go back to Hosea 6. There, the Lord’s promise to His people was to renew and strengthen them in a short time from their affliction in their captivity, to ‘return’ unto the Lord’. (v 1)  

‘In their affliction, they shall seek Me early’, was God’s longing. (Hosea 5:15) God would raise up His people and use their distress toward the definite purpose given in 6:3: ‘Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord...’. 

The desire of God’s heart was to see His people in a state of joy, contentment, and fellowship that would originate from a link or an identification with Him. 

He said, in Hosea 6:6: ‘I desired mercy, not sacrifice; and
 [I desired] the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.’ 

Sacrifices and offerings that were just mechanical, routine, superficial, careless, duties did not impress the Lord one bit. 

What was He looking for? Let us go over to chapter 7:14.

Hosea 7:14: ‘And they have not cried unto Me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against Me.’  

In the midst of all of the carrying on of their perfunctory duties, we see that He was not considering those sacrifices and offerings at all - but, what was He considering? 

He was looking at the heart of the nation - at their innermost attitude toward Him. He was looking for a change of heart - a change that indicated a shift from temporal concerns to eternal concerns, a change that would turn from seeking Him for something - to - just seeking Him. 

But - there was no longing after Him. Yes - He saw their heartfelt cry and, in His tender mercies, He attended to them. But they were lamenting on their beds. And do you know what that meant? 

They were crying out - but not in a trusting way! - it showed a heart where rebellion against God still reigned! 

But why were they coming to Him, crying out to Him?

They were praying for ‘corn and wine’, for the things that they wanted - the things they were afraid of losing, of being taken from them!

They were missing the point of the affliction they were under: they did not pray for God’s grace to be showered upon them. They did not ask for God’s grace to show them their need of repentance, for God’s grace to wrap them in His forgiving love. 

They did not seek God’s grace to change the attitude of the heart to follow on to know Him. They did not seek Him to change their attitude about following on to know Him.

And do you know why not? 

They were not understanding - they were not understanding - how truly ignorant they were - how ignorant they were of their own deficiencies for following on to know Him.

No - all they wanted was that He would not take away their corn and wine - their temporal provisions.

Do you know that the carnal heart, in its prayer to God, always covets temporal mercies, temporal things from Him?

Yes - these transitory things may be important for the physical well-being of man. But - above and beyond that - the paramount issue of their national life was to grasp and have locked into the heart, the eternal value of the possession of the knowledge of God. 

It is a sad fact, yes - but it is also a true fact - that many, many do not understand the Lord and His ways today, even as the daily or weekly routines of religious duties are being followed!

As intelligent and as clever as we may think we are, these routine duties help nothing, absolutely nothing at all, in following on to ‘know’ the Lord - and it never will so long as the heart is out of line with the Lord! 

These Israelites may have cried: ‘God, help us!’ or ‘Lord, You see what these people are doing to us - we need Your help!’ but, to the Lord, it was only a show of godliness. It did not have the power of godliness in it!

They assembled together to cry out to the Lord for corn and new wine, but their desire was only to fill their bellies - they had neither the will, much less the power, to change!  

How sad it was that His own people could not see that God was always bent on giving them a new nature so they could live in the power of godliness and fellowship with Him.

It is true - we are in a special place today - it is the place where we people, the world over, cannot trifle with God when seeking Him for help and comfort, especially those of us who call ourselves ‘Christians’. 

Assembling ourselves together, crying out to Him without trust in Him, ‘howling upon our beds’ alone, for the purpose of keeping our ‘corn and wine’, will not necessarily bring forth God’s blessings upon the land.    

God does not trifle with man’s eternal worth: the heart of man is either the gain or the loss of it and His interest in it is only for our gain!

Hosea condemned their dishonesty and their rebellion against God since the heart was in such contradiction.

Paul carried on Hosea’s plea to the people in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. But how did that ‘heart cry’ of Hosea’s time to Paul’s time change the people’s condition in the Lord’s eyes?

In Paul’s discourse in Philippians 2, the Philippians were given the encouraging news that God would be working in their hearts, not only to will, but also to do, of His good pleasure.

In this new dispensation, because they had received Christ, it is in Him that they were given the will and the power to ‘hold forth the word of life’ so that their lives would not be in vain - they could live in joy and contentment by ‘knowing’ Him in Christ. 

To help the Philippians see this, Paul promised to send them one of his fellow workers, Timothy, a young man who shared the same heart they had in seeking out only the things of Christ.

His heart, too, as Paul’s did, desired only to know Christ, to know Him in the power of His resurrection, to press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ.

And, one of the valuable pieces of guidance Paul had given Timothy in order to stay on this straight-forward course is found in 2 Tim 1:13-14: ‘Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit which was committed unto thee by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.’
 
The word God had spoken to Hosea was translated into these words of Paul - sound words that were to be kept in faith and love which were now in Christ Jesus, God’s Son, the present link of identification with God.

This is what God desired - mercy, love, goodness, piety, sanctity - of His people, characteristics that Timothy would develop as he grew strong in the grace and in the knowledge of God through Christ Jesus.

His lot was to be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. And this would mean he would have to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

How else could he grow in the knowledge of the Lord? ‘Flee from youthful lusts: follow righteousness, faith, love, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.’

Timothy, would need to seek God out - not just for ‘corn and wine’ - but for a ‘trust fellowship’ with God according to God’s power through Christ, and be ‘nourished up in the words of faith’. (1 Tim 4:6)

He was to come to know God in authentic knowledge, through the work of Christ by the way of the Holy Spirit.

What was the road Timothy would be taking to realize this place in God?

If you read through those two letters Paul wrote to him, you will find that the biggest problem Timothy seemed to face was the danger of instruction about Jesus Christ that was not solid, not true.

There were those who loved to argue about ‘words’, who taught false doctrines and did not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching.   

They had an unhealthy interest in controversies and arguments that led to envy, strife, malicious talk, suspicions, constant friction, frivolous hair-splitting.

There were going to be those who love themselves to death - whose thoughts are always on themselves.

There would be those who would be covetous, boasters, proud, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy: there is a full list of other traits in 2 Tim 3, if you care to look at it.

So - Timothy was told - turn away from these things: in fact, flee from them and make the knowing of Christ your lifelong pursuit. ‘Fight the good fight of faith’ or ‘agonize the good agony’, he was told.

To do that, ‘do not have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, ...not resentful...gently instruct, in the hope that God will give them a change of heart leading them to the knowledge of the truth, and they will come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.’ (2 Tim 2:23-26)
 
The passage seems to indicate that the one trapped is ‘to be set free from the trap’...and to ‘return to a sober mind’, or to ‘one’s sober senses’.

And, then, in 2 Tim 2:14-19, Paul went on: ‘Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene...[and will cause a wandering] away from the truth...’.

Turn away from those who oppose what is falsely called ‘the knowledge of God’. They engage only in endless contrasts. They make decisions of the mind that are founded on varied interpretations. Those things have only made them wander from the faith. They have robbed themselves of the truth.

So - Timothy, ‘flee...’ pursue, instead, ‘...righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart’; keep your focus on this one thing; be an approved workman who does not need to be ashamed when his work is inspected. 

What you are going through now, as a young person, is God’s training for you. ‘Follow on’ and know He has His hand on you. Learn correctly how to handle or hold a straight course in the word of truth. 

Be like a plowman in the field who needs to keep the furrow straight as he and his horse plows the garden rows.

If Timothy did not preach this straight course of Christ, his ministry would have been playing with souls. And it is cruel to amuse with trifles those whose souls are in jeopardy of eternal loss!

This straight course is a worthy pursuit for all of us - a focus on the righteousness Christ in us, to know Him in that vein, in that disposition of heart.

And do you know what that demands?

The fullness of the knowledge of God in Christ always and, of necessity, calls for the understanding of how very deep the ignorance about what we think our goodness is as it stands opposed to the righteousness of Christ.  

‘The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked: who can know it?’ 

Those people in Hosea’s day surely did not know what was in the heart, even as they were assembling themselves together, making their sacrifices and offerings before the Lord, crying out to Him as they did! 

Oh, no! And neither do we know what lies deep within us. It is only the righteousness of Christ that is the perfect light to what is in that deep, dark, deceitful cavern. 

And - when we find out, we forget about all the arguments over everything else because that knowledge alone will bring us to both humility and reverence before, and to a full trust in, the living God.

It is the one who thinks himself as enlightened without this searchlight into his heart who fancies himself as being able to see everyone else’s faults and deficiencies. 

But the truth of the matter is that he is ignorant because he never reflects on his own. He thinks himself to be so mature, yet he is so off the mark.

The condition of the Lord’s people was no different in Hosea’s time. The people could not see how lacking they were in themselves. Only the superficial, the temporal, loomed important to them and so they could not ‘follow on to know the Lord’. They were in no condition to go on.

Just remember that it is the Lord Who determines our degree of maturity in Him - it is He Who makes the decision on when or whether to take us on - we have no means to make those determinations ourselves.

Only He knows what needed training is required to transform us and to make this revelation of Christ in us to bring us to the place where He can trust us.

There is one more thought I would like to bring to our attention tonight before we close: look at how Hosea concluded in chapter 14:9.

Hosea 14:9: ‘Who is wise that he may understand this? Understanding, that he may discern it? For the ways of Jehovah are straightforward, and the righteous shall travel therein: but the rebellious shall stumble in them.’

He concluded by summing up the whole substance of his teaching in one general sentence: ‘The ways of the Lord are straight, plain.’ They are the ways taken by God - ways He prescribes and ways He guides.

These ways lead some to life and others to death, and that depends on the attitudes which men take towards God.

Moses outlined that for the people in Deut 30:19-20:
 ‘...I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore, choose life...that you will love the Lord your God...and...obey His voice...and cleave to Him: for He is your life, and the length of your days...’.

And Paul said likewise concerning Christ for the Corinthians 1 Cor 1:18-19: ‘...for the message of the Cross is to those who choose death, folly; but to us who are in the path of salvation, it is the very power of God unto salvation...’.

God’s desire was, and is, that His people should follow on to know Him. But it requires a straightforward road to travel on - a road paved in the righteousness of Christ, in faith, hope, and love, with no deviations, to true spiritual life.

My prayer - and the prayer of the entire church of the living God, is that we, as His people, and we, as people of the world, will see as God sees and travel that straightforward path of complete trust in Him through the resurrection power of Christ.

Amen! So be it! Let us pray!